Korean travelers from the MZ generation use AI to find destinations, but when deciding on actual bookings, they place greater trust in travel communities and platform reviews, a survey found.
Klook, a global travel platform, said Tuesday that its analysis of how Korean MZ generation travelers use AI produced these results. The survey was conducted as a follow-up to "Travel Pulse," Klook's global travel trend study.
Over the past six months, the most common way Korean respondents used AI for travel was "getting help during the trip," at 32%. This involves asking AI about translation, itinerary changes, and travel advice. This was followed by planning transportation routes and travel methods at 30%, comparing prices and travel options at 27%, creating travel itineraries at 26%, and discovering new destinations and activities at 25%.
Those who said they had not yet used AI for trip planning but intend to do so in the future accounted for 14%. Only 3% said they were unfamiliar with AI tools, and just 4% said they had no intention of using AI for travel planning.
By generation, millennials tended to use AI more broadly than Generation Z. Generation Z mainly used AI to obtain information needed during travel, such as getting help during the trip (29%) and planning transportation routes and travel methods (26%). Millennials used AI not only for getting help during the trip (34%) but also at multiple stages, including comparing prices and travel options (32%), planning transportation routes and travel methods (32%), creating travel itineraries (29%), and discovering new destinations and activities (28%).
A trend of AI being used as a channel for exploring destinations was also confirmed. Regardless of when they used it, 47% of Korean MZ generation respondents said they had discovered destinations, tourist attractions, or experience products through AI. By generation, the figure was 42% for Generation Z and 50% for millennials.
At the booking stage, however, trust in existing platforms and user reviews was higher than in AI recommendations. The most trusted information source when booking travel products was online travel communities, at 42%. Travel platform reviews followed at 39%, and recommendations from friends and family at 38%. Only 22% said they trusted AI-generated recommendation information.
Even when AI and travel platforms offered different recommendations for the same destination, platform information prevailed. Those who said they "trust the travel platform" accounted for 38%, while 30% said they "check both but trust the travel platform more." Combining the two responses, 68% of all respondents prioritized platform-based information.
Lee Jun-ho, head of Klook Korea, said, "We confirmed that even when travelers explore travel information through AI, at the actual booking stage they consider verified information and user experiences important." He added, "Klook will enhance the reliability of platform information and expand its hotel category to provide services covering the entire travel process."
