Gen Z’s travel agent? It’s a bot with better ideas

Synthetic intelligence, digital funds, and mobile-first platforms are quickly reworking the tourism business in India. The shift, led by youthful travellers however more and more being adopted throughout age teams, is prompting firms to revamp their expertise stack for catering to the surging demand for velocity, flexibility, and curated journey experiences.

Almost 40% of Gen Z bookings on journey platform Yatra are at the moment made simply 3-5 days previous to a visit, mentioned Bharatt Malik, senior vice chairman, flights and lodge enterprise. “This cohort expects prompt suggestions, versatile funds and fast turnarounds,” he mentioned. “AI helps us personalise presents and push related choices even for last-minute journey”.

As many as 59% of Indian travellers are tapping AI instruments to assist plan journeys or make bookings, in accordance with a latest report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Whereas the development is the best amongst Gen Z travellers, additionally it is extending to others in search of personalised itineraries and exercise recommendations. Reserving.com information confirmed 44% of Gen Z customers are already utilizing AI to find actions throughout holidays.

With home leisure journey anticipated to develop at 12% yearly via 2040, platforms are betting on a mixture of automation, cost flexibility and real-time personalisation to serve a base that’s more and more impulsive, app-first and experience-focused, consultants mentioned.

Digital funds, notably UPI, have turn out to be the default, marked by the rising use of EMI choices, particularly for youthful travellers reserving activity-led brief breaks.

“There’s a 10-12% increased utilization of UPI and EMI in youthful cohorts,” mentioned Malik. “It’s not nearly affordability — it’s about enabling spontaneous journey with out upfront monetary pressure.”

Rikant Pittie, co-founder at journey platform EaseMyTrip, mentioned shorter, high-energy holidays are pushing extra travellers to go for versatile cost instruments. “Many plans are made days earlier than the journey. Pay-later choices assist them e-book with out overthinking,” he mentioned.

Platforms are additionally responding to modifications in how journey locations are found.

Social media is influencing not simply locations however reserving behaviour.

At Zostel, 80% of weekend travellers are Gen Z, with many selecting places primarily based on what they’ve seen on Reels or through influencers. This demand sample is now being fed into AI-driven advice engines to align trending locations with consumer curiosity, mentioned consultants.

There may be additionally a notable rise in mobile-driven micro-travel, entailing breaks of 2-3 days booked completely on cell apps, mentioned Gaurav Malik, nation director at Agoda.

“Travellers are searching for fast combos of keep, transit and native experiences. Our focus is on lowering steps between search and reserving,” he mentioned.

Although AI is shaping location discovery and funds have gotten frictionless, as many as 80% of travellers nonetheless favor direct human help in journey planning, the BCG report identified. That is particularly for complicated itineraries or group journey, indicating that the rising hybrid mannequin within the Indian journey market is prone to persist.