KEY POINTS
- Clients now arrive armed with AI-generated travel answers, pushing advisors to respond faster and more accurately.
- AI’s ease and confidence have shifted what people believe expert guidance should sound like, creating new demand for nuance and verification.
- Advisors must balance AI-like speed with professional insight to maintain client trust in a changing travel landscape.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping what travel clients expect from their advisors by altering how people research and understand trip planning before they even make contact. Clients frequently consult AI tools for information on destinations, documentation, weather and travel logistics, and they often arrive with pre-formed opinions — some accurate, others misleading. This has shifted the baseline of knowledge that advisors must address, raising expectations for speed and clarity in expert responses.
The immediate availability of AI-generated answers influences the tone and format clients expect when discussing travel plans. Automated systems can produce polished, confident responses in seconds, regardless of accuracy. As a result, human advisors now find themselves competing with the confidence and speed of AI outputs, even though they possess deeper insight and professional experience. This comparison can lead clients to misinterpret thoughtful, nuanced advice as uncertainty when it deviates from blunt AI assertions.
That dynamic marks a significant shift in the travel advisory profession. Advisors are no longer simply interpreters of supplier data and planners of logistics; they are also validators and correctors of information that clients have already encountered through AI. The emphasis is increasingly on providing verified, contextualised guidance that balances rapid communication with precise, tailored recommendations.
Multiple industry trends support this evolving expectation. Surveys of travel professionals show that AI usage among advisors themselves has grown significantly, with many using tools daily or weekly to support research, itinerary building and content creation. Integration with AI is becoming routine in agency workflows, and technology increasingly handles repetitive tasks so advisors can focus on client relationships and customisation.
At the same time, data reveals that clients are also embracing AI in their own travel planning. A growing percentage of travellers worldwide use generative AI to generate ideas, explore destinations, assess options and even plan parts of trips independently. This mainstream adoption reinforces the perception that rapid, AI-style responses are the norm and that advisors must match this pace to remain relevant.
Despite AI’s capabilities, advisors play a crucial role that technology alone cannot replace — interpreting complex situations, negotiating travel contracts, foreseeing risk, and offering personalised service rooted in real relationships and on-the-ground knowledge. Clients may begin conversations with AI outputs, but they still look to human experts to verify facts, adjust plans and provide assurance when details matter.
The challenge for travel professionals is not to compete with AI speed alone, but to use that speed as part of their service while preserving accuracy, judgment and strategic guidance. This balancing act requires advisors to integrate AI tools into their workflows effectively, using them to augment expertise without sacrificing the credibility and depth that clients seek.
Industry analysts suggest that advisors who can demonstrate thoughtful understanding and reliable verification will maintain trust even as clients increasingly consult AI early in the planning process. Advisors who position themselves as indispensable through both efficient communication and nuanced insight are better placed to meet evolving client expectations in an AI-influenced landscape.
As AI continues to evolve, travel professionals are adapting their roles to emphasise personal connection, deep destination knowledge and bespoke service. These differentiators help ensure that human expertise remains central to travel planning, even when clients start with information gleaned from generative AI.
