AI is rewriting how travellers plan their trips

From search engine to answer engine

The travel research journey used to start with a Google search and end five tabs later. For a fast-growing slice of travellers, it now starts with a question to ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews — and ends with a confident-sounding paragraph that may never have been clicked through to.

The implication for destinations is not that SEO disappears. It is that SEO becomes about being the source AI cites, rather than the link a human clicks. Structured content, clear authority signals and a strong presence in trusted publications now compound much faster than long-tail keyword pages.

The new research pattern

AI compresses what used to be five separate sessions — broad inspiration, narrower comparison, practical questions, reviews, booking — into one conversation. Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor have all launched AI trip planners; Kayak and Skyscanner are integrating LLMs deeper into their search interfaces.

What does not change: travellers still want photos, real reviews, and concrete proof that a destination is right for them. Once the AI shortlists a region, the destination's own website, social channels and publisher coverage matter more than ever — because that is where the final decision is made.

What this means for destinations and brands

Three priorities are rising fast. First, get cited: invest in editorial PR, structured data, and rich destination pages that LLMs can summarise. Second, own your brand search: if travellers ask AI about you by name, what they see needs to be controlled by you. Third, build first-party channels — newsletters, owned communities, direct relationships — because the funnel between inspiration and booking is getting shorter.