AI transforms Italian travel planning and e‑commerce sectors

Artificial‑intelligence assistants are reshaping how Italians plan trips and shop online. A Phocuswright study finds about 40 % of Western travelers now use AI to design itineraries, prompting a decline in traffic for traditional travel sites such as TripAdvisor, Kayak and other destination‑marketing portals. Large online‑travel agencies like Booking.com and Expedia already dominate more than half of the AI‑generated hotel answers. In response, the Italian startup RankWit has introduced a Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform that refines semantic context, technical data and brand reputation to help independent hotels stay visible in AI results.

In e‑commerce, an Adyen survey of 2 000 Italian consumers shows 34 % have used AI assistants for purchases in the past year, while 43 % are willing to let an AI complete an entire transaction, provided post‑sale support is reliable. Eighty percent of Italian retailers are open to integrating autonomous AI agents, seeing them as a strategic priority, yet they cite data‑governance and customer‑relationship concerns. Both sectors highlight the tension between automation benefits and the need for transparency, privacy safeguards and control over the customer relationship.