There was a time when Google ruled everything. Tour operators, attractions, and DMOs obsessed over SEO, Google Ads, and everything under the sun, with hopes of fine-tuning their keywords to perfection.
Then, AI entered the chat.
Today, travelers are done searching. They’re literally asking for answers instead.
Think about it. Two years ago, the typical person would pull up Google and type in the phrase “best wine tour in Napa.” Now? They’re using their phones to thumb-tap ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Perplexity and voice search conversational queues like:
- “Where can I find a boutique wine tour in Napa that includes food pairings and a sommelier?”
- “What’s the best wine tour in Napa for a romantic getaway?”
- “Are there any Napa Valley wine tours that offer hotel pickup and private tastings?”
What follows is that AI typically serves a very limited set of answers curated from sources it deems most credible.
And if your business isn’t part of that answer, you don’t exist.
What AI Search Looks For
From a foundational perspective, SEO isn’t gone; it just doesn’t work the way it used to.
There’s more to do.
AI search goes beyond crawling websites to interpreting intent. It curates answers based on multiple sources… often skipping your website entirely. It does not care if you’ve been running Google Ads for a decade or if you’ve dominated TripAdvisor rankings since 2012.
You can see this with Google’s new Search Generative Experience (SGE), which has changed the game. Instead of serving a traditional search results page, SGE summarizes answers at the top, pulling from business listings, reviews, and structured data. This is of course hurting click-throughs.
A recent study featured by Search Engine Land found a severe drop in website click potential in direct relation to SGE breakouts. Big surprise, right? The study analyzed 10,000 keywords and found that query results featuring AI Overviews dropped in CTR from 1.41% to 0.64% year over year! And interestingly enough, when AI Overviews were not present, organic CTR increased.
This is a huge shift in touchpoint presentation and it does mean that the traditional means of website touches are watered down.
As the landscape shifts quickly, we’re often asked, “How can I get my brand recommended by AI?” The answer is that no one knows definitively, and there isn’t one go-to silver bullet. However, we we do know of a few rocks to turn.
Making Sure AI Recommends Your Tourism Brand
1. Answer The Full Questions
A traveler planning a trip to New Orleans isn’t just typing “ghost tour” into Google. They’re asking:
- What’s the scariest ghost tour in New Orleans with a history focus?
- Are there family-friendly ghost tours in the French Quarter?
- Which ghost tour includes a bar crawl and live actors?
If your website only targets “New Orleans ghost tour,” AI may be skipping over you to pull content that answers directly these long-form queries.
The fix? Lean into being the answer to someone’s travel problem. Stop writing for keywords. Start writing for natural-language questions.
Build an FAQ section with real, high-intent traveler questions. Google’s People Also Ask section can guide you on what travelers are searching for.
2. Where AI Finds Your Business (And Where You Need to Show Up)
Unfortunately, there’s no definitive place to list your tourism product to create an output feed for traveler queries. Prompt responses are known to change often, too, and the information fed to users varies across a massively growing amount of data points.
However, it never hurts to cover the bases.
Here’s some places we recommend travel brands are listed:
1. Travel Forums and High Authority Blogs: To enhance recommendations, AI assistants analyze high quality blog citations and user-generated content from platforms such as Yelp, Reddit, and Quora. This analysis provides insights into traveler experiences and satisfaction levels. Consider a backlink campaign or participating in travel communities to boost your visibility.
2. OTAs (Online Travel Agencies): AI tools don’t only pull data from websites. They crawl information from aggregator OTAs like Viator, GetYourGuide, and Expedia. Since these platforms often use structured data, they make it easier for AI systems to collect information and serve your business in response to queries. Listings on OTAs also tend to include traveler ratings, which AI uses to assess user satisfaction and relevance. Encourage reviews and keep your profiles updated.
3. Global Distribution Systems (GDS): AI assistants access real-time data on flight schedules, seat availability, and pricing through GDS platforms such as Amadeus and Sabre. These systems aggregate information from multiple airlines, enabling comprehensive flight options for users. If they relate, check them out for your brand.
4. Google Business Profile: Google’s algorithms prioritize up-to-date, well-structured, and relevant information, especially when it comes to businesses in the tourism industry. Ensure that your profile includes comprehensive details such as accurate contact information, business hours, services, photos, and real-time updates, all of which contribute to AI’s ability to recommend your business to travelers. Engaging with reviews on Google also helps reinforce your credibility.
5. Social Media Channels, Especially TikTok: AI systems often tap into posts, videos, and hashtags from social media platforms to pull information when responding to travel-related queries. By producing engaging content that resonates with these users and optimizing your social media profiles, your brand can appear in AI-driven recommendations and conversations.
3. AI Search Prefers Structured Data
AI models aren’t human, so don’t expect them to read websites like people.
They scan for structured data, looking for schema markup that categorizes information in a way that’s easily digestible for algorithms.
So make it easy.
If your site doesn’t explicitly tell AI what it offers, it won’t take the time to guess.
AI will skip over a poorly structured website and surface competitors who are optimized for machine readability. Per Yext, “brands leveraging structured data can see up to a 25% increase in click-through rates (CTR) from Google search, not just from AI Overviews, but across all search results.”
Get Your Tourism Website Into AI-Friendly Form
- Ask ChatGPT to audit your website for structured data gaps. If your listing details, tours, and services aren’t clearly defined for AI, you’re missing out on traffic from AI-driven search.
- Implement schema markup for your tours, experiences, and locations. Google prioritizes structured data that clearly defines pricing, availability, and customer ratings. Use Google’s Schema Validator Tool to perfect.
- Optimize for featured snippets. AI platforms often pull from Google’s “People Also Ask” section. If your content is well-structured, it has a better chance of being selected for these AI-powered responses.
4. Test AI’s Perception of Your Brand
Yes, we’re big on brand over here at Von Mack. But so is AI.
Keep in mind that AI-powered search curates responses based on things like high authority citations and brand authority. It needs to recognize you as a key player in your market.
Take the time to ask AI where your business stands. Here’s how:
- Step 1: Open ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Perplexity.
- Step 2: Ask something like:
- “What are the best snorkeling tours in Maui?”
- “Where’s the best place to swim with manatees in Florida?”
- “Which New Orleans ghost tour is best for history lovers?”
- Step 2: Ask something like:
- Step 3: Look at the answers.
- If your brand is listed, great. AI already recognizes your authority.
- If it isn’t? That’s a major red flag.
- Step 3: Look at the answers.
If AI isn’t mentioning your brand, it’s likely because:
- You don’t have enough authoritative mentions on review platforms, OTAs, and industry publications.
- Your business isn’t engaging in PR or high-value content marketing that gets cited in AI models.
- Your website lacks structured data or isn’t optimized for AI-powered search.
We recommend running this AI brand test monthly. If your business isn’t surfacing, adjust your digital presence. Strengthen your structured data, improve your presence on TripAdvisor, and invest in PR that gets your brand mentioned in high authority travel sources.
Staying Relevant in Tourism Means Embracing AI
This isn’t a future trend. It’s already happening. AI-powered assistants are overtaking search engines as the first point of research for many travelers.
AI search engines are curating travel experiences before travelers even reach a search bar.
The tourism brands that win in 2025 will be the ones that adapt to AI-driven search before their competitors do… conversationally, contextually, and beyond.
As always, if you need a helping hand or a place to start, just reach out to #TeamVonMack.
