How Gen Alpha Will Travel: New Report Says AI And Entertainment Can Reshape Trip Planning
Get ready for an entirely new way to travel in as soon as a decade. According to a recently released travel report from Omio, a travel app and website that combines bus, train, ferry and air booking into one convenient resource.
Omio's first Future Journeys Report, produced in partnership with The Future Laboratory, surprises with radically new ways that we might be thinking about and reserving travel as soon as 2035.
'Instead of just getting from A to B, it's about how the entire journey feels and adapts along the way,' says Martin Raymond, co-founder, The Future Laboratory, about potential changes in how people plan their trips in a decade.
American Airlines planes waiting for passengers at Miami International Airport getty
By 2035, the World Travel & Tourism Council says that travel and tourism will contribute more than $17 trillion to the global economy. Travel platforms won't be just transactional, but also transformational by incorporating your personal emotions and needs into a trip.
The growth of Omio has been impressive in the past year with 30% year-over-year growth, now selling 80,000 tickets per day. Its own search data reports that it attracts 900 million visitors to its website leading to one billion travel searches.
Ryanair Boeing 737-800 takes off from Santander, Spain getty
This success, says Steve Kuo, senior managing director and technology group head of Hercules Capital, which has pumped $120 million into the platform, is the result of the scaling up of its platform. This year, it launched ticket sales in Southeast Asia and has also added low-cost brands like Flix Bus and Ryanair as well as ferry services to its booking engine (services not always found via other online travel agencies).
For this recent travel report, Omio tapped into knowledge from various industry experts and studied the latest travel trends to explain how we might plan our trips in the future, especially as the industry looks towards Generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2024). They will view travel planning differently having grown up using mobile devices from a young age. From their perspective, the world is increasingly more connected and closer than ever. Book as you 'binge'
Taormina, Sicily saw a tourism boom following the HBO series The White Lotus filmed there. getty
This trend has already begun and highlights how travelers are influenced by Hollywood films and TV programs in the places they want to visit. From HBO's The White Lotus leading us to Maui, Sicily and Thailand in droves following its first three seasons to social media influencers sharing their favorite places as we swipe through our phones, these can influence where and how we travel.
And it works.
For example, the growing demand for travel to southern Italy has led airlines like Delta and United to launch new flights to Sicily (Catania and Palermo, respectively). Together with American, the three U.S. international airlines all have added a bevy of new, nonstop flights to Naples in southern Italy, too.
Booking an impromptu trip can be as simple as a swipe and click while watching your favorite entertainment. getty
Omio predicts that travel platforms will begin to integrate themselves within entertainment content so that if you like what you're watching, you can easily swipe directly into a booking engine to reserve a trip. People won't plan travel far in advance, but book on the spot while enjoying travel content. These trip itineraries can also be saved to your account to book later or become easily shareable with friends.
YouTube's head of culture and trends for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Roya Zeitoune, says that YouTube is already the second biggest online search engine when it comes to things like travel.
Zeitoune also points out that people tend to trust raw and real content over something that is more polished. Travelers won't waste time planning their travel, but instead might just 'stumble' upon trip ideas that match their interests during their daily life. Artificial intelligence takes control
Artificial intelligence can help curate itineraries based on price, personal interests and even current mood. getty
Using AI-powered tools, the way in which we interact with travel messaging via social media and booking platforms will match our personal interests and emotions. At the same time, AI will also power the tools we use for customer support, and that may not be good news for everyone. Bots don't always know the answers, and an increasing number of travel brands are sending their customer service paths either overseas or to automated conversations.
But, artificial intelligence can be positive, too. It can help curate itineraries and suggestions based on your budget, habits and favorite activities rather than what is most popular at the moment with other travelers.
A beach in Ao Nang, Thailand, one of the regions of the world that has seen popularity following HBO's The White Lotus. getty
Where you go should be places that resonate with you emotionally, not only the cheapest or most beautiful. AI can even integrate preferences like where you like to sit on the plane or train, the types of food you like to eat and your preferred loyalty programs (and the earning and redemption habits you have).
What Hilton's 2025 Trend Report shows is that 78% of travelers want to book all of their travel online without interacting with someone. And a similar number of people want to use their mobile device to help manage their travel (and any potential disruption along the way). Omio's report continues this theme with data from Euromonitor International, saying that by 2029, 73% of travel sales will be conducted online.
For example, should a weather disruption, traffic congestion or local strike affect a particular trip, AI can quickly help reroute a complicated journey based on price and personal mood. Intermodal travel grows
Mobile devices can help travelers adjust their travel plans while enroute. Omio's app aggregates all of your tickets and reservations into one place. getty
Intermodal travel refers to the concept of using two or more modes of transportation on the same journey. This could also include using what the report calls 'micromobility,' referring to electric bikes and scooters.
While taking a rideshare or bus to the airport, flying to a destination via plane and then hopping a train to your hotel is nothing new, booking it all in one place is still not an easy practice. Omio's system does this already and sends emails or texts before, during and after the journey to provide updates and assistance.
It also emails you the tickets or boarding documents you need for travel on non-air tickets so that no additional check in is needed. You simply print or save the boarding pass to your phone, which is something that most other travel platforms have yet to integrate into their offering. It is all digitally synced into one place.
Instead of carrying extra bags, Omio's report suggests more people will use services that have curated bundles of clothes and other items needed for a trip waiting for you at the destination. getty
Another travel simplification noted within the report predicts that people will travel lighter, often with just a carry-on, to make intermodal transport easier. For smaller budgets, AI can help suggest an entire start-to-finish itinerary with more trains or public transport options than flights.
It also highlights Japan Airlines' existing Any Wear, Anywhere program as the way of the future, suggesting that travelers could even be able to pre-book curated bundles of clothes and accessories waiting for them at their destination. This can help reduce what you carry as well as carbon emissions when we travel. From clothes to baby strollers, the possibilities can radically help to improve the logistics of intermodal travel.
Recent protests have pushed back against tourists visiting some of Europe's most popular capitals like Barcelona. Here, crowds of tourists walk alone La Rambla, a street infamous for crowds (and pickpockets). getty
McKinsey & Co. data within Omio's report also underlines the problem of overtourism. As many as 80% of travelers only visit 10% of the world's tourist destinations. These are the kinds of targets that AI can help to address by shifting attention to other destinations or promoting off-season travel to popular tourist spots.
Artificial intelligence and travel can intersect to improve the journey along every step of the way, and booking platforms that integrate it will be especially appealing to Gen Alpha travelers.
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