How Multi-Platform Search is Taking Travel and Tourism on a Journey

The travel industry has always been people-first, but it’s increasingly becoming a search business too – and the way people search for holidays, hotels, and experiences is changing faster than most brands are keeping up with.

This rise in international trips and spending receipts doesn’t mean that you’ll be visible when the time comes. As the discovery journey becomes multi-platform (across search engines, OTAs, social platforms, editorial coverage, and AI recommendations), the brands that succeed will be those who understand this shift. 

Before the internet, in-person and paper-based holiday planning were essential, with early popular package holidays booked through visiting shops to peruse their big brochures. This was when authority and experience were easily placed in the hands of travel agents to provide recommendations, information about the country, and answers to any other queries consumers might have. When teletext and the telephone were popular, you had to go page by page on the television to find the last-minute deals, with physical tickets. 

Now, you can access holiday packages and location information at the touch of a button. For the first time in history, online travel agencies (OTAs) have overtaken search engines as the most common starting point for booking holidays, reflecting a shift in user behaviour to remove friction.

They work as a great entry point where you can filter locations by preferences and compare reviews all in one place – but they aren’t always the decision point. A two-step process is becoming common: travellers using OTAs for comparison and discovery, but they return to brand websites for reassurance, perks, or direct communication. 

This signals the notion that visibility on platforms introduces the brand, but credibility and experience still close the sale.

LLMs are making waves in how travellers gather information. Research shows that 2 in 5 holidaymakers may use AI tools during their travel planning, and 89% want to use AI for future travel planning.

This creates a new layer of competition for travel brands. AI systems don’t create the information themselves, but pull content from reviews, articles, existing brand content, and signals across the internet. 

If a destination, hotel, or attraction is not widely referenced across trusted sources, it’s far less likely to appear in AI-generated results.

PR and SEO are becoming increasingly connected, strengthening the chance of discovery for brands across search engines, AI assistants, and the wider discovery landscape, boosting a brand’s digital authority. Think PR coverage, mentions from trusted publications, expert commentary from your industry, and well-structured content, all contributing to the signals LLMs rely on.

Word-of-mouth referrals have doubled in influence, reflecting a renewed trust in personal recommendations. Because of this, social media has become a catalyst for word-of-mouth in a global way.

Travel creators, vloggers, and everyday travellers are shaping perceptions through the content they produce, with 75% of millennials being influenced by social media for their travel decisions. For example, one video showing a hidden beach, an out-there hotel, or a local experience to try can drive searches and influence a consumer’s decision-making process. 

Travel creators and niche influencers are changing how destinations, hotels, and attractions are discovered. Across the wider travel space, we have creators like Harry Jaggard who document cultural experiences around the world with first-hand storytelling, or we have creators like Mark Wiens who do ‘mukbang’ style content with street food and local cuisine across the world.

Solo and lifestyle characters travel creators also play a role in how audiences imagine a destination, or help with itinerary planning and restaurant or bar choices. Creators like Lucy Dodsworth empower women through solo travel experiences and destination guides, whilst Amy Hulley focuses on wellness travel and bucket list destinations. This kind of first-hand content helps travellers to understand what their trip could look like, building trust and inspiring viewers.

Then we have people in the more granular areas of travel and tourism, like theme park enthusiasts. One of the biggest creators in this space is Theme Park Worldwide, where Shawn Sandbrooke and his wife, Charlotte, document visits to hundreds of theme parks across the world, often being invited to get a first look at rides before they open to the public, and are currently documenting the process of Universal Studios. On the other hand, there are accounts like Theme Park Dash that gamify their visits and introduce new attractions to audiences in an engaging format. 

For travel brands, creators aren’t just promoting destinations, but they’re becoming part of user discovery. Their content can appear in SERPS, users are searching on their native platform, and these can be referenced in forums and reviews or by community members, meaning it can influence the travel decision-making process long before someone is going to a booking site.

The discovery journey across travel and tourism is becoming more varied, which means full of opportunity. Travellers are looking at new destinations, using different platforms, and trusting new places to make informed decisions. 

For brands, this means success will depend on how accessible you are across the discovery journey, from search engines to emerging AI tools, reviews to user-generated content, and how you show up in these places. 

Those who invest in visibility, experience, and storytelling will be the brands that travellers look for when planning their next trip.