Russians have become 25% more likely to trust the organization of recreation with AI tools

There is a growing interest in AI tools in Russia that help you plan your trip in detail. Since the beginning of 2026, traffic on neural networks for tourist trips has increased by 25% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, one in three Russians has already used artificial intelligence (AI) in one way or another when preparing a trip, and one in ten calls AI their permanent assistant, follows from a joint study by MegaFon and the online hotel and apartment booking service Ostrovok.

According to a study reviewed by Izvestia, almost one in ten travelers already regularly uses artificial intelligence to organize trips, and another 13% of respondents turn to it occasionally. About 9% of tourists are just looking at the new tool, and about 22% plan to test such technologies in the near future. At the same time, caution remains: 26% of respondents admit that they are not yet ready to entrust artificial intelligence with organizing their trip, while the other 16% do not see any practical benefits in technology.

It is clarified that men are more likely to use neural networks when planning a trip — they account for 64% of traffic to thematic resources. The main connoisseurs of AI tools are Russians aged 35 to 44 years, they account for 40% of users, followed by tourists aged 25-34 years (25%) and 45-54 years (20%). Tourists who have already used AI technologies to plan their holidays note that they are most often attracted to neural networks for leisure planning — selecting excursions, finding restaurants and entertainment (17%), drawing up a detailed route (15%), as well as finding ideas for a trip (14%). Another 12% use digital assistants to choose a destination, 10% each are looking for housing or making lists of necessary things, and 8% use AI recommendations to meet their budget.

"Technology has already become a part of everyday life, and travel planning is no exception. Neural networks are particularly popular among the younger generation of travelers and may soon become a basic tool for trip planning. Therefore, it is important for hoteliers to keep information about their accommodation up-to-date and structured so that digital assistants can correctly read it and use it when responding to tourist requests. At the same time, travelers still want to maintain control: double-check information, compare options and read reviews — for this they turn to proven travel planning services," said Daria Kochetkova, Managing Director of the Ostrovok Group of companies.

As MegaFon analysts have found out, a special surge in interest in AI tools for travel planning is recorded in November, when tourists are organizing their New Year's holidays, as well as in early summer, when holidays begin and it's time for vacations.

"To plan a trip, there is enough mobile Internet and a smartphone in hand now — we see that our subscribers actively use various services to organize a comfortable stay, including special AI tools. We ensure the availability of such resources both in cities with millions of inhabitants and in small settlements thanks to the systematic development of the telecom infrastructure," said Idris Yarakhmedov, Director of the Directorate for the implementation of infrastructure projects in the Urals and the Center.

In April last year, the CEO of Notamedia (a developer of digital platforms) Maxim Malyshev stated that AI will be more widely used in the future as a personal assistant in tourism. At the same time, technologies are also being actively introduced into the infrastructure and tourism facilities.

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