Question
Will travellers let AI book travel for them?
Short answer
Mostly not yet. About 12% are comfortable with AI making independent decisions, around 6% would let it handle most of their planning, and a quarter to a third would let it complete a booking they had already specified.
Delegation is where the AI travel story currently stops. Adoption of AI for planning is approaching the majority in most markets; adoption of AI for deciding is in single digits.
The ordering of the three figures is informative. Fewest travellers will let AI decide what to do (6%). Slightly more will let it make independent decisions in general (12%). Considerably more — a quarter to a third, depending on the market — will let it execute a booking they have already defined. Travellers will delegate the transaction, not the judgement.
The 80% of frequent travellers who report comfort with AI for planning is not in tension with this. Comfort with a tool and authority over a decision are different grants, and travellers are currently giving the first and withholding the second.
Why credible sources differ
Amadeus (≈6%) and Booking.com (12%) differ mainly because Amadeus asks about handling 'most' of a trip while Booking.com asks about independent decisions in general. Phocuswright's quarter-to-a-third range is higher again because completing a specified booking is a narrower, lower-risk grant of authority.