How To Use ChatGPT For Travel Planning – Forbes

There’s a lot of buzz about Artificial Intelligence (AI) right now, and we’re not talking about SkyNet from the Terminator. Rather, ChatGPT is OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot that acts like a more robust search engine, generating responses to user inputs. There are reports of folks using ChatGPT for applications like writing emails to writing academic papers. In fact, I’ve started using it for my travel planning and research.

What Is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence tool created by OpenAI, an AI research and development company which has both nonprofit and for-profit arms. ChatGPT utilizes a language model called Generative Pre-training Transformer (GPT), that generates text resembling natural language based on the prompt. As with any AI tool, it’s all about the data. It’s unclear how much data was used to train ChatGPT, however we do know that ChatGPT only has access to data prior to 2021, so we need to be mindful of that as we utilize it for our applications—travel planning and otherwise.

Common sentiment is that ChatGPT is a competitor to Google—Why bother googling when you receive ads and websites in your search when ChatGPT can give you the answers without clicking a single link?

How I Plan Travel Now

I often start my travel planning with Google and then augment it with wikitravel. But searching through these tools requires a bit of finesse. I can’t merely go to Google and ask it to “help plan a trip to Bali.” Otherwise I’ll get a bunch of advertisements to start:

Scroll a little further past the advertisements and we finally get to some real websites that can help travel planning.

In no time my Google Chrome is screaming for mercy as I’ve got 100 open tabs to research and start the process of separating the wheat from the chaff. In other words, while Google is the front of enormous knowledge, it takes a lot of work to weed through it to get to the information that you need to make important decisions about your trip.

In addition to Google, I’ll often visit Wikitravel.org, which unlike Google, gives you much of the information you’re looking for, often on a single page. However, given Wikitravel is an open source tool, it’s not always consistent in the level of detail, and you still have to spend some time reading through to suss out some of the information you are seeking. For example, take a look at the below screenshot.

In this case, I’m looking for what temples to visit, but, instead my eyes are more drawn to Hindu Temples and then the directional temples. It takes more reading to suss out that the Uluwatu temple is one that I probably want to consider and the Tanah Lot is also accessible and popular.

Wikitravel often gives a fair amount of information, allowing us to understand the destination, however, in doing so it can sometimes take longer to tease out the high points. It’s still worth diving into once you have a better idea of the specific areas or sites you want to see.

How ChatGPT Can Help Your Travel Planning

While Google results in a lot of scrolling and clicks and Wikitravel could lead you down into the weeds before you’ve decided which general location you want to be in, ChatGPT can get you closer to answers more quickly. With ChatGPT, all you need to do is enter your question and it will respond.

We asked ChatGPT “What should I see and tour in Bali, Indonesia.” Here’s what it came up with:

Bali, Indonesia offers a variety of sights and experiences for visitors. Here are some of the top attractions and activities to consider:

1. Temple visits: Visit the famous Uluwatu Temple, Tanah Lot Temple, and the Ubud Monkey Forest.
2. Rice terraces: Explore the picturesque rice terraces of Tegalalang and Jatiluwih.
3. Beach activities: Bali is known for its beautiful beaches, so make sure to spend some time on the sand and try water sports such as surfing and snorkeling.
4. Cultural experiences: Visit a traditional Balinese dance performance, attend a cooking class, and learn about Balinese spirituality and offerings.
5. Volcano hikes: Hike up Mount Batur for sunrise and explore the nearby hot springs.
6. Shopping and food: Shop for souvenirs at traditional markets such as Seminyak and Ubud, and taste the delicious local cuisine.
7. Spa treatments: Enjoy a relaxing spa treatment using traditional Balinese techniques.
8. Wildlife experiences: Visit the Bali Safari and Marine Park or go dolphin watching in Lovina.
9. Art and crafts: Check out the Ubud Art Market and take a pottery-making class.
10. Nightlife: Enjoy a night out in Seminyak or Kuta for a vibrant party scene.

