Future Proofing Travel Brand Strategy
September 30, 2025
Written By:
Melissa Pert
A Shift In Discovery
The way travelers research and plan trips is undergoing a fundamental transformation.
Gen Z and Millennials are leading the charge, turning to AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT instead of traditional search engines and brand websites. What once began with a search bar now starts with a conversation which leads to faster, more personalized, and a less cluttered and clunky experience.
But this shift isn’t just generational. Gen X and Boomers are also changing behaviors as AI, mobile apps, and voice interfaces become mainstream. What we’re witnessing is the emergence of AI as the new front door to travel discovery.
Background: Why Travelers Are Shifting Behavior
Curation Over Clutter: AI cuts through search engine noise, eliminating SEO-heavy blogs and ads, and serving only the most relevant, curated options.
Personalization at Scale: From “3-day foodie trip to New York on a $1,500 budget” to “family-friendly hikes within 2 hours of Denver,” AI delivers hyper-tailored results that search engines cannot replicate.
Conversational Trust: Younger audiences find conversational UX intuitive, while older travelers appreciate AI’s ability to save time and simplify decision-making.
Speed of Discovery: Travelers can move from inspiration to planning to booking in fewer steps, reducing friction and increasing satisfaction.
Considerations
AI is fundamentally reshaping the travel funnel by collapsing inspiration, research, and booking into a single, fluid step. Instead of travelers moving through distinct phases, they can now ask, “Where should I go skiing this winter?” and instantly receive not just destination ideas but bundled options for flights, lodging, and lift tickets with the ability to book on the spot. Increasingly, these recommendations also include images and visuals, giving travelers a richer sense of place and sparking confidence in their choices without needing to leave the platform. At the same time, AI is extending beyond pre-trip planning into real-time adaptability, functioning as a live travel assistant that can rebook flights after cancellations, secure alternative accommodations, or suggest dining options nearby. The consideration for travel brands is clear: those who integrate both inspiration-to-booking capabilities, visual storytelling, and real-time travel management into their offerings will capture more relevance, loyalty, and share of wallet.
Future Proofing Travel Brands
- AI as the New Gatekeeper: If travelers are planning through ChatGPT, brand websites may never be visited. To remain visible, brands must ensure their content is structured, accurate, and AI-friendly so it surfaces in responses. Brands should recognize AI as the connective tissue linking social, SEM, and booking — not just another channel
- From SEO to AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): Traditional SEO must evolve as AI becomes the starting point for travel discovery. The question now is: “How will AI summarize and recommend us?” That requires content in conversational, Q&A-friendly formats that AI can easily surface. Just as important, AI often leans on third-party authority sources like YouTube, Reddit, TikTok where trusted creators validate information. To win visibility, brands must optimize not only their owned content, but also ensure their story is reinforced by credible voices on the platforms AI trusts.
- Balance Channel Planning + AI: Ensure brand presence across visual-first platforms (CTV, OLV, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) while feeding structured content into AI systems. This dual approach not only sparks inspiration where audiences are most engaged, but also guarantees that when travelers turn to AI for trip planning, your brand is already primed to be discovered, trusted, and recommended.
- AI-Powered Customer Journeys: Beyond discovery, brands should experiment with AI trip planners, itinerary builders, and booking assistants that live within their owned ecosystems. Meeting users where they are in the flow of conversation creates stickier brand relationships.
AI has become the front door to travel discovery, shifting the process from search-and-browse to ask-and-curate. While Gen Z and Millennials lead the trend, all generations are beginning to adopt AI-first behaviors.
But this transition doesn’t start in AI. It starts with awareness. TV, CTV, and other top-of-funnel tactics remain critical to spark inspiration and recognition, ensuring a brand or destination is top of mind when a traveler turns to ChatGPT or another assistant to plan their trip.
Lower funnel channels, like websites and SEM will still play important roles in the travel journey, but their functions are shifting. SEM and OTAs will focus on conversion capture, while websites evolve into brand credibility hubs and less about exhaustive trip planning. The focus should be about authentic storytelling, values, and reassurance. Looking forward, AI will take on the heavy lifting: surfacing possibilities, providing inspiration, structuring detailed itineraries, and enabling seamless booking. In this future state, AI becomes the connective tissue uniting awareness, social validation, planning, and transactions into a continuous, traveler-centric experience.
Travel brands that adapt now by investing in awareness tactics, optimizing content for AI, and integrating across the funnel will future proof their role in this rapidly changing landscape.
