USF expert says more people are using AI to plan vacations – Bay News 9

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TAMPA, Fla. — Artificial intelligence has found its way into many aspects of our lives, but would you trust it to plan a vacation?
An expert from the University of South Florida said travelers are increasingly using AI for trip recommendations, such as Amy and Mark Adams, who used it to help with a trip to Italy.
“It’s always been in my head since I was like 15, 16 years old,” Amy Adams said.
The Adams considered taking a cruise, but they wanted to make their own schedule and see the things they wanted to see. After hearing about a friend using artificial intelligence for trip recommendations, Amy took to ChatGPT.
“This is just kind of where we started with me saying, ‘I want to go to Italy for nine full days. I want to go from Venice to Florence to Rome, the Amalfi Coast and back to Rome using the rails if possible,’” Amy said, showing her ChatGPT discussion.
ChatGPT gave her a generic breakdown of the trip. From there, Amy asked more personalized questions to find the best local spots that were off the beaten path.
“It literally spit out hotels and restaurants. It went from the most expensive to the least expensive to the little, small family-owned places,” said Mark Adams.
Thanks to AI, they even came across a private farm tour and cooking class that Amy said she probably wouldn’t have found without it.
“They had their outdoor table, and it overlooked the Gulf of Naples, and you just sat out there and sun was setting. I cried because I was like, this is the most amazing experience,” Amy said.
The use of AI for travel is quickly growing. The University of South Florida cited data from Skift’s U.S. Travel Tracker Survey that shows the percentage of travelers using AI tools to plan trips grew from 38% in 2024 to 55% in 2025. Assistant Professor of Instruction at USF Seden Doğan said AI can make life easier for vacationers.
“If you want to do it by yourself, you have to spend a lot of hours searching on Google or reading all the reviews and everything. But AI is actually summarizing everything for you in just seconds,” said Seden Doğan.
Doğan said the key to using AI is to give it a detailed prompt to get the best personalized results. But she said not to rely on it because it could give inaccurate replies.
“Use AI as your travel assistant, not to make it like your travel boss, because travel is all about spontaneous, unplanned moments. But on the other side, you of course want to know where to go, where to eat, or where to visit,” Doğan said.
The Adams verified all the important details of their vacation on their own, and it made for a trip that they will never forget.
“Trip of a lifetime. We saw and did everything we wanted to do,” Amy said.
Dogan says that AI platforms typically store the information that you feed them.
She said not to give personal information like your address, credit card information or phone number.

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