Google has introduced a raft of AI-enhanced travel tools across its Search, Maps, Gemini, and Lens platforms, all designed to streamline holiday planning while addressing the growing reliance on digital assistants like ChatGPT. These updates build on existing functionalities such as flight price alerts and visual discovery, while expanding multilingual support and real-time exploration capabilities.
The company’s AI Overviews now enable users to generate structured itineraries for entire regions or nations. When a user inputs queries such as “create a vacation itinerary for New Zealand focusing on history,” the system will aggregate user-generated photos, reviews and interactive maps to suggest day-by-day activities. Unlike previous city-centric recommendations, this expansion allows travellers to explore more extensive cultural or ecological themes across multiple destinations.
Export options to Google Docs, Gmail, or Maps lists streamline cross-platform organisation, though availability remains limited to English-language US users on desktop and mobile.
Google has also expanded its price-tracking capabilities to hotel bookings via google.com/hotels. Users can activate monitoring for specific dates and locations, applying filters such as star ratings or beach proximity. The system sends email notifications when prices drop substantially, factoring in both applied filters and map-based location preferences. This feature is now globally accessible across mobile and desktop browsers, offering real-time budgeting insights.
Moreover, a new Gemini-powered feature in Google Maps allows users to grant photo access, which then enables automatic identification of locations from screenshots. Recognised venues are mapped and saved to customisable lists, consolidating scattered travel ideas into cohesive plans. Initially rolling out for English-language iOS users in the US, the tool aims to reduce reliance on manual note-taking during the planning phase.
Travellers can now design assistants for tasks such as destination selection or packing recommendations, utilising Gemini’s generative capabilities without cost barriers.
Meanwhile, Google Lens has expanded its AI Overviews to six additional languages (Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish), to complement its existing translation features. Users can now point their camera at landmarks and receive contextual insights in these languages to improve real-time exploration during trips.
While Maps’ screenshot feature remains regionally limited during its initial rollout, the hotel price tracking system’s global availability highlights the company’s focus on universal accessibility.