# 65 Travel AI Search Statistics (2026)

> Asked which travel company to use, every ChatGPT answer that cited a source cited travel companies' own sites, and Google AI Mode 81.43%. Asked how travel works, ChatGPT cited the government first, Google AI Mode mostly linked nothing, and companies got in on their own rules, data and trips.

By Vlad Shvets, Partner @ Qvery · Published 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-11-09 · 10 min read
Canonical: https://qvery.ai/blog/travel-ai-search-statistics/

Your travel website sells trips on its homepage and booking pages, then explains them in its FAQ and terms. Checking only whether AI recommends your company misses what it tells travelers to expect.

Checking for your name in answers to "best tour company for Peru" or "best travel insurance for seniors" tests only how travelers choose a company.

Travelers ask the other kind of question too: whether the insurance on their credit card is enough, how far ahead to book an international flight, whether to book tours before they land.

So on October 20, 2026, we asked ChatGPT and Google AI Mode, Google's chat-style search answers, both kinds of travel question from the United States, choosing a company and asking how travel works, and read every source each answer cited. A citation is a page an answer linked as a source, not a recommendation and not a booking, and shares of what was cited are of the answers that cited at least one source.

The questions on choosing a company asked for booking sites, insurers, tour and cruise sellers, rental and transfer firms, and trip-planning apps. The how-travel-works questions asked about entry rules, insurance and refunds, miles and cards, booking and fares, and planning the trip.

Asked which company to use, ChatGPT and Google AI Mode cite travel companies' own sites. Asked about the rules, they cite the government. Travel companies still get cited for their own rules, data, or trips.

> 💡 **Highlights** 
> - Travel companies' own sites appeared in **100.00%** of ChatGPT's answers on choosing a company and **81.43%** of Google AI Mode's.
> - On how travel works, ChatGPT cited the government in **66.42%** of answers, against **3.34%** when travelers chose a company.
> - **81.39%** of the sites ChatGPT cited on how-travel-works questions never appeared in its choosing answers; on Google AI Mode, **77.67%**.
> - Google AI Mode linked a source in **43.38%** of its how-travel-works answers, against 97.22% of its choosing answers.

## Travelers Use AI to Research a Trip About as Often as to Get Recommendations

When Booking.com asked 37,325 people in 33 markets how they use AI to plan a trip, the three most common uses sat two points apart: researching destinations and the best time to visit (38%), finding local experiences (37%) and getting restaurant recommendations (36%)[^1].

The first is a request for an explanation, the third a request for a recommendation. Two in three of those respondents (67%) had already used AI in some part of travel[^1].

A Cornell study of US travelers found the same tilt toward discovery: AI was most widely used for discovery tasks, particularly identifying activities and attractions[^2].

In Expedia Group's own March 2026 survey of adults in the US, the UK and India, 53% were comfortable letting AI suggest travel options, but only 8% of US and UK travelers relied on AI chatbots when planning a trip, and 68% preferred to book with a travel brand they trust[^3].

The engines answering those questions are not small:

- **1 billion+** monthly active users of Google AI Mode, May 2026[^4]
- **80%** faster growth of planning queries than of all AI Mode queries in the US, six months to May 2026[^4]
- **1.2 billion** weekly ChatGPT users, by OpenAI's count in September 2026[^5]

Source: Google: How AI Mode Is Changing and Expanding the Way People Search in the U.S. (2026); OpenAI: DevDay 2026 Recap (2026)

Google's planning figure covers all planning, not travel alone. For your business, choosing questions build the shortlist; how-travel-works questions set expectations for the trip.

## Asked Which Company to Use, ChatGPT and Google AI Mode Cite the Travel Companies' Own Sites

Ask ChatGPT for the best cruise booking sites or a travel insurer for an adventure trip, and every answer that cited a source cited at least one travel company's own site: 100.00%. Google AI Mode did in 81.43% of its choosing answers.

A large share of those links go to the front door: on ChatGPT, **56.89%** of the links to travel companies pointed at a homepage, and on Google AI Mode 40.78%. The rest were mostly the pages a traveler books from: a flight search, a cruise deals page, an insurance plan's benefits.

Beside them sit the best-of lists on publishers' sites. **80.50%** of ChatGPT's choosing answers cited a publisher, blog or comparison site, and one travel-rewards publisher, Upgraded Points, appeared in 29.25% of them by itself.

Google AI Mode cited publishers in 53.71%, with Forbes and U.S. News among its most cited, and added the source ChatGPT mostly leaves out: Reddit, in **24.86%** of Google AI Mode's choosing answers.

