Research Reveals Why 1 in 4 Travelers Wish They Chose Different Vacation Destinations and 90 Percent Avoid Visiting New Places

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 24, 2023 — Planning is underway for what is expected to be one of the busiest U.S. travel seasons in recent years, and new consumer research fielded by Southpaw Insights on behalf of GuideGeek, indicates that 63% have had poor experiences planning a past vacation, including 1 in 4 who ultimately wished they chose a different vacation destination altogether.

The biggest barrier to ideal vacation time, planning difficulties, was cited by 1 in 3 (30%) travelers, including 35% of parents, who find research and planning for vacations too time-consuming. As a result, 28% have been unhappy with their activities and experiences while on holiday, 25% report they wasted valuable vacation time trying to find or plan activities, and 23% wish a destination was a better fit for everyone in their traveling group.

The research also revealed that 90% of Americans are discouraged from traveling to new places based on a variety of reasons aside from cost, including safety and security concerns (40%), not being able to take time off work (26%), lack of knowledge about the location (22%), fear of the unknown (22%), and difficulty deciding on a destination (22%).

“Once consumers gain more experience with AI, they will find their travel planning and vacations will dramatically and instantly improve,” said GuideGeek creator Ross Borden. “Whether they are inquiring about a single aspect of their trip, a full itinerary, or last-second change in plans while at their destination, their travel will be customized and easy to plan, rather than random and limited to what they can find sifting through search engines.”

Some examples of traveler queries to GuideGeek include “What are the best hiking trails in Virginia,” “Please provide a 48-hour budget itinerary in Cincinnati,” “What are the best day trips from Dublin, Ireland, for someone with physical disabilities” and “Where can I find small sake producers in Tokyo.”

Built on ChatGPT technology from OpenAI, GuideGeek is a free service that provides travel recommendations customized to the user’s specific needs and interests. GuideGeek provides answers for those searching for hotels, Airbnbs, restaurants, safety information, train schedules and even must-know local customs, as users message back and forth with the AI.

GuideGeek uniquely pulls in additional travel integrations beyond ChatGPT’s baseline, including live flight data from 1,000 OTAs and airline websites, as well as the best vacation rentals in major cities around the world. Currently, travelers can message GuideGeek for free anywhere in the world on WhatsApp in over 40 languages. Instagram and other messenger integrations are slated to launch in the coming days.