American Holiday Travel Trends and the Growing Interest in AI-Assisted Trip Planning

• Gen Z shows a significant increase in travel plans for Christmas, and there is a rising interest in AI-assisted trip planning among American travelers.
• American travelers’ financial outlook remains steady, with nearly half expecting their household to be better off in the next year.

According to research by Future Partners, approximately 30% of American travelers have plans for Christmas trips, with Gen Z showing a notable increase in such plans over the past month. Over 10% have New Year’s trip plans. Meanwhile, Americans increasingly prioritize travel in their near-term budgets, showing a nearly 32% year-over-year increase in anticipated trip budgets.

The report also highlights that American travelers’ sense of financial wellness has shown some signs of instability this month. The metric of those who feel their household is better off financially relative to a year ago has dropped below 30% for the first time since September 2023. However, optimism about their financial future remains unfazed, with nearly half of the respondents indicating that they expect their household to be better off next year.

In terms of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in travel planning, 15% of American travelers reported having used an AI tool to plan a trip in the past 12 months. However, interest in such tools has seen a more than 6-point increase in the last six months, rising to 36%. The AI tools’ adoption for travel planning is higher among high-income groups, with 21.6% of travelers with an income of $200K or more saying they have used AI for this purpose, compared to just 12.9% of those with an income of less than $50K or 12.5% with an income between $50K-$90K.

This research also emphasizes that while awareness of AI tools has made notable gains across the traveling American population, adoption of these tools for travel planning remains relatively slow. However, most Gen Z travelers (57.9%) said they are interested in using AI for travel planning, followed by nearly half of Millennial travelers (48.9%).

The research presents an optimistic outlook for the travel industry. An increasing number of Americans are prioritizing travel in their budgets, and there is a rising interest in using AI tools for travel planning. However, adoption of these tools remains slow, indicating a potential growth area for the industry.