The data: AI-referred traffic to travel sites is proving valuable as AI assistants deliver informed, high-intent audiences, per Adobe.

Travel site visitors that are referred by AI tools, compared with non-AI traffic:

• Spend 67% more time on site.
• Bounce at a 42% lower rate.
• Are 21% more engaged.

Adobe further found that hotel, cruise, and car rental homepages and product pages perform well in AI citations, while airlines fall behind them all.

Digging into the data: GenAI is gaining both a lower-funnel and upper-funnel role as it drives research and supports purchases. AI assistants’ outputs reduce booking barriers by answering consumers’ questions, offering clear information and recommendations, and surfacing relevant offerings.

However, travel providers may be lagging in the AI experiences they offer: Only 22% of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) have AI trip-planning features on their websites and just 26% have a clear AI strategy, per Mindtrip, Sabre, Sojern, and MMGY Travel Intelligence.

In addition, only 16.6% of US internet users use genAI weekly to compare products or make purchases, per our data, demonstrating how AI users are excited about travel-planning and research options, but adoption remains low overall.

Implications for travel providers: AI adoption may be limited today, but its consistent growth means it shouldn’t be ignored. Waiting for consumer interest to substantially increase before adding AI tools could cede early positioning to competitors.

• Write AI-readable product data and structured content for citations, and explore buying guide content, which performs best for hotels, cruises, and car rentals.
• Develop AI-friendly checkout processes and conversational search tools that support AI-referred traffic’s high purchase intent.
• Track AI-referred traffic activity and conversion rates on a monthly basis as the channel evolves.

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