Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant afterthought; it’s here, reshaping how destinations and attractions connect with travelers. From personalized itineraries to streamlined operations, AI drives innovation at every touchpoint of the traveler’s journey.
Let’s dive into how this technology is changing the landscape and the opportunities it presents for marketers and destinations alike.
We’ll look at this from 4 perspectives:
- The Traveler
- AI for Destination Marketing
- AI Benefits
- AI Challenges
The Traveler: Personalized Travel Experiences
The traveler sits at the heart of destination marketing, and AI has made it easier than ever to personalize their journey. By analyzing data like preferences, past behaviors, and real-time interactions, tourism companies can tailor suggestions and experiences on an individual level.
One industry example, Six Flags, is undergoing an AI-driven digital transformation, which has embraced generative AI through its website chatbot, Missi Six, and implemented AI-powered drowning prevention systems at water parks.
Here’s how AI is shaping travel in 2025:
- AI assistants and chatbots: These AI chatbots offer round-the-clock assistance, respond to destination inquiries, and provide recommendations. Travelers can use AI to become their own travel agents, creating personalized daily itineraries. Marketers must be aware of errors by the bots, however. booking flights and accommodations and hiring vehicles online. These tools provide a more personalized booking experience and offer 24/7 support.
- Sentiment analysis: AI analyzes online reviews and social media comments to understand customer sentiments, helping travelers make informed choices. This allows travelers to gauge the experiences of others and make decisions based on real-time feedback.
- Emerging destinations and trends: AI helps identify emerging destinations and trends, providing travelers with new and exciting options. This allows travelers to discover hidden gems and stay ahead of the curve in travel planning.
AI For Destination Marketing
Driven by the promise of increased efficiency and enhanced traveler engagement, destinations, and attractions are adopting a variety of AI technologies. These tools offer a range of applications, from generating personalized content and powering AI chatbots to facilitating voice-activated search and enabling data-driven marketing decisions.
Here’s how AI is shaping destination and attraction marketing in 2025:
- Generative AI: Large Language Models (LLMs) are led by ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and a host of others. This technology is a top priority for the travel industry, with 46% of industry leaders considering it crucial for improving customer experiences, streamlining operations, and enhancing efficiency.
- Voice AI: This technology enables voice-activated search and booking, making it easier for travelers to find information and make reservations. Voice AI can be integrated into travel apps and devices, allowing travelers to have conversations with technology in a more natural and intuitive way.
- Content Generation: This technology helps content writers generate content and ideas to promote the destination. 56.8% of the creators surveyed by Media Post said they use GAI tools in their content strategy and planning, and 48.4% said they use it for script writing. About 22.6% use the tools for video editing, while 17.9% use it for image editing.
- Targeted campaigns: AI enables the creation of custom audiences based on first-party data, allowing marketers to identify consumers who are in the market for travel and those who are ideal for their business.
- Advanced AI Uses: The future of GAI is using GPTs and customized prompts to create a voice for your brand with distinct personality (see prompt example below). Additionally, ChatGPT can read reports and be connected to advertising platforms to develop actionable insights. MediaOne has started doing these advanced tactics.
Sample Prompt:
AI Benefits for destination & attraction marketing:
- Brainstorming new ideas: One powerful use case for AI is asking for ideas, or bouncing your own ideas off the AI. Then you can expand upon the ideas to come up with actionable plans.
- Increased bookings: Travel companies using AI for marketing see a 25% increase in bookings due to improved audience segmentation, targeted campaigns, and automated guest services.
- Improved customer engagement: AI-driven personalization can increase bookings by 20% and virtual assistants can enhance customer engagement by 40%.
- Data-driven decision-making: AI provides valuable insights into consumer behavior, enabling data-driven marketing and service offerings. This allows businesses to make informed decisions about pricing, promotions, and product development.
- Freeing up destination experts: AI can automate routine tasks, allowing destination experts to focus on more creative and strategic work, such as developing unique experiences and building relationships with local businesses.
Challenges of Using AI in Destination and Attraction Marketing
Despite the many benefits, there are also challenges associated with using AI in destination and attraction marketing:
- Data security and privacy: Ensuring the protection of personal data collected and processed by AI systems is crucial.
- Lack of AI expertise and training: Companies face challenges in recruiting skilled professionals and upskilling their workforce to work with AI technology. This highlights the need for investment in AI education and training programs.
- Data quality and infrastructure: AI requires high-quality data and adequate technological infrastructure to function effectively. This can be a barrier for some businesses, particularly smaller organizations with limited resources.
- Concerns over ROI: Some companies are hesitant to invest in AI due to uncertainty about its return on investment. This emphasizes the importance of clear metrics and evaluation strategies to demonstrate the value of AI.
- Dependence on technology: Over-reliance on AI can lead to a loss of personal touch and human interaction, which are valued by many travelers. It's important to strike a balance between AI-powered automation and human-centered service.
- Accuracy: This is a big one... AI is not always correct. It may recommend businesses not in your destination or businesses that don’t exist at all. It’s important to fact-check AI outputs.
Conclusion
In 2025, AI will transform destination and attraction marketing by providing personalized experiences, improving marketing strategies, and shaping how travelers search for and choose their options. By acknowledging both the benefits and challenges of AI, destinations and attractions can leverage this technology to enhance their marketing efforts and create exceptional travel experiences.