Indian travellers now use three different screens to take one trip. They find the destination on Instagram Reels, plan it with ChatGPT or Google's AI Overviews, and book only after reading reviews from real travellers. A new zingbus survey of 2,371 people puts numbers on each step, and the split has big consequences for every travel and hospitality brand in India.
The survey ran online from 24 August to 20 September 2026 and was published on 28 September, the day after World Tourism Day. It covered travellers aged 18 to 40 across India. Here is what it found, and what brands should do about it.
The survey at a glance
| Finding | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Discover offbeat destinations through Reels and short videos | 72% |
| Used AI to plan at least one trip in the past year | 61% |
| Say positive traveller reviews are critical before booking | 52% |
| Prefer curated packages with verified transport and stays | 48% |
| Find AI most useful for day-by-day itineraries | 45% |
| Use ChatGPT for AI travel planning | 44% |
| Actively search for a place after discovering it online | 31% |
| Prefer Google AI Overviews for travel planning | 23% |
Source: zingbus survey, 2,371 respondents aged 18–40, online, 24 Aug–20 Sep 2026.
Stage 1: Discovery happens on Reels
Seven in ten young Indian travellers first meet a destination in a short video. That is where places like Chopta, Gokarna, Ziro or Spiti enter people's minds, long before anyone types a search query.
The important detail is the gap that follows. Only 31% say they actively search for a place after discovering it online. In other words, inspiration is cheap and plentiful, but most of it never turns into research. A brand that shows up only in search will miss the moment the trip idea is born; a brand that shows up only in Reels will miss the moment the idea becomes a plan.
What this means for brands: short video is now the top of the travel funnel. Destination-first content (the view, the trek, the café, the sunrise) earns the first look. Brand-first content (logos, offers, fleet photos) rarely does.
Stage 2: Planning moves to AI
Once a traveller decides to go, AI takes over. 61% of respondents used an AI tool to plan at least one trip in the past year. ChatGPT is the most used, at 44%, followed by Google AI Overviews at 23%.
The main job people hand to AI is the itinerary. 45% say AI is most useful for building a customised day-by-day plan: how many days in Manali, what to see on the way to Kasol, which order to visit Coorg's waterfalls.
This is where the funnel quietly changes shape for marketers. In classic search, a traveller would open five or six blog posts and booking sites while planning. In an AI answer, they may read one summary and click nothing, or click only the one or two sources the answer cites. The planning stage used to generate a lot of website visits. Now it can generate very few, unless your content is the source the AI chooses to use and link.
What this means for brands: you need to be quotable by AI, not just rankable in Google. That is the core idea behind generative engine optimisation (GEO).
Stage 3: Booking still runs on trust
AI plans the trip, but humans still approve it. 52% say positive traveller reviews are critical before they book, and 48% prefer end-to-end packages with verified transport and accommodation.
zingbus co-founder and CEO Prashant Kumar made the same point when the survey came out: finding a destination is the easy part. The hard part is knowing whether the transport is reliable, the stay is decent, the experiences are worth it and the price is transparent.
That is the job reviews, ratings and verified operators do. No AI answer replaces a 4.6-star rating from 800 real passengers or a recent photo of the actual room.
What this means for brands: reviews are not a nice-to-have at the bottom of the page. They are the final conversion step.
The new three-screen travel funnel
| Stage | Main channel | What the traveller wants | What wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discover | Instagram Reels, short video | A place worth going to | Authentic, destination-first video |
| Plan | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews | A day-by-day itinerary | Clear, structured, citable content |
| Book | Reviews, OTAs, brand site | Proof it is safe and worth it | Verified reviews, transparent pricing |
Each stage lives on a different platform, and each needs a different kind of content. Most travel brands still build for only one of them.
6 moves for travel and hospitality brands
- Publish destination itineraries on your own site. Write real, tested day-by-day plans for the routes you serve: "3 days in Rishikesh by bus from Delhi", "Coorg weekend from Bengaluru". This is exactly what 45% of travellers ask AI to build, so give AI a good source to build it from.
- Structure content so AI can quote it. Use clear headings for each day, short answer paragraphs, tables for costs and timings, and a named author. Add Article and BreadcrumbList schema. Update dates and prices every season.
- Put real numbers on the page. Travel times, fares in rupees, best months, road conditions. Specific, fresh facts are what AI answers pick up and what vague brochure copy never gets cited for.
- Turn Reels into a bridge, not a dead end. Every destination Reel should point to a matching itinerary page. Use the same place names in the caption, on the page and in the page title, so a traveller who searches later finds you.
- Show reviews where decisions happen. Put ratings, recent traveller photos and verified-operator badges on itinerary and package pages, not just on a separate reviews tab.
- Track AI visibility, not just rankings. Ask ChatGPT and Google the questions your customers ask ("best bus from Delhi to Manali", "2-day Jaipur itinerary") every month and note which brands get named and linked. That is your new share of voice.
A note on reading the numbers
The survey is a useful signal, not a census. It was an online Google Forms survey of 2,371 self-selected respondents aged 18 to 40, run by a travel operator. That group is younger and more digital than India's travellers overall, so read the percentages as a picture of young, online travellers. The source articles also do not say whether the ChatGPT and AI Overviews shares are of all respondents or only of AI users; treat them as directional.
The bottom line
India's young travellers are not choosing between Reels, AI and reviews. They use all three, in order. Reels create desire, AI turns it into a plan, and reviews give permission to pay. Travel brands that show up at all three stages, with authentic video, citable itineraries and visible proof, will win the booking. Brands that optimise for just one will keep losing travellers in the gaps between them.
Want to know how visible your travel brand is in ChatGPT and AI Overviews? Talk to ClicZeo about a GEO visibility audit or explore our travel agency marketing services.
Sources: Travel World Online, Travellers World Online (zingbus survey, 28 September 2026).
