How travellers are using technology to plan more meaningful trips

Experiences, technology and greater choice are changing how travellers across the region decide where to go and how to plan their trips

PUBLISHED: Thu 3 Sept 2026, 8:00 AM

By:
Kushmita Bose

Travel across the GCC is entering a busy period of growth, with new destinations, expanding airline networks and major tourism projects giving travellers more choice than before. At the same time, technology is playing a greater role in how holidays are researched and planned, while experiences on the ground are becoming an important part of what travellers look for.

Recent research offers a glimpse into those priorities. Hilton's 2026 Trends Report found that 75% of travellers surveyed in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia find AI tools useful when planning trips.

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Travellers are also showing greater interest in local experiences. Around 73% of UAE respondents and 69% of those in Saudi Arabia said they actively seek experiences that allow them to engage with local customs they had not researched before travelling.

The changes come as the Gulf continues to invest heavily in tourism, opening up new destinations and attractions while improving connectivity within the region and to international markets. For airlines, hotels, destinations and travel platforms, that also means responding to travellers who have more options when deciding where to go and how to spend their time.

The trends shaping those decisions will be in focus when Arabian Travel Market returns to Dubai World Trade Centre from September 14 to 17. Now in its 33rd edition, ATM 2026 will be held under the theme “Travel 2040: Driving New Frontiers Through Innovation and Technology”, with the role of technology and the changing needs of travellers among the topics in focus.

Changing Priorities

Experiences are playing a bigger role in where GCC travellers choose to go, while affordability, proximity and ease of travel continue to influence their decisions.

Aleksandr Kuzmichev, Vice-President and Head of Cross Border Solutions, CEMEA Product and Solutions at Visa, said travellers are increasingly choosing destinations around what they want to experience rather than geography alone.

Visa’s 2026 Global Travel Intentions Study found that 43% of UAE travellers were motivated to travel for experiences, with nature also playing a leading role in destination choice. Connecting with family and friends remains important too, with 40% of UAE travellers citing time with loved ones as a leading reason to travel. In Saudi Arabia, 84% travelled with family.

How those trips are planned is changing too. Kuzmichev said travellers are researching destinations and experiences earlier, while often waiting until closer to departure before committing to a booking.

“AI is emerging as a significant influence on travel planning, becoming part of the mix alongside established sources such as recommendations from friends and family and digital travel platforms,” he said.

Siddharth Sudhakar, General Manager, Mena at Trip.com, is also seeing a broader mix of travel across the region, with international leisure trips increasingly sitting alongside visits to friends and relatives, staycations and travel within the GCC. “The traditional picture of the GCC traveler was often centered around a handful of established international destinations. What we're seeing now is a much more fluid travel market,” Sudhakar said.

The UAE has also shown signs of stronger travel demand over the summer. According to Trip.com, UAE-origin flight orders recorded double-digit year-on-year growth in July and August. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is becoming an increasingly important source market for the platform, with demand coming from a wider range of cities beyond Riyadh and Jeddah.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia itself is attracting more travellers from elsewhere in the Gulf. “That tells us that the region is becoming more interconnected as a travel ecosystem, rather than every market operating independently,” Sudhakar said.

Travellers are also spending more time researching and comparing their options before booking. For travel platforms, Sudhakar said this means their role increasingly begins well before the transaction itself.

“We're not simply there at the point of purchase anymore. We need to help someone answer ‘where should I go’, ‘why should I go there’, ‘what should I do when I arrive’, and ‘how do I make the trip work for me’?” he said.

That has also put greater emphasis on personalisation, as travellers heading to the same place can have very different expectations. “A family looking for a summer break, someone travelling to visit relatives, and a business traveler may all be searching for the same destination, but they have completely different needs,” Sudhakar said.

AI Takes a Bigger Role in Travel

AI is already becoming part of how GCC travellers research and plan their trips. In the UAE, its use now stretches from finding ideas and recommendations to comparing flights and accommodation and building itineraries.

