Google’s new era of search to redefine travel

AI Mode ‘enables dynamic, multi-step conversations’

As many as 60% of travellers are seeing an AI response when researching their travel on Google through AI Overviews, according to anecdotal evidence.

And with AI changing the way people plan and book their trips, Google is stepping into this new era of search with its AI Mode, a feature launched earlier this year that promises to reshape the way travellers explore and book.

Unlike traditional search, AI Mode enables dynamic, multi-step conversations. A traveller searching for “family-friendly tours in Costa Rica” will no longer see just a list of links. 

Instead, Google’s AI can handle follow-up questions such as “What about for kids under 8?” or “Which ones include wildlife viewing?” mimicking the experience of speaking with a personal travel agent.

The implications for the travel industry are significant. Many companies rely heavily on top-of-funnel content—blog posts, destination guides, and curated itineraries—to attract audiences and feed retargeting campaigns. 

AI Mode disrupts that model: search results no longer center on traditional blue links, and recommendations are delivered directly by AI. 

As a result, click-through rates are losing relevance, and a new metric is emerging as a key measure of visibility: share of answer or how often a brand appears in AI-generated responses.

In this context, Brennen Bliss, CEO and Founder of Propellic, an AI-first digital marketing agency specialising in travel and tourism, highlights five key implications of Google AI Mode that are set to impact the travel industry over the next 12 months:

• Generative AI is the new OTA competitor: less than 10% of bookings in AI Mode go through traditional OTAs, compared with 56% booked directly with hotels or activity providers. Brands that ignore AI-ready content, geo-targeting, and booking incentives risk being left behind. This represents an opportunity to achieve disproportionate ROI with a relatively small budget.
• The Google Business Profile has become the main storefront: AI Mode integrates business profiles directly into responses. Photos, pricing, and reviews are front and center, meaning company profile often becomes the first point of interaction, even before the website.
• AI recommendations drive instant trust: travelers trust AI suggestions. Destinations, hotels, and activities featured in AI Mode score over 4.3 out of 5 in consumer confidence trust, giving brands that appear here a significant conversion advantage.
• Inline placement outperforms traditional search: users in Google AI Mode tend to click directly on inline text links without exploring other features. The goal of AI inclusion should be to appear in inline links. These attract the most attention, rather than the citation list on the right. How you appear in those passages that contain your inline citation becomes even more important as travel planning continues to shift to AI.
• Conversations replace keywords: average query lengths have more than doubled, showing a shift from simple keyword searches to longer, more conversational prompts that guide planning and decision-making within AI Mode.

Yesterday’s best practices no longer align with today’s travel journeys or complex user behaviours. 

In this sense, Propellic advises that strategies must evolve to connect with travelers who expect to find all the information they need in one single platform as AI Mode enables them to make decisions with more clarity and confidence.

“Content across owned landing pages, Google Business Profiles, earned media, and paid media should be structured, designed, and written to match user questions, behaviours, and preferences. The right data and metrics must be tracked, and the most relevant insights applied to drive more bookings,” concludes Bliss.