AI agents drive rapid growth in retail and travel sectors

Artificial intelligence is significantly altering consumer behavior in the travel and retail sectors through the rise of AI agents and assistants.

In the travel industry, the share of website visits to hotels and short-term rentals originating from AI platforms quadrupled between July 2025 and July 2026. Despite this rapid growth, AI-driven traffic still accounts for less than 1% of total visits for major players like Booking Holdings. However, traveler engagement is deepening; research indicates that 56% of US leisure travelers used AI for at least one trip in the past year, and nearly half of those who have used it now rely on it for most or all of their travel planning.

In the retail sector, a phenomenon known as ‘agentic commerce’ is emerging, where AI agents discover and purchase goods on behalf of humans. Traffic from AI sources to US retail sites grew by 393% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026. Notably, these AI-referred visitors demonstrate higher conversion rates, performing roughly 60% better than non-AI traffic by July 2026. This shift is forcing merchants to transition from human-centric storefronts to machine-readable interfaces that allow agents to access product data, pricing, and checkout protocols directly.