**Asked Which Company to Use, ChatGPT and Google AI Mode Cite the Travel Companies Themselves** (% of choosing answers)

Travel companies' own sites appeared in 100.00% of ChatGPT's choosing answers and 81.43% of Google AI Mode's; publishers in 80.50% and 53.71%; communities and reviews in 15.04% and 33.71%.

| Label | ChatGPT | Google AI Mode |
|---|---:|---:|
| Travel companies' own sites | 100.00% | 81.43% |
| Publishers and comparison sites | 80.50% | 53.71% |
| Google's own pages | 28.69% | 10.57% |
| Communities and reviews | 15.04% | 33.71% |
| Government and official bodies | 3.34% | 0.00% |

Share of choosing answers that cited any source and cited at least one site of each kind, by engine. Travel questions asked from the US on October 20, 2026; ChatGPT with web search on. An answer can cite several kinds. Source: Qvery research: ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers to travel questions (October 20, 2026)

For the choice, then, the page these answers read for you is often your homepage, beside two or three best-of lists that describe you in their own words. Whoever edits the homepage is the first person to brief.

## Asked How Travel Works, ChatGPT Cites the Government Before Anyone Else

ChatGPT cited government or official bodies in **66.42%** of how-travel-works answers, against 3.34% of choosing answers. Publishers appeared in 39.55%, banks and card issuers, each the bank that creates and backs a card, in 15.67%, mostly for points and cards. Communities appeared in **0.00%**.

By links rather than answers, the government carried **46.59%** of everything ChatGPT linked on these questions, and 0.46% on the choosing ones.

**On ChatGPT, the Government Replaces the Travel Companies When Travelers Ask How** (% of ChatGPT answers)

On ChatGPT, government and official bodies went from 3.34% of choosing answers to 66.42% of how-travel-works answers, while travel companies' own sites went from 100.00% to 41.04%.

| Label | Which-company questions | How-it-works questions |
|---|---:|---:|
| Travel companies' own sites | 100.00% | 41.04% |
| Publishers and comparison sites | 80.50% | 39.55% |
| Government and official bodies | 3.34% | 66.42% |
| Google's own pages | 28.69% | 9.70% |
| Banks and card issuers | 1.11% | 15.67% |
| Communities and reviews | 15.04% | 0.00% |

ChatGPT only: share of answers that cited any source and cited at least one site of each kind, choosing questions against how-travel-works questions. Travel questions asked from the US on October 20, 2026, with web search on. Source: Qvery research: ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers to travel questions (October 20, 2026)

**Rules Questions Cite the Government; Miles and Fares Questions Cite Travel Companies** (% of ChatGPT how-travel-works answers)

Every ChatGPT answer on entry rules, documents and safety cited the government, against 9.68% citing a travel company, while on miles, points and travel cards travel companies led, 55.00% to 30.00%.

| Label | Government and official bodies | Travel companies' own sites |
|---|---:|---:|
| Entry rules, documents and safety | 100.00% | 9.68% |
| Insurance, refunds and traveler rights | 85.00% | 45.00% |
| Planning the trip | 60.00% | 36.67% |
| Booking and fares | 51.52% | 63.64% |
| Miles, points and travel cards | 30.00% | 55.00% |

ChatGPT only: share of how-travel-works answers that cited any source and cited the government or a travel company's own site, by kind of question. Each kind holds a handful of questions: read the rows as direction. Asked from the US on October 20, 2026. Source: Qvery research: ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers to travel questions (October 20, 2026)

On visas, passports, vaccines and safety, every ChatGPT answer that cited a source cited the government, travel.state.gov most of all. Travel companies appeared in about one in ten of those answers.

A tour operator's visa page competes with the State Department. Link the official rules and keep your page for what only you know, such as what your trip asks of a traveler on the ground.

The questions where travel companies hold their ground are about their own products. They were cited in nearly two in three of the answers on booking and fares and about half of those on miles, points and travel cards, the two kinds where the government cited least.

## Google AI Mode Links a Source on Fewer Than Half Its How-Travel-Works Answers

Google AI Mode linked a source in 97.22% of choosing answers but only **43.38%** of how-travel-works answers.

