"As artificial intelligence (AI) significantly reduces the search expense in the trip planning process, travelers are now spending more time crafting 'travel that feels like me.'"
Joo Jin-myung, chief financial officer (CFO) of My Real Trip, said this in a lecture at the Westin Josun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 16th during the 2026 Consumer and Retail Forum.
Marking its 14th year, the Consumer and Retail Forum is an event where ChosunBiz presents key issues in Korea's retail industry each year and explores strategies for the industry's survival and growth. This year's forum was held under the theme "In the AI era, how are choices made."
CFO Joo cited the reduction in information search expense as the biggest change AI has brought to the travel industry. In the past, people had to spend a lot of time collecting and organizing information through various blogs, online communities, and acquaintances when planning a trip, but with the advent of AI, this process has been greatly shortened and streamlined, Joo said.
Joo said, "There are broadly two questions prospective travelers ask most often, and one of them is 'What will I do at the destination,'" adding, "Only when an answer to this question emerges does it lead to an actual booking." Joo went on, "Questions people used to type into Naver's search bar or ask friends are now increasingly being posed to AI chatbots," and added, "Thanks to AI, travelers are using the time saved to design trips that are their own."
My Real Trip sees the core of this shift as "special and differentiated travel experiences." CFO Joo said, "For example, in Paris, France, anyone can visit the Eiffel Tower, but information that enables travelers to design a trip reflecting their own tastes—such as a Paris bakery tour—is becoming important," adding, "To that end, we launched the curated travel service 'My Origin.'"
Joo assessed that even in the AI era, if differentiation fails, price competitiveness inevitably becomes paramount. However, Joo emphasized that simply showing the lowest price is not enough.
CFO Joo said, "For example, it is important to show how much cheaper airfare becomes if you take a day of leave and depart on Thursday instead of Friday night, and whether that discount is valuable enough to justify using leave."
To respond to this demand, My Real Trip also introduced the airfare comparison service 'Lucky Glide.' A My Real Trip official said, "This service was developed in about a week by the head of marketing, who is not from an engineering background, using AI," adding, "It is a new way of service development made possible as the AI era opens."
CFO Joo cited "trust" and "relationships" as values that are difficult for AI to replace. Based on this view, My Real Trip launched the 'Korean Foodies' service, which provides information on popular overseas restaurants based on reviews from Korean users.
Joo said, "We believe trust comes from reviews left by people who share similar experiences and culture," adding, "Services that can add trust to information will become even more important going forward." Joo added, "Korean Foodies is a service personally planned and developed by CEO Lee Dong-geon."
Lastly, Joo said, "The pace of AI technology's advancement is astonishingly fast," but noted, "There are differences in when AI is actually applied and takes root in each industry," adding, "We will use that gap as an opportunity to lead the travel industry based on AI technology."