How will Travel Agents add value in an AI-driven world?
If a machine can research holidays in minutes, what’s your value proposition?
Let’s address the elephant in the room. AI is getting remarkably good at travel research. It can compile destination information, summarise accommodation options, suggest itineraries, and present travel possibilities faster than any human agent ever could.
For decades, travel agents have differentiated themselves partly on their ability to navigate the overwhelming complexity of travel options. You knew where to look. You understood how to compare. You could cut through the noise that left consumers drowning in choice.
But if AI can now do that research legwork in minutes – and it can – then what exactly are you selling?
This isn’t a theoretical question. It’s the defining strategic challenge for travel agents in 2026 and beyond. And the answer isn’t to compete with AI on research. You’ll lose that battle.
The answer is to use AI to handle research so you can focus on the two things that justify your commission and keep clients coming back: pricing expertise and relationship value.
The Research Battle Is Already Lost
Here’s the uncomfortable reality: consumers are already using AI tools to research their holidays. ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini AI, and numerous travel-specific AI platforms are democratising access to travel information at a pace the industry hasn’t seen before.
Your clients aren’t impressed that you can research destinations anymore. They can do that themselves, often quite effectively. They’re visiting those same 38 websites. They’re reading the same reviews. They’re accessing the same destination guides.
What they can’t do – what AI fundamentally cannot replicate – is two critical things:
First: Access and interpret complex, gated supplier pricing.
Whilst consumers can research where to go and where to stay, they cannot access the trade rates, consolidated fares, specialist tour operators’ inventory, and dynamic pricing structures that exist behind supplier portals and offline agreements. That pricing expertise – knowing what’s actually available at what real cost, understanding where to source the appropriate travel product at the best possible price, recognising value versus headline rates – remains exclusively in professional hands.
Second: Build the trust and understanding that turns transactions into relationships.
AI can suggest a holiday. It cannot understand why Mrs Thompson always books the same week in July, remember that the Patels prefer ground-floor rooms after Mr Patel’s knee surgery, or recognise that the Johnsons’ “budget” conversation actually means they’re worried about redundancy. That contextual intelligence, emotional understanding, and relationship depth cannot be automated.
These two capabilities – pricing expertise and relationship building – are your moat. They’re where your value proposition lives in an AI-driven world.
But here’s the problem: if you’re spending most of your time on research, you don’t have time to develop deep pricing expertise or build meaningful client relationships.
Where AI Stops, Your Value Begins
Let’s be specific about what AI research tools genuinely cannot do in the travel booking journey:
AI cannot access supplier trade portals. The vast majority of tour operators, hotel groups, and travel suppliers maintain gated pricing structures that require agent credentials, negotiated agreements, or offline relationships. No consumer-facing AI has access to these systems. This is your competitive advantage – but only if you have time to actually work these channels properly.
AI cannot interpret nuanced pricing strategies. Understanding when a “discount” is actually poor value, recognising optimal booking windows for specific routes, and knowing which suppliers offer flexible cancellation despite their website suggesting otherwise – this requires experience, industry relationships, and strategic thinking that AI doesn’t possess.
AI cannot negotiate. That phone call to a preferred supplier, the relationship that gets you the upgrade, the ability to package components creatively for better margins – these human-to-human interactions remain outside AI’s capability.
AI cannot read between the lines. When a client says, “We want something special but not too expensive,” AI processes keywords. You understand they’re celebrating an anniversary on a teacher’s salary and need sophistication on a budget. That interpretative skill shapes everything that follows.
AI cannot build trust over time. The client who books their fifth holiday with you isn’t doing so because you can research faster than a computer. They’re doing so because you understood what they really wanted on holiday two, saved them from a disaster on holiday three, and remembered their daughter’s wedding when suggesting holiday four.
This is where you’re genuinely irreplaceable. But you can only deliver this value if you’re not drowning in research.
The Strategic Repositioning
The successful travel agent of 2026 and beyond isn’t the one who researches fastest. It’s the one who has strategically repositioned their role from information broker to trusted pricing expert and relationship partner.
This repositioning requires two fundamental shifts:
Shift One: From Research Time to Pricing Time
Instead of spending hours compiling accommodation options from public websites, successful agents are spending that time:
- Developing deeper relationships with key suppliers who provide preferential rates
- Understanding complex pricing structures that clients cannot access independently
- Analysing which consolidators offer genuine value for specific routes and dates
- Building expertise in product sourcing and optimal booking timing
- Negotiating package components that deliver better margins whilst offering client value
- Staying ahead of industry pricing changes, fare structures, and commercial agreements
This pricing expertise becomes your tangible, demonstrable value. It’s what justifies your fee. It’s what clients cannot replicate with AI or consumer booking platforms.
Shift Two: From Transactions to Relationships
Instead of treating each enquiry as an isolated research project, successful agents are investing that reclaimed time in:
- Meaningful client conversations that uncover real needs beyond stated requirements
- Proactive communication that keeps you top-of-mind between bookings
- Post-trip follow-ups that build loyalty and generate referrals
- Understanding client lifecycle patterns and anticipating their next travel need
- Creating personalised touchpoints that demonstrate you remember and value them
- Building the trust that makes you their first call, not their fourth comparison quote
This relationship depth is what transforms one-time bookers into lifetime clients. It’s what generates word-of-mouth referrals. It’s what creates sustainable business growth that doesn’t depend on constantly acquiring new clients.
The Time Equation That Changes Everything
Here’s the mathematics that determines whether you thrive or struggle in an AI-driven travel landscape:
Traditional agent workflow:
- Research time: 3-4 hours per enquiry
- Pricing time: 30 minutes per enquiry
- Client engagement time: 20 minutes per enquiry
- Value delivered: Moderate. Easily compared to consumer DIY options.
AI-assisted agent workflow:
- Research time: 30 minutes per enquiry (AI-compiled, agent-curated)
- Pricing time: 2 hours per enquiry (exploring trade options, negotiating, packaging)
- Client engagement time: 1 hour per enquiry (understanding needs, building relationship)
- Value delivered: High. Demonstrably superior to consumer options.
Same total time investment. Completely different value proposition.
The agent spending 3-4 hours on research is competing with AI and losing. The agent spending 30 minutes curating AI-compiled research, then investing 2+ hours on pricing strategy and client relationship, is offering something AI fundamentally cannot replicate.
What This Means for Your Business
This strategic repositioning isn’t optional. It’s not about adopting new technology because it’s trendy. It’s about survival and relevance in a marketplace where AI is democratising travel research at unprecedented speed.
If your primary value proposition is “I can research holidays for you,” you’re competing with free AI tools that are getting better every month.
If your primary value proposition is “I have access to pricing and suppliers you don’t, and I understand you well enough to package exactly what you need,” you’re offering something genuinely irreplaceable.
The question isn’t whether to embrace AI. The question is whether you’ll use AI strategically to free yourself from commoditised research so you can focus on high-value activities that justify your commission and build lasting client relationships.
Make the Strategic Shift
The question facing every travel agent today isn’t whether AI will change the industry. It already has.
The question is whether you’ll use AI to reclaim your time for the high-value work that justifies your inclusion within the booking process, builds lasting relationships, and creates a sustainable competitive advantage.
Research is becoming commoditised. Pricing expertise and relationship depth will never be.
The choice is yours. The time is now.
Ready to strategically reposition your value proposition? Discover how Go There Travel’s AI Travel Planner helps you spend less time on research and more time on the pricing expertise and client relationships that make you irreplaceable. Book your demo today and see how to reclaim your competitive advantage.