**Google AI Mode Links a Source to Almost Every Choice and to One Planning Answer in Ten** (% of Google AI Mode answers citing any source)

Google AI Mode cited a source in 97.22% of its choosing answers and in 10.00% of its answers on planning a trip.

| Label | Value |
|---|---:|
| Which-company questions | 97.22% |
| Insurance, refunds and traveler rights | 70.00% |
| Entry rules, documents and safety | 59.38% |
| Booking and fares | 44.12% |
| Miles, points and travel cards | 40.00% |
| Planning the trip | 10.00% |

Google AI Mode only: share of all answers that cited at least one source, by kind of question. Travel questions asked from the US on October 20, 2026. Source: Qvery research: ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers to travel questions (October 20, 2026)

Planning questions were the emptiest: only about one of Google AI Mode's planning answers in ten linked anything. When it did link on how-travel-works questions, it read publishers (62.71%), travel companies (52.54%), the government (35.59%) and communities (33.90%).

Which-company answers give your pages more chances to appear on Google AI Mode: they link almost every time.

## Most Sites Behind the How-Travel-Works Answers Never Appear When Travelers Choose

**81.39%** of the sites ChatGPT cited on how-travel-works questions never appeared in any of its choosing answers. On Google AI Mode the figure was 77.67%.

**Most-cited sites in ChatGPT's travel answers, October 2026**

| Rank | Which-company answers | How-it-works answers |
|---:|---|---|
| 1 | expedia.com: 39.83% | state.gov: 34.33% |
| 2 | kayak.com: 38.16% | transportation.gov: 14.93% |
| 3 | upgradedpoints.com: 29.25% | nerdwallet.com: 11.94% |
| 4 | google.com: 28.69% | cdc.gov: 11.19% |
| 5 | costcotravel.com: 22.01% | chase.com: 10.45% |
| 6 | booking.com: 18.94% | thepointsguy.com: 8.96% |

A single list of sites to watch, built from one kind of question, misses most of the other.

None of it shows up in a screenshot of one answer. The two lists appear only when both kinds of question are asked on ChatGPT and Google AI Mode, again and again.

GEO Agent: https://qvery.ai/geo-agent/

## On How-Travel-Works Questions, Travel Companies Are Cited for Their Own Rules, Data and Trips

ChatGPT still cited a travel company in 41.04% of its how-travel-works answers, and almost never its front door: only **2.30%** of those links went to a homepage, against 56.89% on the choosing questions. On Google AI Mode, none did.

- **56.89%** of ChatGPT's links to travel companies on choosing answers went to a homepage
- **2.30%** of its links to travel companies on how-travel-works answers did
- **0.00%** of Google AI Mode's links to travel companies on how-travel-works answers did

Source: Qvery research: ChatGPT and Google AI Mode answers to travel questions (October 20, 2026)

The pages were the companies writing about what they run:

- Program rules: an airline's miles terms and FAQ, cited when travelers asked how miles are earned, kept and pooled.
- Cover explainers: an insurer's pages on travel delay, trip cancellation and pre-existing conditions.
- Numbers from their own records: Expedia's 2026 Air Hacks report, which draws on its own bookings[^6], and Squaremouth's page on what travel insurance costs, built from its own policy sales (roughly $21 a day on average)[^7].
- Destination knowledge: best-time-to-visit pages from tour operators.

![Two panels: a travel question on choosing a company cites travel companies’ own sites and best-of lists; a how-travel-works question cites government pages first and a company only for its own rules, data or trips.](https://qvery.ai/blog/travel-ai-search-statistics/illustration-two-questions.webp)

*The third line on the right is the only place a travel company appears in the second panel.*

On visas the answers cite the State Department. On your own trips, you hold records nobody else has: how far ahead your travelers book each trip, which months your departures fill, how often a trip changes for weather, what your claims pay out.

> 📌 At Qvery, we help travel companies spend less staff time pulling booking figures by hand and put their revenue and content people on the pages only they can write, with custom AI agents that test what assistants tell travelers against your bookings and draft the findings for your revenue lead to sign. The agents read your booking rows and the recorded answers, nothing that identifies a traveler leaves the company, and nothing goes on the website until a person publishes it.

Your homepage carries the choosing answers, and your own records are what only you can add to the how-travel-works ones. The first belongs to whoever edits the homepage; the second to whoever owns the booking figures.

Have Qvery Build Your Booking-Records Agents: https://calendly.com/qvery-vlad/30min

## Frequently asked questions



### What do AI answers cite when travelers ask which travel company to use?

In the travel questions we asked on October 20, 2026, every ChatGPT answer that cited a source cited at least one travel company's own site, and 56.89% of those links went to a homepage. Google AI Mode cited travel companies in 81.43% of its choosing answers. Publishers' best-of lists sat beside them (80.50% of ChatGPT's answers, 53.71% of Google AI Mode's), and Google AI Mode also cited Reddit in 24.86%.

