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The gothic arches of Santa María de la Asunción crown the hill above the stone harbour where fishermen land their catches of sardines and anchovies.

The church in Castro Urdiales, a small seaside town of about 30,000 people in northern Spain, is more than 700 years old.

It was the perfect holiday destination for Alan Smith and his family, though he had never heard of it – until he asked ChatGPT.

This week a report from the travel association ABTA found an increasing number of people were turning to AI to help with their holidays, from suggesting destinations to planning itineraries once there.

Alan and his wife drove from their home in Kent to northern Spain with their caravan last month, where they met their daughter and her boyfriend.

Alan had asked ChatGPT to recommend places in the area they could visit and requested the drives between them should not be too long.

Castro Urdiales was one of the places suggested by the AI chatbot.

“It was the highlight of the holiday,” Alan says, “it was buzzing, like a smaller version of San Sebastián.

“It had all the pintxos you could want, but it’s smaller and has far fewer foreign tourists.”

Alan is 62. According to the ABTA report, 3% of tourists his age use AI in some way to help with their holiday. The average for the whole population is 8% and use is highest among those aged 25-34, at 18%.

After the AI chatbot made suggestions to Alan about places to visit and routes to take, he checked them on Google to make sure they were legitimate.

He made all the bookings himself though, as he was not sure sure about ChatGPT’s ability to do this – particularly given the sums of money involved.

Alan began using the AI-powered tool shortly after it was released in November 2022 and uses it frequently for all sorts of things, from finding information about places he’s visiting to recipes he wants to cook.

He often turns to it instead of search engines to save time, rather than reading through several web pages such as travel blogs about good places to visit in northern Spain.

“I’ve been stunned at the results,” Alan says. “It’s not always right though, and can – occasionally – be spectacularly wrong.”

Hannah Read, 37, tried to use an AI chatbot to plan a trip to Norway with her partner and three children.

She wanted to drive from her home in Flintshire, north Wales and cross the North Sea by ferry.

“I thought it might make for a nice drive,” Hannah says. “I asked ChatGPT if there was a ferry from the UK to Norway and it said there was one from Newcastle to Bergen.”

She later checked a ferry travel website but found no such route exists.

A travel blog detailing how Brits can reach Norway says the last time the route operated was in 2008.

“I did feel a bit disappointed when I found out the information on ChatGPT was incorrect, as I’d got quite excited and had started planning the trip in my head,” Hannah adds.

“My advice is don’t rely on AI 100%, it’s better to still do proper research.”

David Harris, 46, used AI to help plan the itinerary for his family’s first holiday in New York, but was more trusting about its recommendations.

Unlike Alan, David knew where he wanted to go – and exactly how he was going to get there, unlike Hannah.

But he wasn’t sure how much he could fit into a trip of just four-and-a-half days, so he turned to an AI-powered tool for help.

David asked it to suggest attractions to see and activities to do in the time they had – and asked for them to be grouped together by location so that he and his young family could walk between each.

“With four of us going we kind of wanted to see everything,” David says, “from Taylor Swift’s house to the Ghostbusters museum.”

Having used ChatGPT extensively for work and knowing attractions in New York tend to stay open quite late, he didn’t feel the need to check the opening times and walking directions suggested by the AI chatbot.

“It took a couple of prompts to refine the itinerary – as it gave me a lot of information I didn’t need to begin with – but it ended up producing a really good list of things to do.”

David admits it hadn’t even occurred to him to ask it to suggest possible flights with cheaper prices, but says he will try that for a holiday he is planning to the Mediterranean next year.

He adds: “I think AI tools would help people so much if they understood how to use them and gave it a go.”

They certainly have their place in holiday planning but users should understand how they work as well as check the recommendations they make, says Alistair Berry, a moderator on the UK Travel subreddit, an online forum where people can ask for advice about travel options in the UK.

“Sometimes these chatbots provide really poor advice,” Alistair says. “We get a lot of Americans, who get relatively few vacation days, on our site and they have these AI-made itineraries.

“ChatGPT has convinced them they can see London, Edinburgh and the Cotswolds in just four days and still have a good time. The reality is that they will probably spend most of the time looking out from inside a train.”

He says people planning holidays with AI tools should understand their programming often makes them encouraging and affirming of the user’s demands and requests.

“It definitely has a place in travel planning but you should fact check the suggestions it makes,” says Alistair.

“After all, you don’t want to be caught out when you’re supposed to be having a relaxing time on holiday.”