Three Years of TripGenie and the Global Rise of AI Travel

Three years after the launch of TripGenie, the AI assistant embedded in Trip.com Group’s ecosystem, a clearer picture is emerging of how travellers worldwide are embracing artificial intelligence in very different ways, from early trip inspiration to real-time problem solving on the road.

From Pilot Feature to Core Trip-Planning Companion

TripGenie was introduced by Trip.com Group in 2023 as an AI assistant capable of building itineraries, handling customer questions and integrating with the company’s broader online travel platform. Recent corporate materials describe it as a key layer in the group’s digital strategy, sitting alongside customer service chatbots and dynamic pricing tools to streamline the booking journey.

According to publicly available information from Trip.com Group, a large share of TripGenie queries are itinerary focused, with users asking for day-by-day plans that blend flights, hotels, attractions and local transport. That emphasis mirrors a wider shift across the travel sector, where surveys show “general research” and destination discovery as the most common AI use cases in trip planning.

Industry analysis from technology and consulting firms indicates that traffic to AI-enabled travel planning pages has surged in the past two years, with one major report citing a several-thousand-percent increase in AI-driven visit share between mid-2024 and mid-2025. In this context, TripGenie’s three-year trajectory illustrates how quickly AI assistants have moved from experimental add-ons to core navigation tools for complex travel platforms.

Other AI-native planners, from messaging-based assistants to itinerary-first booking sites, have emerged over the same period, but TripGenie is notable for being embedded directly in one of the world’s largest online travel ecosystems. That positioning has turned it into a useful case study for how mainstream travellers interact with AI when it is surfaced contextually inside an existing booking flow.

Growing Adoption, With Regional and Generational Gaps

TripGenie’s expansion is unfolding against a backdrop of rising but uneven global adoption of AI for travel. A November 2024 international survey compiled by a major data provider reported that roughly four in ten consumers worldwide had used an AI-based tool for some aspect of trip planning. More detailed breakdowns show higher engagement in certain markets, including parts of Asia and the Middle East, compared with more cautious uptake in segments of Europe and North America.

Separate traveller sentiment studies conducted in 2024 and 2025 point to a pronounced generational divide. Research published by risk and travel assistance firms found that only around a quarter of all respondents had used AI for trip planning, but usage was substantially higher among travellers under 35 than among those over 55. Similar work by consumer insights companies in the United States has recorded greater comfort with AI among younger adults, even as overall familiarity with the technology increases across age groups.

Regional research also highlights changing attitudes over time. One longitudinal survey of self-identified frequent travellers reported that global use of AI for trip planning more than doubled between late 2024 and mid-2025. Another study focused on American vacationers showed that a meaningful minority already rely on large language models for key stages of planning, with adoption growing several percentage points year over year.

TripGenie’s user base reflects these patterns. While Trip.com Group’s core business is rooted in Asia, the assistant is being used by a geographically diverse audience that accesses the company’s brands from across Europe and other regions. Publicly available descriptions of the service suggest that it is particularly attractive to digitally confident travellers who are already comfortable managing complex bookings online and are looking for faster ways to stitch together flights, hotels and activities.

Different Tasks, Different Tools: How Travellers Use AI Day to Day

Survey data from research firms and travel companies indicates that travellers are not using AI in a single uniform way. Instead, they tend to match specific tools to specific tasks. Adobe’s analysis of U.S. consumers, for example, highlights that more than half of those who have tried AI for trip planning rely on it primarily to research local attractions, restaurants and hidden spots, while substantial shares use it to create detailed itineraries or track budgets.

Other studies show that only a minority of travellers currently depend on AI to uncover cheaper deals, but many are turning to it for qualitative help, such as understanding neighbourhoods, reading suggested day plans or translating local phrases. A 2025 survey fielded by a cyber-security company across fifteen countries found that less than a third of respondents entrusted their travel planning to AI, yet the vast majority of those who did reported high satisfaction and said they expected to keep using such tools.

TripGenie’s own positioning aligns with these behaviours. Corporate reports describe the assistant as handling a large volume of itinerary questions, with travellers asking for multiday plans within a single city or across several destinations. By drawing on Trip.com Group’s inventory, the assistant can surface concrete options for flights, hotels and tours, effectively linking open-ended inspiration with transactional booking pathways.

At the same time, many travellers still prefer to combine AI results with traditional resources, including review sites and destination marketing content. Recent thought-leadership publications from consulting firms argue that AI is becoming a “co-pilot” rather than a replacement, helping users narrow options quickly before they cross-check details and make final decisions through more familiar channels.

Contrasting Use Cases: China, the United States and Beyond

TripGenie’s origins in the Trip.com Group ecosystem place it within a broader wave of AI adoption on Chinese travel platforms. Academic work using large-scale platform data has examined the use of embedded AI assistants on major Chinese online travel sites, finding surprisingly strong uptake among older and highly engaged users, in contrast with the youth-skewed profile often associated with general-purpose AI tools.

In the United States, the pattern has developed differently. Surveys spotlight a mix of enthusiasm and caution, with one nationally representative poll in 2025 showing that about one third of U.S. travellers use AI tools at some point in their trip planning or on-the-ground experience. Research published by marketing and analytics companies indicates that usage is often highest in tech-forward cities, where AI planners sometimes rival or even surpass traditional travel websites as a starting point for inspiration.

European studies portray another variation. Work commissioned by professional services firms across several European markets suggests that interest in AI travel assistants is increasing, particularly for gathering ideas and sample itineraries, but many respondents still express reservations about accuracy and bias. In these markets, travellers appear more likely to treat systems like TripGenie as advisory rather than authoritative, integrating their recommendations into a broader mix of guidebooks, blogs and local advice.

Across regions, usage also varies by trip type. Business travellers and frequent flyers are more likely to seek time-saving automation for recurring routes, such as airport transfers and hotel choices, while leisure travellers use assistants like TripGenie to experiment with entirely new combinations of destinations and activities. Long-haul and multi-city itineraries generate especially high engagement, according to research into AI travel behaviour, because they present more variables for the assistant to coordinate.

From Inspiration to Infrastructure: What Three Years of TripGenie Signals Next

Three years of TripGenie and parallel developments at competing platforms point to a broader shift in how AI is embedded in travel. Early tools were largely standalone chatbots focused on answering individual questions. Newer systems are being integrated as infrastructure, orchestrating everything from personalised offers to real-time disruption management behind the scenes.

Recent industry reports describe AI travel assistants moving along the full journey arc, from pre-trip inspiration to in-trip support and post-trip feedback collection. Survey findings from analytics providers show that many users now turn to AI not only before departure but also while navigating delays, finding alternative routes or adjusting plans due to weather and closures. This evolution is reshaping expectations of what a digital travel companion can deliver.

For platforms like Trip.com Group, TripGenie also serves as a laboratory for experimenting with multimodal models that can interpret maps, photos and user-generated content alongside text. Academic research into specialised travel models suggests that tuning large language and vision systems on tourism-specific data can significantly improve performance on tasks such as understanding urban scenes, recommending attractions or sequencing activities in a realistic way.

Looking ahead, analysts anticipate that regulatory frameworks, data privacy norms and consumer trust will heavily influence the next phase of AI travel assistants. While current surveys highlight high satisfaction rates among those who already use tools like TripGenie, they also reveal a sizable share of travellers who remain hesitant. The next few years are likely to test whether embedded assistants can balance personalisation with transparency as they move from experimental features to indispensable infrastructure for planning and experiencing travel worldwide.