The Race for Chinese Travel Demand Is Now a Fight to Get on the AI Shortlist

The next time an AI chatbot recommends a holiday destination, there is another question worth asking: “What am I not being shown?” This may become increasingly important as AI takes on a bigger role in travel planning. A new study of Chinese AI travel recommendations suggests that the technology’s biggest influence may not be helping travelers choose between two hotels or find a cheaper flight. It may happen earlier, when AI narrows the field, and leaves some destinations out before travelers have considered them. Marketing firm Create Consulting China tested 240 travel queries across Baidu’s ERNIE Bot, ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen, DeepSeek and Tencent Yuanbao. The research used eight traveler profiles and compared broad destination searches with queries limited to specific continents. Queries included “What are the best countries to visit for the National Day holiday?” “I want to travel to Europe for National Day. Whic