AI Isn’t Killing Travel Agents. It’s Making Them Better
In the battle between travel agents and agentic AI, who wins? The answer is both.
In late August, I was in furious travel-planning mode, arranging trips to three US states and five countries on three continents. Overwhelmed with all the family travel I was squeezing into late summer and several work trips that would follow immediately in the fall, I hadn’t spared a thought for my kids’ December school break.
Luckily, an email hit my inbox: “Google Flights launches new AI search tool.” I tested it out by entering “Christmas week trips on a budget” into the search bar (it’s not a chatbot), and about 20 destinations showed up between Dec. 22 and 28, ranked by how good the deal was. Budapest caught my eye — flights at that time were 27% cheaper than usual. Alas, the cheap flights required multiple layovers. Bust.