Google survey: only 8% of Asia-Pacific travelers willing to let AI complete payment

On October 27, 2026, Web in Travel reported that Laura-Marie Arens, Google's head of travel vertical search for Asia-Pacific, disclosed a survey: Google interviewed about 7,000 people across five Asia-Pacific countries and found that only 8% of respondents were willing to let AI agents complete payments, while 92% were unwilling to let AI press the "book" button. Arens believes technology is not the obstacle; travel is a high-value purchase and must be foolproof. The same report also mentioned that booking lead times in Southeast Asia have increased from 46 days to 83 days, and that YouTube has become the top source of travel inspiration in Asia-Pacific. Currently, the survey results have been explained publicly by Google, and there are no further developments.