Travel agents worldwide are using the major global distribution systems (GDS) more than they did two years ago, with 43% reporting increased use compared with 2024, according to Amadeus’s biennial Global Travel Agent Report 2026.
For hotels, airlines and destination marketers selling through the trade, the findings point to the factors that decide whether an agent books or looks elsewhere: consistent rates, complete property content and visible sustainability credentials. Agents use the systems more than six times a day on average and stay connected for nearly eight hours.
Asia-Pacific leads on growth, with 47% of agents using the platforms more than two years ago, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 44% and the Americas at 42%.
Rate parity is close to non-negotiable. Some 94% of agents rate it as highly important, and 63% said they would book away from a property if pricing looked inconsistent. Content matters too: 90% rely on the hotel description fields supplied by the property when comparing and recommending hotels, and agents expect those fields to carry sustainability credentials. Some 88% said sustainability matters to customers when choosing a provider, and missing green credentials can count against a booking, particularly in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
More than three in four agents now include artificial intelligence in their selling toolkit, using it to research options, compare content, build recommendations and save time. Conversational tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini are the most common use case, led by agents in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 62%. Automated fare search tools and AI itinerary platforms are each used by 29% of agents globally. This echoes consumer behaviour, as one in three UK travellers use AI tools to plan holidays.
Asia-Pacific agents are furthest ahead, using AI for itinerary suggestions (36%), customer relationship management recommendations (32%) and fraud or quality tools (21%). In the Americas, 35% of agents said they do not use AI to sell, although the report suggests this “may shift as tools become more embedded in daily workflows”. Agents in all regions see pricing and upsell suggestions, hotel recommendations, destination inspiration and content comparison as the areas where AI could help most.
The research also covered advertising inside the GDS. Around two in three agents said such ads shape their buying behaviour, and one in four had booked a hotel in direct response to one. The strongest booking trigger was an exclusive GDS-only offer (57%), followed by verified rate parity (36%), loyalty perks (34%) and customer review summaries (34%). Amadeus said it is the only supplier placing adverts across all three major global distribution systems.
“Effective advertising is no longer simply about being visible. It is about delivering the right offer and content at the point when an agent is ready to act,” said Dan Ciocoiu, head of advertising solutions at Amadeus. Even when an ad does not lead to an immediate booking, the research found it builds familiarity that can influence later searches, recommendations and bookings.