Travelers Are Taking Longer to Plan Trips, Despite Faster Tools to Book Them

In one of the more fascinating counterintuitive consumer behavior developments in travel, prospective travelers are now spending more time planning trips despite faster and faster tools on how to book it, especially with AI coming in, according to a new detailed Deloitte-Tourism Australia research report on the future of distribution, using Australia and inbound and outbound travel to the continent as the lens into looking at it.

Some of it we already know from past research that people have to use dozen of sites before they book a leisure trip. And post-covid, the need for control in an age of uncertainty has increased overall research time. Then there's decision fatigue all across with so many choices. Many of these factors intersect to create these conditions of increased dwell time. I asked ChatGPT to summarize and analyze the findings around this specific part of the long research report and it did a good job breaking it down, which I am extracted below, well worth a read.

Why Are Travelers Spending More Time on Research? Heightened Expectations: Travelers are investing significant time in researching trips because they want personalized, meaningful, and high-value experiences. With increased travel costs, uncertainty, and safety concerns, the stakes are higher for planning trips. Social media and the