### What do ChatGPT and Google AI Mode cite for visas, passports and other travel rules?

Government pages led on travel rules in our recorded answers. Every ChatGPT answer about entry rules, documents, and safety that cited a source cited a government or official body, travel.state.gov most of all; only about one in ten cited a travel company. Google AI Mode linked a source in about three in five of those answers.

### Does Google AI Mode cite sources for travel questions?

Google AI Mode linked sources in 97.22% of choosing answers and 43.38% of how-travel-works answers in our travel research. On trip-planning questions such as when to visit or what to pack, it linked a source in one answer in ten.

### Should a travel company track choosing questions and how-travel-works questions separately?

Track both kinds separately because they draw on different sites. In our research, 81.39% of sites ChatGPT cited on how-travel-works questions never appeared in its choosing answers; the figure for Google AI Mode was 77.67%.

### How does a travel company get cited on how-travel-works questions?

In these answers the travel companies cited were writing about what they run: their own rules (loyalty program terms, insurance cover), numbers from their own records, such as Expedia's Air Hacks report built from its bookings[^6], or the destinations they operate. Homepages were 2.30% of those links on ChatGPT. That shows which pages were cited, not that publishing a page gets it cited.

### Does an AI citation mean travelers will book with us?

A citation is a source link, not a recommendation or a booking. In Expedia Group's March 2026 survey, 53% of travelers were comfortable letting AI suggest options, but 68% preferred to book with a travel brand they trust[^3].

### How many travelers use AI to plan trips?

In Booking.com's 2025 survey of 37,325 people in 33 markets, 67% had used AI in some part of travel, most often to research destinations and the best time to visit (38%)[^1]. Relying on AI is a narrower measure: in Expedia Group's 2026 survey, 8% of US and UK travelers relied on AI chatbots when planning a trip[^3].

### Do AI answers link travel companies' homepages?

On choosing questions, often: 56.89% of ChatGPT's links to travel companies went to a homepage, and 40.78% of Google AI Mode's. On how-travel-works questions, 2.30% of ChatGPT's did.

### Do AI travel answers cite publishers and review sites?

Yes: 80.50% of ChatGPT's choosing answers cited a publisher, blog or comparison site, and Google AI Mode cited publishers in 53.71% and Reddit in 24.86%.

### Do travel companies get cited for visa questions?

Rarely: on visas, passports, vaccines and safety, ChatGPT cited the government in every answer that cited a source, and travel companies in about one in ten.

### What do travelers use AI for when planning a trip?

Mostly discovery. A Cornell study of US travelers found AI most widely used for discovery tasks, particularly identifying activities and attractions.[^2]

### Do travelers trust AI to book trips?

Not yet, mostly: in Expedia Group's own March 2026 survey, 53% were comfortable letting AI suggest options, but only 8% of US and UK travelers relied on AI chatbots when planning, and 68% preferred a travel brand they trust.[^3]

### How many people does Google AI Mode reach?

Google said AI Mode passed a billion monthly active users in May 2026, and that planning queries grew 80% faster than all AI Mode queries in the US over the six months before.[^4]

## Sources

[^1]: Booking.com, "Booking.com Releases The Global AI Sentiment Report" (2025), https://news.booking.com/bookingcom-releases-the-global-ai-sentiment-report/
[^2]: Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research, "An Examination of AI in Travel Planning Across Traveler Spending Segments" (2026), https://ecommons.cornell.edu/entities/publication/6fddf25c-ace1-4991-8b22-cfacc658eec9
[^3]: Expedia Group, "Expedia Group Reveals 'The AI Trust Gap': Travelers Embrace AI for Planning but Rely on Trusted Brands to Book" (2026), https://ir.expediagroup.com/news-and-events/news/news-details/2026/Expedia-Group-Reveals-The-AI-Trust-Gap-Travelers-Embrace-AI-for-Planning-but-Rely-on-Trusted-Brands-to-Book/default.aspx
[^4]: Google, "How AI Mode Is Changing and Expanding the Way People Search in the U.S." (2026), https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/ai-mode-us-insights/
[^5]: OpenAI, "DevDay 2026 Recap" (2026), https://openai.com/index/devday-2026-recap/
[^6]: Expedia, "Expedia 2026 Air Hacks: Friday Takes Off as the New Cheapest Day to Depart and Book" (2026), https://www.expedia.com/newsroom/expedia-2026-air-hacks/
[^7]: Squaremouth, "How Much Does Travel Insurance Cost in 2026?" (2026), https://www.squaremouth.com/travel-advice/cost-for-travel-insurance