More than half of Asian travellers now use artificial intelligence to help plan a trip, but most still insist on making the actual hotel booking themselves, according to new research from Singapore-headquartered Agoda.
Key Takeaways
- 53% of surveyed Asian travellers now use AI to plan trips, up from 33% a year ago.
- 89% want some say in the final hotel booking, while only 6% would let an AI agent book entirely on its own.
- AI use for building an itinerary more than doubled in Vietnam (30% to 63%) and nearly doubled in Taiwan (35% to 63%).
Agoda’s 2027 Asia Travel Pulse, released on 4 November, surveyed 3,395 respondents across 11 markets — Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam — between September and October 2026. The headline finding on AI travel planning in Asia is a sharp jump in adoption: 53% of travellers said they now use AI tools to plan a trip, up from 33% in the previous year’s survey. Vietnam and Taiwan recorded the biggest swings, with AI use for itinerary building more than doubling in Vietnam, from 30% to 63%, and nearly doubling in Taiwan, from 35% to 63%.
Where travellers actually use AI
The survey suggests AI has settled into the early, exploratory stages of a trip rather than the booking itself. Building an itinerary was the most common use, cited by 64% of respondents, followed by getting general travel inspiration (45%) and comparing hotels or flights (44%). Only 7% said they would use AI to actually make a booking. Taiwan (75%) and South Korea (73%) had the highest share of travellers using AI to build an itinerary, well above the regional average.
Travellers still want the final say
Despite the rise in AI usage, the survey found most Asian travellers are not ready to hand over the booking decision. 57% said they would rather book a hotel on their own, and a further 32% said they would only let an AI agent book if conditions were attached. Taken together, 89% of respondents want to retain some control over the booking — compared with just 6% who said they would trust an AI agent to book entirely on their behalf.
“Research that used to take travellers hours can now be done in a single conversation with an AI assistant,” said Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer at Agoda. “When it comes to the booking itself, many travellers still want to make the final decision on their own terms. The findings give the industry a clear view of what helps travellers feel more confident using AI, including real reviews, clear sources and access to a person when they need one.”
Among travellers open to AI handling a booking, 23% said they would allow it only with a final review before confirmation, while 9% would limit AI to simple or low-cost bookings. South Korea and Vietnam stood out as the markets most open to AI booking, with more than six in ten respondents in each market willing to consider it. Vietnam also had the highest share of travellers who said they would trust an AI agent completely, at 19%, against a regional average of 6%.
What would make travellers trust AI more
Asked what would increase their trust in an AI travel assistant, 25% of respondents pointed to real reviews from other travellers, the single biggest factor. This was followed by being shown where information comes from (24%), access to a real person when needed (18%), and having the AI explain why it made a particular recommendation (15%).
Agoda said it is building its own AI tools around those priorities. Its AI-powered multimodal content system matches hotel photos with guest reviews that describe them, covering more than 700 million images across over 40 languages. The company’s AI Assistant, launched in the Agoda app, lets travellers plan and manage a trip through conversation, with real-time pricing and availability built in.
Agoda is part of Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) and employs more than 7,000 staff across 27 markets, with its app available in 39 languages.
