According to Kaspersky’s recent global survey, less than a third (23%) of respondents from South Africa trust AI to plan trips, however 98% of those that do are satisfied with this experience with 83% planning to use it in the future.
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of using the Internet, transforming the way we search and verify information. As AI continues to evolve, its presence grows accordingly, making AI-powered tools almost ubiquitous. At the height of the international tourist season, Kaspersky decided to find out how often people are using AI in travel planning, and what aspects of their trip tourists are ready to entrust to artificial intelligence.
Who uses AI and why?
The survey confirmed that AI has become a widespread tool among active Internet users, 80% of respondents from South Africa claimed to use AI at least once. It turned out that the most popular use of AI is for research, with 81% of local respondents confirming it was the most common use of AI. Studying (50%) and experimenting with the technology (50%) tied in second place. Third place went to AI for work (48%). Entertainment (36%) come in fourth place. AI in travel planning, with 23% of votes, is not yet among the most popular uses of AI. Regardless of the relatively small percentage of users who applied AI in travel planning, almost all of them (98%) were satisfied with this experience.
AI in travel planning.
For travellers, AI retains its most popular function – research. 65% of local respondents, who have used AI in travel planning, trusted AI to identify events and other activities for them whether that was finding suitable excursions, popular tourist routes and souvenir shops. 68% used AI to select an accommodation, 61% made a list of restaurants with its help and 60% even assigned AI to search for tickets. Interestingly, families with children more actively used various AI functions in preparing for travel than childless audience suggesting AI is helping users to save time.
Compared to information research, AI-powered booking was less popular across all groups. According to the survey, 55% of respondents from South Africa booked hotels via AI services, 49% booked tickets and 47% booked restaurants with the help of AI. Notably, 51% of local participants stated that they resorted to the help of AI in solving visa and migration questions, which raises some concerns. Recently the story about an Australian writer who couldn’t fly to a conference in Chile because of the wrong visa advice from the ChatGPT suggests the risks of AI hallucinations outweigh the time saving benefits for the most critical applications.
“Some trends in AI usage we observed show that the role of AI in solving everyday issues is changing. The respondents all value their time and prefer the personalised outputs that AI provides. Already this technology is maturing and rapidly delivering on its promise of better research and generating creative ideas. By choosing the most suitable options it becomes an important decision aid, which of course provokes reflection about the credibility of data it provides. AI-powered services are becoming increasingly in-demand tools for solving a variety of tasks, including travel planning, however, we should still remember that the decision is ours to make,” comments Vladislav Tushkanov, Group Manager at Kaspersky AI Technology Research Center at Kaspersky.
To ensure the safety of your travels Kaspersky recommends:
- Always double-check the information that AI provides. Do not make purchases or book on websites until you verify their authenticity independently.
- While planning a trip, do not forget about the mobile Internet abroad. Consider using an eSIM to always stay in touch with your family and friends.
- Always double-check Wi-Fi networks before connecting, use a VPN and avoid auto-joining unfamiliar hotspots.
- Protect your devices, do not leave them unattended in crowded places, set strong passwords and install a reliable security solution, which will help protect them from various cyber threats.
