AI travel planner: Here's how AI can help you travel from Dubai this year

How much time do you spend planning a holiday, mapping out the budget, the route to take, and the activities that will make the trip worthwhile?

What if you could get an itinerary sorted in a matter of minutes? AI travel planners are helping people do just that.

With so many public holidays to use this year (hurrah!), not to mention your annual leave allowance, now’s the time to start dreaming up your ultimate itinerary.

According to Skyscanner’s Travel Trends 2024 report, globally, 44 percent of travellers are using generative artificial intelligence to help plan and research travel.

But it all depends on the tool you use and the prompts you put in. Here are some things to consider when using AI to plan your trip:

Your travel goals

What sort of traveller are you? Do you want an activity-laden calendar or would you prefer one with leisure built in? Are you looking for adventure or relaxation, culture or a specific experience? All this information is relevant to the description you give your AI travel planner.

The logistics

Add in the type of travel you’ll be doing – by road, rail or flight. And any other metrics you can think of. For example, if you want to go hiking, write about your fitness levels so the AI tool can give you a plan to fit. Similarly, factor in your age.

Mention your budget

Whether you have a budget for the whole holiday or one in mind for a certain experience, mention these so you can get an accurate picture of what’s possible.

Use AI to analyse, but double-check

AI tools are still not 100 percent accurate so there’s room for error – check the options being provided, especially when it comes to costs and the time needed to do particular activities.

Cross-check data on multiple websites to ensure you’ve got the latest, most reliable report.

Types of AI travel planners available in the market include:

Chatbots: These virtual assistants provide instant customer support and travel recommendations.

Predictive algorithms: These can use your data and past travel behaviour to curate your next trip. They’ll give you destination and activity options that align with your interests.

Recommendation engines: Now there is AI software which can give you general suggestions as well as personalised travel plans.

5 AI options to help you plan that perfect trip

Trip Planner AI

This free planner helps you build and personalise your trip based on parameters such as whether you are going solo or in a group, your budget and any other preferences you’d like factored in.

When you go to the website you’ll be asked to feed it information on your destination(s), dates, number of people going and budget. You can also feed in travel insights from Instagram reels and TikToks and it’ll factor that into your plans.

WonderPlan

This free travel plan management option will not only create a plan according to where you want to go and your budget, but also according to parameters such the activities you are interested in (beach, city sightseeing, food exploration, nightlife, etc.) and food preferences (if you want halal food or a vegetarian menu, for example).

Roam Around

Roam Around uses Chat GPT to curate experiences. It gives you a daily summary after taking into consideration all your preferences and allows you to tweak your list of must-visit places as you go along. It also includes flight and hotel suggestions.

TripGen by Trip.com

Head over to Trip.com and talk to its chatbot ,TripGen, for a well-planned map of things to do on your next vacay. Not only will it tell you what to do at a particular attraction but also point out nearby hotels, car rentals and tours you can take.

PlanTripAI.com

With this AI option, you can pick the city, the duration, accommodation, type of traveller you are, budget and mode of travel you are most comfortable with. In seconds, you’ll get an itinerary that takes it all into consideration.

Google Bard

You can also use other platforms such as Google Bard to give you a day’s plan, as long as you give them clear parameters in which to work. It can give you Google Maps linking each location with the next, flight data and suggestions on what to do.

From the sounds of it, all you have to do is come up with your dream holiday – and let AI do the rest.

Time to start saving, right?