Airport Experience® News - Conference Issue 2026

WHAT IS YOUR MAIN REASON FOR REDUCTION IN INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL? (% of US international travelers who traveled less this year)

Personal reasons

32%

Economic uncertainty

28%

The AI Effect AI adoption exploded in 2025 and will only grow this year, led – unsurprisingly – by Millennials and Gen Zers. Talker Research reports that 29% of surveyed American travelers currently use AI to compare flight prices and the same amount use it for travel recommendations, with 21% noting they would trust AI to plan a detailed travel itinerary. Millennials were the most likely to embrace AI for travel destination suggestions, at 37%, with Gen Z close behind at 35%; meanwhile, 69% of Baby Boomers reported they would not use AI at all in their travel planning. Skyscanner’s report asserts that AI is causing a “seismic transformation” in the travel space. “We see that travelers are getting more confident in using AI to plan and book their travel, rising from 47% in 2024 to 54% in 2025, and I expect this trajectory to slowly build in the year ahead,” says Piero Sierra, Skyscanner’s chief product officer, in the report. In its 2025 report “Connected Journeys: How will technology transform travel in the next decade?” travel technology company Amadeus surveyed 9,500 global travelers and found that the percentage of those using generative AI-powered tools for travel planning rose from 11% to 18%, marking a 64% year-on-year increase. The survey showed that 42% of respondents use AI to help them save time planning, 37% use it to receive highly personalized recommendations, and 36% to find new destinations. Biometric technology is another innovation travelers are growing more comfortable with this year. In the Amadeus survey, 69% of respondents said they would consider using biometric gateways in the airport to eliminate the need to stop and show a passport. Similarly, Airports Council International (ACI) World ’s latest “Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Global Traveller Survey” found that among the 4,125 travellers across 30 countries surveyed, 72% are open to biometric solutions, which is up from 57% in 2021, highlighting growing demand for a seamless travel experience as well as one personalized to each traveler.

Rising travel costs

18%

Other

3%

Don’t know

3%

October 20, 2025 - November 11, 2025. US international travelers (who traveled less this year) n> 200.

Source: YouGov

40 30 20 10 0

“THE RISING COST OF TRAVEL IN 2025 HAS IMPACTED MY INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL PLANS”

Agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Disagree

October 20, 2025 - November 11, 2025. Don’t know responses not shown. US international travelers n> 600. Agree and disagree are net scores combining “Strongly/somewhat to agree/disagree” options.

Source: YouGov

TikTok as their favorite way to get travel inspiration (52%), with family and friends recommendations being far less common (27% and 25% respectively).” In its “The Future of Travel” report, Skyscanner also found that social media platforms are top sources of travel inspiration for most of the 22,000 global travelers surveyed. “Social search is the go-to for the younger generations, with platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Reddit , and YouTube gaining increasing authority when it comes to travel inspiration and planning,” says Hannah Pilpel, Skyscanner’s director of social media and community, in the report. “Gen Z, in particular, loves YouTube (54%), Instagram (59%), and TikTok (47%), as well as film and TV (29%) to look for travel inspiration. Video, it’s clear, is vital to capturing Gen Z’s attention.” Choosing vacation spots based on filming locations is a growing trend that Expedia Group calls “set-jetting” in its “Unpack ’26: The Trends in Travel” global report, featuring insights from 24,000 travelers from 18 countries. “First spotlighted by Expedia in 2022, this trend of traveling to destinations inspired by TV shows and movies is now projected to become a potential $8

billion industry in the U.S. alone,” the report says. “Interest is accelerating with 53% of travelers saying their desire to take a set-jetting trip has increased in the past year; and 81 percent of Gen Z and Millennial travelers now planning getaways based on what they’ve seen on screen.”

AI USAGE HAS SKYROCKETED OVER THE LAST YEAR, with an increasing number of younger travelers using generative AI-powered tools to help plan their travel—a trend that’s expected to continue growing this year and beyond.

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AX NEWS MARCH 2026