Kuzmichev said 51% of UAE travellers use AI to find travel ideas, while 50% turn to it for reviews and recommendations and 48% use it when looking for flights and accommodation. More than a third are already using the technology to plan their itineraries.

“AI is quickly becoming a travel companion, rather than simply a source of inspiration,” Kuzmichev said.

Younger travellers are taking its use further, with Gen Z relying on AI for payment-related travel research more than any other segment. Kuzmichev expects the technology to become more influential as travellers grow comfortable using it at different stages of a trip.

“As that happens, we expect it to play a bigger role in shaping decisions throughout the journey, from where people go to what they book and do once they arrive,” he said.

For Sudhakar, one of AI's biggest advantages is its ability to understand what a traveller is looking for rather than simply respond to a destination or hotel search.

“If I already know I want to go to Istanbul, I can search for a flight and hotel quite easily,” he said. “But if I say, ‘I have five days, I'm travelling with my family, I want good food and culture, I don't want a long flight and I have a certain budget,’ the technology needs to understand what I'm actually trying to achieve.”

The opportunity, he said, is to turn that intent into a practical travel plan.

Trip.com's TripGenie and Trip.Planner are designed to connect travel preferences with real-time information on flights, hotels, attractions and other parts of a journey. That becomes particularly important in travel, where prices, availability and opening hours can change.

Sudhakar believes the next development will be agentic commerce, where AI moves beyond helping travellers discover and decide and, with their permission, begins helping them complete transactions.

But greater automation will also put more emphasis on trust. “AI should remove friction, not remove control,” Sudhakar said. “Travellers still want to know what they're buying, why it has been recommended and how much it costs.”

Rather than replacing travellers' decisions, he sees AI changing what people expect from travel platforms.

“I see it changing the role of the travel platform from a place where you go to search for products to a much more intelligent partner that can help you discover, plan, select, book and ultimately manage the journey,” Sudhakar said.

Next Tourism Opportunity

The region’s role in global tourism is expanding in both directions, as residents travel more widely and it attracts visitors with a growing range of destinations, experiences and events.

Kuzmichev sees experience-led travel, family travel and technology as three of the trends likely to shape the market over the coming years.

Travellers, he said, are increasingly looking for local culture, dining, entertainment and attractions rather than simply choosing a destination.

There are also signs that visitors are spending more time exploring the region. Kuzmichev said average stays in the UAE have risen to 9.4 nights, compared with eight nights in 2023, while 84 per cent of visitors take part in experiences such as tours, theme parks or outdoor activities.

“This creates an opportunity to keep broadening the UAE’s appeal across family travel, culture, wellness and luxury,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is seeing its own shift. Pilgrimage remains the main reason to visit for 48% of respondents, according to Kuzmichev, but more visitors are extending their trips to include heritage, entertainment and leisure. Average stays have increased from nine to 12.3 nights, helped by the emergence of destinations such as AlUla and resorts along the Red Sea.

For Sudhakar, stronger travel within the GCC is only one part of the opportunity. He also sees the region’s location and air connectivity strengthening its position as a gateway between major international markets.

“I think the GCC has a much bigger opportunity to play as a gateway between East and West,” he said. “Its geographic position, connectivity and increasingly sophisticated tourism ecosystem give the region a natural advantage in driving intra-continental travel.”

China could become an increasingly important part of that picture. Sudhakar sees an opportunity to attract more Chinese visitors to GCC destinations as connectivity and tourism infrastructure continue to develop, alongside existing travel flows between the Gulf, Europe and the Americas.

Experience-led travel will remain important too, particularly as the number of attractions and destinations across the Gulf grows.

“Travelers are increasingly interested in what they can do when they arrive, not just how they get there,” Sudhakar said.

Over the next few years, he expects the region to become more connected, while technology makes it easier for travellers to discover, plan and book trips across a growing range of destinations.