Artificial intelligence is transforming the way travelers plan their trips, but a new study reveals that Brazilian tourism operators face a significant challenge in remaining relevant in this new scenario. The ICM Tourism 2026 study, developed by Pixel&Press between July and August this year, analyzed how different artificial intelligence tools respond to travel planning questions, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview.
The research used 57 operators associated with Braztoa as the reference universe and tested five complete travel planning journeys, totaling 20 responses analyzed. The results show that only two of these responses presented a purchase recommendation specifically mentioning a Brazilian operator.
In six of the responses analyzed, there was only a generic reference to the tourism operators category, without indicating any specific company. The most alarming finding is that in 14 responses, equivalent to 70% of the total, there was no presence of the emitting trade—in other words, the AI recommendations did not include Brazilian operators in their suggestions.
The scenario highlights a profound change in the way consumers make purchasing decisions in the travel sector, with artificial intelligence assuming an increasingly central role at the moment when the intention to travel transforms into a concrete decision to acquire tourism services.
