AI-search ‘levels the playing field’ for smaller operators 

The shift from traditional search engines to AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT is creating promising opportunities for smaller travel brands to be discovered, delegates heard at Aspire’s Leaders of Luxury conference. 

Speaking during a session on the rise of artificial intelligence in the travel industry, founder and chief executive of specialist tour operator The Luminaire, Adam Sebba, told the audience there was a “significant change happening in how people are searching for travel experiences” and urged the industry to “take advantage”.

While search engines such as Google and online booking platforms including Expedia and Booking.com prioritise the visibility of high-bidding brands and companies, AI generates unbiased results. 

Sebba said: “[Before] the winners were the companies that had the biggest budget and best SEO agency, but AI cuts through that and allows people to find what they’re truly looking for.” 

Sebba emphasised the benefits of this for smaller travel brands, such as The Luminaire.

He said: “The Luminaire could never [previously] compete with big budgets on SEO if we wanted to be found for luxury holidays in Italy [for example], but now we can.” 

He added: “Now, the real winners are the guides in Tokyo who barely uses email, the forgotten chapel in Florence or the family-run ryokan in Japan that couldn’t be found anywhere on Google.”

Sebba said the new technology “levelled the playing field”, presenting an opportunity for travel agents “because they now have the power to disintermediate a layer of complexity from their bookings”.

“Increasingly, you’ll be able to find those experiences yourselves and offer them directly to a customer without having to give up margin on a booking going through a DMC,” he said.