There’s something for everyone in Bali, so make sure to prioritize what interests you and relay the information to ChatGPT.

To be clear, ChatGPT isn’t going to give you plentiful photos and deeper level insight without digging deeper, but notice how within the first line ChatGPT has identified Uluwatu Temple, Tanah Lot Temple and the Ubud Monkey Forest as popular temples. In seconds, you’ve identified some temples worth seeing. In addition, ChatGPT offers rice terraces, cultural experiences, shopping and food including specific cities. This gets you further in your research.

Let’s say we want to know what else we should do near the Uluwatu Temple? ChatGPT has a few options:

The Uluwatu Temple, located on a cliff in southern Bali, is surrounded by a number of other attractions and scenic sites. Here are some places to consider visiting while in the area:

1. Uluwatu Beach: This beautiful beach is located just below the Uluwatu Temple and is a great spot for surfing and swimming.
2. Padang Padang Beach: Also known as the “Secret Beach,” this secluded spot is known for its clear waters and great surf.
3. Jimbaran Bay: This famous seafood beach is known for its seafood restaurants and gorgeous sunset views.
4. Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park: This cultural park features a large statue of Hindu deity Vishnu riding a mythical bird called Garuda.
5. Dreamland Beach: This quiet and secluded beach is known for its great surf and white sand.
6. GWK Cultural Park: See the large Garuda statue at this cultural park and watch traditional dances.
7. Balangan Beach: This quiet and secluded beach is known for its great surf and breathtaking cliffside views.
8. Nusa Dua: This upscale resort area is known for its luxurious hotels, golf courses, and beautiful beaches.
9. Bali Cliff Restaurant: Enjoy a delicious meal while taking in the stunning views at this restaurant located near Uluwatu Temple.
10. Uluwatu Surf Villas: For a unique experience, stay in a traditional Balinese villa located near the Uluwatu Temple.

These are just a few of the many attractions and experiences near the Uluwatu Temple in Bali. Plan your itinerary to include the things that interest you most.

Here ChatGPT highlights Uluwatu Beach, Padang Padang Beach and Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park. You’ll see here that there is some duplication, for example, numbers four and six are the same thing—you do need to be critical of ChatGPT’s responses. That said, it does help you narrow the field. Personally speaking, I’ve been to Bali five times but Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park hasn’t hit my radar, despite visiting the Uluwatu Temple at least once.

As we continue down the list to verify ChatGPT, we find that Bali Cliff Restaurant is not necessarily as clear as we might have liked. Upon a closer look, there are four options that may be the referenced Bali Cliff Restaurant, all near the Uluwatu Temple: The Ulu Cliff House, Beyond the Cliff, By the Cliff and Le Cliff—Another example of how ChatGPT is great to get close, but then you need to revert to the tried and true methods of searching.

Trust ChatGPT But Always Verify

While ChatGPT can speed up your travel planning, identifying things that might otherwise take significant web searching, digging through link after link, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, as we mentioned earlier in the article, ChatGPT only has access to data prior to 2021. For the time being, that shouldn’t create too much of a hindrance but is certainly important to know.

As we’ve highlighted in the example above, ChatGPT isn’t always perfect. You may find information duplicated in ways that you might not catch immediately. There may be things that aren’t 100% clear, such as the Bali Cliff Restaurant reference. While these examples haven’t demonstrated it, there have also been times when ChatGPT is just plain wrong. So, use ChatGPT to narrow your search but always verify the data.

Bottom Line

There are many ways to plan travel, given the vast amounts of information available on the Internet. While Google is generally the first choice for many, perhaps it shouldn’t be. ChatGPT can be a great way to do quick searches to narrow down travel planning to those areas that seem worth digging deeper.

Choose your destination, then ask ChatGPT what’s worth seeing, ask about specific things from that first search for a second search and you can quickly reduce the amount of googling you need to do, allowing you to narrow right on a few items relevant to your trip. Is Google still helpful? Absolutely. But, ChatGPT can save you valuable time.