ChatGPT was asked to plan a Victoria Falls trip covering Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana. It recommended the KAZA Univisa, which it said covered travel across all three countries with unlimited re-entry for 30 days - so the traveller built his entire multi-country itinerary around one visa and assumed he could cross borders freely for a month. In reality the KAZA Univisa is a joint Zambia-Zimbabwe visa: it becomes invalid if the holder leaves those two countries for one night or more, and it covers Botswana only for same-day trips through the Kazungula border.
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Expert: Max Phelps (traveller), Adam Ewart (Founder, Send My Bag) Sydney traveller Max Phelps, 58, was planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa with his girlfriend Julie and grandson Matthew, and turned to ChatGPT for the practicalities: where to see Victoria Falls from, where to stay, where to fly into. ChatGPT recommended seeing the falls from both the Zimbabwean and Zambian sides and then a safari in Botswana's Chobe National Park - and told him to get the KAZA Univisa, which it claimed covered travel across all three countries with unlimited re-entry for 30 days. He built the itinerary around that advice and, as he now says himself, made the mistake of not cross-checking it. The visa cannot do what the model said. The KAZA Univisa is a joint Zambia-Zimbabwe visa, not a three-country pass. Zambia's Department of Immigration states it is valid for up to 30 days in any given 12-month period 'as long as the holder remains within Zambia and Zimbabwe', and that it covers Botswana only for day trips through the Kazungula border. Leave Zambia or Zimbabwe for one night or more and it is no longer valid. Phelps found out at the border post: 'It wasn't until we tried to re-enter Zimbabwe after the safari that border officials told us our visa was no longer valid.' They had to buy new visas on the spot - an extra $43 each on top of the $72 each they had already paid - while as Australians they did not need a visa for Botswana or Zambia at all, only Zimbabwe. This is the most persuasive kind of AI travel error: not an invented hotel or a hallucinated attraction, but a real visa described with a rule it does not have. Everything in the answer sounds plausible, so the traveller has no reason to question it until a border officer does. Send My Bag founder Adam Ewart, whose company surveyed Australian travellers, said AI 'can only provide answers based on the information it has' and should be treated 'as a starting point, not a replacement for official travel advice'. Phelps' own advice: 'If you're using AI to plan a trip, don't just take its first answer as the complete picture, especially for anything involving visas, borders, or legal requirements.' The survey found nearly four in 10 Australians have used AI to research or plan a trip, and while more than half trust it to find the best prices and build itineraries, 35 per cent still trust it with visa or immigration requirements - the one category where being wrong costs money, time and a night at a border post. Check entry rules with the immigration authority of the country you are entering, not with a chatbot. Source: https://www.nine.com.au/travel/travel-planning-with-ai-warning-dont-make-my-mistake-exclusive-20260728-p60j8d.html
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