What’s changed since last year—and what it means for how destinations get discovered now

Insights from DMOs across the country on budgets, measurement, AI, and storytelling—plus how destinations are adapting to drive real impact in a changing travel landscape.

Last year, we introduced AI for Travel. Since then, AI has moved deeper into how travelers search, plan, and decide.

It’s no longer just supporting inspiration. AI is now influencing more of the traveler journey—shaping what gets surfaced, how options are compared, and how quickly decisions are made.

AI for Travel 2.0 is a focused update on what’s changed—and how destination marketing needs to adapt right now.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE

  • What’s changed in AI-driven travel discovery
  • How visibility is shifting across search and AI surfaces
  • Where traditional content strategies are losing traction
  • What leading destination teams are doing differently
  • A practical view of how to move forward

WHY THIS MATTERS

  • The way destinations get found is evolving quickly.
  • Travelers are getting answers faster.
  • Destinations that adjust early will be better positioned as these shifts accelerate.
  • And the signals that determine visibility are changing.
  • Fewer steps are separating discovery from decision.

FILL OUT THE FORM TO DOWNLOAD YOUR WHITEPAPER

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

  • May 6, 2026

    WEBINAR: How to Make Data Actionable for Your Destination

    Advance Travel Tourism's Midwest Team hosted an informative webinar, featuring expert discussions on Midwest travel trends, the four stages of the travel decision-making journey, and an engaging conversation with Mackinac Island's team.

    0 min read•By •Published On: May 6th, 2026•
  • May 5, 2026

    Why Most Travel Data Fails (And How to Turn It Into Decisions)

    Frida BahjaFrida Bahja came into tourism through environmental engineering, which means she never learned to see a destination as just a product. She sees it as a system , one with feedback loops, pressure points, and failure modes that don't announce themselves until something breaks. Now Director of Research at Experience Kissimmee and a researcher with SETTRA, she's spent her career studying [...]

    2 min read•By •Published On: May 5th, 2026•
  • May 5, 2026

    Behavior Beats Intent: The Shift Travel Marketers Can’t Ignore

    Ktimene AxetellKtimene Axetell has been on both sides of the data table, and that changes how she talks about it. Before she became CEO of Arrivalist, she ran a DMO — and led that team to a National Geographic Traveller Platinum Award in sustainability, which is not a marketing achievement. It's an operational one. It requires community alignment, economic modeling, and the [...]

    1 min read•By •Published On: May 5th, 2026•