Trust or Scrutiny? The Technology Readiness Paradox in Travel Planning With Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence now drafts travel itineraries that travelers cannot easily verify. Integrating privacy calculus theory with a dual-pathway trust model, this study examines how system attributes shape tourist trust and continued usage, and how technology readiness conditions those links. A two-wave panel (433 Chinese and European travelers), a validation wave (372), and 42 interviews were analyzed using structural equation modeling, importance–performance map analysis, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, and thematic analysis. Data transparency and content authenticity raised both cognitive and affective trust, and affective trust sustained continued usage most strongly. Technology readiness reversed the expected pattern: readier travelers scrutinized fluent output rather than relying on it, weakening the behavioral effect of trust. Providers should replace generic privacy notices with in-context, verifiable data-use disclosures and checkable citations, and segment interfaces so that ready travelers receive verification tools and less-ready travelers receive reassurance. Regulators can make verifiability, not fluency, the disclosure standard.