Yes, travellers still ask travel agents: in Visa's Global Travel Intentions Study of visitors to Saudi Arabia, reported by TradeArabia, 41% got recommendations from travel agents, second only to friends, family and fellow travellers at 46%. AI has moved in beside them, with half of travellers using it for inspiration and 48% for reviews and recommendations.
Key facts
- Half of the travellers surveyed used AI for travel inspiration, and 48% for reviews and recommendations (Visa study, via TradeArabia).
- Travel agents were the second most used source of recommendations at 41%, after friends, family and fellow travellers at 46% (Visa study, via TradeArabia).
- Social media followed at 39% and search engines at 38% (Visa study, via TradeArabia).
- The study covered 40 markets; the article does not say how many travellers were surveyed (TradeArabia).
- More than 9,710 hotels appear as distinct entities in the booking records of the desks I worked (the author's operations archive).
The news. TradeArabia reports findings from Visa's Global Travel Intentions Study on international visitors to Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted between November and February across 40 markets. The article does not say how many travellers were surveyed. Half of the travellers surveyed said they used AI to find travel inspiration, 48% used it for reviews and recommendations, 45% to search for flights and accommodation, and 36% to plan itineraries. The article also ranks the sources travellers used for recommendations: "Friends, family and fellow travellers were the most commonly used source of travel recommendations at 46%, followed by travel agents at 41%", then social media at 39% and search engines at 38%. AI is not on that second list; the article reports it separately.
Has AI already reached the recommendation?
Inspiration heads the AI list, and it is an easy job to hand over. A bad idea at the dreaming stage costs nothing. You close the screen and dream again.
AI does not stop at the dreaming, though. Almost half the travellers surveyed also used it for reviews and recommendations, so the agent now shares the recommendation with a machine. What keeps travel agents second on the list of recommendation sources, ahead of social media and search engines, is in my view the stage after the idea. Before a family pays for a hotel they have never seen, they want the answer from someone who has seen what happens after check-in.
Why is a recommendation a matter of memory?
On the desks I worked, the most valuable thing an experienced agent carried was knowing which hotels held up: which kept the room it promised, which suited a family, and which only suited the client who wanted the lowest price.
The choice is wide. In the booking records of the desks I worked, more than 9,710 hotels appear as distinct entities. No client can weigh that many, and a review page shows each hotel on its own. What a desk adds is the judgement across them: which one to send this client to, learned from how the last client came home.
Why does it matter for the agency?
In this study, half the travellers used AI for inspiration and 41% turned to travel agents for recommendations. So do not compete with AI on inspiration; let it have the brochure. Compete on the record: after every trip, write down how the hotel held up, and for whom, then put that in the recommendation itself. A client can find reviews anywhere. Only your desk can say which hotel your own clients came back happy from.
Source: TradeArabia — Saudi visitors stay longer, spend more as AI reshapes travel habits: Visa.