Should you use AI to plan your travels?

Last year, in my other work as a travel advisor, I received my first-ever AI-written itinerary from a client. His plan: Spend two weeks in Chile along the Carretera Austral and Tierra del Fuego—both remote destinations with little infrastructure or information about them online.

ChatGPT’s vision was fantasy, ignoring details it considered inconsequential: Geographical proximity between destinations (far) and connecting transport (non-existent). But there it was, in front of me. Artificial intelligence is most definitely here, and here to stay.

From the Alexa in your living room to the algorithms shaping the posts on your social media feeds, AI is already—and has long been—present in almost every aspect of our daily lives. For travelers, tools aplenty streamline the work of designing your next trip; Generative AI trip planners and travel assistants can now spit out personalized recommendations and itineraries faster than you can type ‘artificial intelligence’.

It led me to wonder: What does the future look like if we replace local knowledge with an insentient, machine-learning powered chatbot who has never stepped foot, well, anywhere?

It’s a concern the Greenland tourism board is raising. Last year, it set out its stall clearly: Greenland is a place where chatbots are not invited.

“When we looked into AI and using ChatGPT to try and create a tour for Greenland, it suggested seven different destinations in seven days,” explains Tanny Por, head of international relations at Visit Greenland. “But you can’t do seven places or fly to seven different places in one week.”

With most of the island covered by ice, and the longest road built since World War II measuring just four miles (6.2 kilometers), this isn’t a place where working out how you get around should be a mere afterthought.

Last October, the German tourism board introduced Emma to the world via Instagram … The thing is, she’s not real…

The problem is that generative AI is only as good as the information it can access. These programs mine the internet for data, transforming the knowledge they acquire from global media publications, independent blogs, Reddit forums and the like, into the format you request—whether that’s a list of ‘must-visits’ or a more complex itinerary.

Most are trained on just 100 global languages and Greenlandic was only added to Google Translate in 2024; so historically, these tools have had little access to accurately translated information about the island. Throw in limited reliable content in the first place—typical for a remote, under-visited destination like Greenland—and you’ve got a recipe for AI-generated itineraries that are, at best, inaccurate and, at worst, downright dangerous.

But it’s not just this risk they’re keen to highlight.

“In Greenland, because of the language, because of the space, because of the cold, it makes it even more essential to have that local anchorage,” Por tells me. The video for their Local Knowledge tourism campaign argues AI is no match for ‘authentic intelligence’; the video talks of the ancestral knowledge that means Greenlanders, 90 percent of whom are Indigenous Inuit, are “guided by dogs, our elders and Sassuma Arnaa, Mother of the Sea.”

Using AI, you can miss much of the cultural richness of this destination, says Por: “The nuances of being able to know where the best fishing spots are, or being able to read the clouds,” she explains. Greenland is a place, she thinks, defined by its “underlying storytelling” and local guides can be a conduit between visitor and visited, introducing travelers to ancestral remedies made from local plants, for example.

By comparison, Germany has gone down a radically different route. Last October, their tourism board introduced Emma to the world via Instagram. This Berliner who waxes lyrical about her country has all the hallmarks of a traditional travel influencer: She’s attractive and articulate and posts photos of her sledding in the Black Forest and posing on the beach in Rügen.

The thing is, she’s not real…

 

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Emma is Germany’s first AI influencer. Unsurprisingly, human travel influencers were unimpressed, questioning why real travelers would want to watch an unreal person exploring an AI-generated place. And bizarrely, the imagery of Germany used in her posts is also AI-generated.

On the surface, Emma is both slightly disturbing and raises the question of when, not if, AI will steal our jobs. However, she’s just another chatbot, albeit one gifted a perky demeanor and a confusingly posh British accent. Her ‘opinions’ and expertise are mined from the tourism board’s website, although she’ll eventually have access to real-time data including transport schedules and event calendars.

I’m still not completely convinced about using these types of tools. After all, AI platforms don’t have opinions nor can they provide human guidance the way someone who’s actually visited a country can. Travel planning website AtlasGuru thinks it has the answer.

While chatbots aren’t new, their packaging is evolving. Since its launch in 2023, travel website Matador Network’s assistant GuideGeek has communicated with over a million users via WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger. This chatbot wades through the internet and Matador Network’s thousands of pages of content to advise on your next trip.

CEO Ross Borden understands the criticisms of AI: “I think people need to realize that AI is a tool for finding real experiences with real humans.” He views GuideGeek as useful for pre-trip planning, but when he arrives, his phone is away to allow him to interact fully with the destination. However, he recounts how on a recent trip to Las Vegas, he used GuideGeek to suggest the best restaurants and casinos nearby. “It was faster than even asking a hotel staff to give you advice; you get an answer instantly,” he says.

But what if that’s the issue? Some of the best travel recommendations I’ve received have come from conversations with local people, whether they’ve let me in on a secret hike or instructed me on which traditional dishes I must try. Surely we travel to learn from the people who know a country best what they love about it or what traditions they’re most proud of—rather than to hear the opinions of the tourists whose ideas have been broadcast through AI?

I’m still not completely convinced about using these types of tools. After all, AI platforms don’t have opinions nor can they provide human guidance the way someone who’s actually visited a country, or hails from that country, can. Travel planning website AtlasGuru thinks it has the answer.

Its free itinerary AI planner works a little differently. Over 1,000 trip reports uploaded by 500 contributors covering 125 countries are used to devise an itinerary. Any gaps are filled using the internet, and the finished product links to the itineraries from the platform that inspired the recommendations.

The planner has its limitations: A search for Greenland pulls exclusively from across the internet, which is why the tool encourages users to work with a human, linking to recommended travel partners who can turn the itinerary into a viable reality.

“We want to marry the best of both worlds,” explains its CEO, Kim Bennett, “where travelers can ideate and have different trip ideas—and then bring the experts in.” The premise of Visit Greenland’s campaign is similar: Use their official website and Meet the Locals content series to guide initial trip ideas, before booking with a local tour operator.

It seems an inevitability that AI will only feature more in our travel planning going forward. Melissa Novotny from sustainable tourism consultancy Sea Going Green has her own recommendations for how to use generative AI planning tools to their full potential.

“You have to refine your search,” Novotny explains. “If you just ask for a general itinerary, you might not get something super off-the-beaten-path; you have to be like, ‘I’m looking for an eco-tourism-centered itinerary, and I’m looking for sustainable accommodation that offers vegan options’. The more niche, the more information you give, the better the results are going to be.”

AtlasGuru’s Bennett agrees. “What is the input that you’re putting in your request? Are you asking for culture or local traditions? Are you looking for non-chain restaurants, things like that?”

AI might not be a silver bullet, but perhaps it’s a good start if used wisely—while remembering that face-to-face interactions are the most powerful aspects of travel. “We make a joke that Greenland has a heart of ice because 80 percent of the land mass is the ice sheet in the middle,” Por tells me. “But we do have a heartbeat, and that is the people who are living on it.”

So in a world where AI is encroaching into one of our most revered activities, think of it as your planning aid. Then put your phone away and shift your attention to the humans in front of you.

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