AI travel tools send tourists to real-sounding but fake, dangerous destinations

AI travel planning tools are sending tourists to dangerous, nonexistent destinations, with recent incidents including hikers searching for a fictional “Sacred Canyon of Humantay” in Peru’s Andes Mountains. These AI hallucinations are creating serious safety risks as 24 percent of tourists now rely on artificial intelligence for trip planning, according to a 2025 Global Rescue survey.

The big picture: AI models are generating convincing but completely fabricated travel destinations by combining real images and location names, leading unsuspecting travelers into hazardous situations without proper preparation or safety measures.

Key safety incidents: Multiple dangerous situations have emerged from AI-generated travel misinformation.

• Two tourists in Peru were stopped by a local guide while searching for the nonexistent “Sacred Canyon of Humantay” in treacherous mountain terrain.
• A couple became stranded on a Japanese mountain peak after ChatGPT provided incorrect information about when hiking paths would be accessible.
• These incidents highlight how AI hallucinations can create life-threatening scenarios in remote, high-altitude environments.

What experts are saying: Local tour guides warn that AI-generated travel advice poses serious risks in challenging environments.

• “This sort of misinformation is perilous in Peru,” said Miguel Angel Gongora Meza, a tour guide who intercepted the misled hikers. “The elevation, the climatic changes and accessibility [of the] paths have to be planned. When you [use] a program [like OpenAI’s ChatGPT], which combines pictures and names to create a fantasy, then you can find yourself at an altitude of 4,000m without oxygen and [phone] signal.”

Growing security concerns: Beyond hallucinated destinations, AI is enabling sophisticated travel scams targeting tourists.

• Con artists are deploying AI-powered bots and deepfakes to create fraudulent travel apps and websites designed to steal credit card information.
• “The proliferation of AI is an impending threat to travel,” warned Harding Bush, associate director of security for Global Rescue, a travel service business, and former Navy SEAL.

Why this matters: As AI adoption in travel planning accelerates, the technology is creating new categories of risk that mirror earlier problems with GPS navigation apps directing drivers through dangerous shortcuts, but with potentially more severe consequences in remote wilderness areas where rescue operations are complex and costly.