Recommendations from family and friends, internet searches without AI assistance and travel websites and guidebooks remain the most popular sources.
ABTA’s new Holiday Habits 2026-27 Report released finds the proportion of people using AI tools as a source for holiday inspiration continues to rise, now at 14%, up from 8% in 2025 and 4% the year before that.
Those aged 25-34 years old are leading the use of AI, with twice as many as the average using it for inspiration at 29%, up 11 percentage points in a year.
However, the research reveals recommendations from family and friends (42%), general internet searching - without AI assistants (37%), and travel websites and guidebooks (35%) maintained their positions as the most popular sources for holiday inspiration in the past 12 months.
Getting inspiration from travel agents and tour operators is in line with the last year at 21%, and the use of holiday / destination brochures is only marginally down compared with last year at 23% (see end for full list of most popular sources for holiday inspiration).
This shows that people are not necessarily replacing more established sources with AI when it comes to researching holidays. But advances in technology, and a willingness to embrace them, see people increasingly look to AI for inspiration.
When combining those who used AI tools with those who drew from the AI summaries of internet searches2 it makes AI as popular as social media platforms at 24% as sources for holiday inspiration.
AI is now a more popular source of inspiration than film and TV shows (13%) and newspapers and magazines (11%), albeit AI itself may draw upon these sources to show recommendations.
People may be using AI as part of the holiday decision process, but for different things, and many people still value the expertise and reassurance of using travel agents and tour operators.
This is highlighted by an increase to 38% (from 34%), of people booking their overseas holidays though a travel professional in the past 12 months, with the reasons being ease of booking (60%), saving time (45%) and value for money (44%).
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA – The Travel Association, said: “AI is an increasingly popular source for holiday inspiration but hasn’t replaced more established ways of researching holidays. It’s encouraging to see that trusted travel agents and tour operators retain their levels of popularity, despite the march of AI. Travel is, by its nature, a highly personal business. What our members do particularly well is offer real expertise, build relationships with customers, and get to know their individual preferences. It’s hard for AI to replicate that and so, while it provides exciting new ways for people to get ideas for their next trip, it’s not about to replace that all-important human touch.”
