Searching for a Place Online: What Travellers Need, What They Can't Find, and Why. A Review of Published Evidence (2026)

This report reviews published data on how travellers search for information about places and which information they cannot find or trust. It draws only on public sources: official statistics, EU and national surveys, regulators, peer-reviewed research, independent research organisations and company transparency reports. Travellers invest heavily in research before a booking, yet the most valued source remains the experience of people they know. Search is shifting from lists of links to direct answers, including AI-generated summaries, which reduces the chance that users see and check the original source. Across the evidence, seven recurring information failures appear: the trustworthiness of reviews, the real total price, outdated information, personal safety, accessibility, unverified sustainability and local-origin claims, and language. Groups with the most specific needs, including disabled travellers, women travelling alone, LGBTQ+ travellers and people with limited digital skills, are the ones least well served. A dedicated section examines Romania, where reliance on personal recommendations is above the EU average and basic digital skills are the lowest in the EU. Regulation in the EU, the United States and the United Kingdom now prohibits fake reviews, hidden fees and generic green claims, but cannot by itself produce the accurate, recent, first-hand information that travellers say they need.