Travel Planning Has Become Overwhelming For Consumers, Report Shows

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 1:30 PM ET, Wed May 1, 2024

The amount of travel-related information available online and through direct marketing has proliferated exponentially over the past few decades and the volume has grown to be overwhelming for the average consumer.

A new study from Accenture underscores as much. According to the just-released results from the company’s 2024 Consumer Pulse survey, titled "The Empowered Consumer," travelers are grappling with the huge masses of information they're receiving from competing travel brands and are expected to wade through in order to plan travel or vacations.

It has gotten to the point that consumers feel less confident about booking a hotel than buying a car. And they say booking a flight is nearly as nerve-wracking as getting a mortgage.

Another important takeaway from the survey, which involved 19,000 consumers across 12 countries, is that “retail, consumer goods and travel companies could be losing both customers and revenue due to overwhelming and confusing purchase journeys.”

To that end, 73 percent of consumers surveyed feel "inundated by too much choice” and 75 percent say they are bombarded by advertising, which results in a full 74 percent of the consumers surveyed simply abandoning purchases altogether during the last three months of 2023.

Some of the additional high-level statistics from survey’s respondents include:

The purchase journey is too long: 60 percent or respondents feel overwhelmed by the number of steps or decisions they will need to make in order to make the ‘right’ purchase.
Research takes too much time: 70 percent of survey respondents think that researching potential purchases takes more time and effort than it should and 77 percent wish they could spend less time researching potential purchases and more time doing the things they like.
Generative AI could help: 87 percent of the Accenture survey respondents want generative AI advisors to give specific recommendations that they can rely on every time and 82 percent want generative AI advisors to surprise them with new suggestions they wouldn’t have otherwise found/considered.
Service on demand may be the future: 87 percent of survey participants said they feel generative AI agents should be available wherever, whenever they need it (e.g. in store, online, on an app).

“Generative AI has the potential to simplify, accelerate, and enrich the travel booking experience by acting as a ‘travel influencer’ elevating personalized recommendations in real time to help consumers feel more confident, informed, and engaged,” says the Consumer Pulse survey.

In fact, the next few years are poised to bring about something of a revolution when it comes to the use of generative AI, according to Oliver Wright, senior managing director and global lead for Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services industry practice.

“We expect that in the next three years, the adoption of these gen AI technologies by consumers will bring the most significant reconsideration of what and how they decide to purchase that we have seen in decades,” said Wright.
Consumers have indicated that they will use conversational gen AI solutions to help them research and buy products and experiences, Wright explained. And those tools will cut through the traditional sales and marketing messaging that have been the dominant shaper of consumption.

The report also emphasizes the importance of looking at core operational processes holistically and using generative AI to unlock value at scale. In the case of the travel industry, that has meant travel companies are examining how reinventing their booking process can act as a catalyst for unlocking value across the entire travel experience.  

“Planning a trip can often feel siloed, disjointed and overwhelming as consumers grapple with the huge incoming volume of content and advertising from competing travel brands and influencers,” Emily Weiss, senior managing director and global lead of Accenture’s Travel industry practice, said. “Generative AI has the potential to simplify, accelerate and enrich the travel booking experience.”

In fact, in the travel booking process of the future, Generative AI may even act as a ‘travel influencer’ elevating personalized recommendations in real time to help consumers feel more confident, informed and engaged.

Setting AI aside entirely, travel advisors offer a truly effective way to sort through the myriad of information and questions consumers face these days when planning getaways.

And consumers have increasingly realized this fact. Data from the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) for 2023 shows that 50% of travelers were more likely to use a travel advisor than in the past.

In addition, 27 percent of ASTA advisors reported that more than half of their travel clients were working with travel advisors for the first time.