We are now in the middle of summer, so the topic of holidays was inevitable. Are you coming for the holidays? An oldie but a goodie from the famous duo David and Jonathan, reminiscent of the 1980s. Yes, what are you doing for the holidays? Since the Popular Front made paid holidays universal, our holidays have changed considerably. Today, Search GPT is redefining the way we travel.
Not sure where to go or how to organise your trip? Take the test, describe your profile, your desires and your budget to Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and in a few seconds, itinerary suggestions will appear. The more you talk to the AI, the more personalised the offer becomes; you can refine all aspects of your trip: duration, transport, accommodation, visits, etc. According to a Kantar study conducted in 2025 in ten countries, 40% of travellers already use AI to organise their trips and 62% plan to do so in the near future. This trend is confirmed by Accenture, which estimates that more than 50% of users would be willing to entrust the planning of their holidays entirely to AI.
As a result, it is no longer enough for tourism players to be visible; they must be recognised as a reference, a source by AI, when a search is carried out. Content produced by trusted third parties is becoming the gateway to feeding the AI beast.
The revival of brand content in the GEO era
Until now, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) reigned supreme in search engine rankings, with the right keywords as its weapon of choice.
Now, its corollary, GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), aims to make content understandable and reusable by artificial intelligence so that it appears in GPT searches. I can’t help but see this as an unintentional nod to another well-known acronym in tourism: Club Med’s GO (Gentil Organisateur, or ‘friendly organiser’). With the company in the media spotlight, is GEO just a digital and algorithmic version of GO? More seriously, content creation is nothing new. Brand content was popularised by brand blogs. We have to go back to 2004 to see the first corporate blog, Channel 9, launched by Microsoft. But today, the challenge is to adapt this content to generative conversation.
Three aspects will be key: the relevance of the content, the quality of its formulation and its ability to inspire. It is no longer about being a simple salesperson; above all, you have to advise and tell a story.
Becoming THE source
On their websites, tourism players will have to develop immersive content that goes far beyond a simple description, offering a real narrative of the journey. The aim is to guide future travellers in search of their next destination. And who better than the tourism sector to inspire dreams and tell stories of crazy adventures? Shouldn’t we take inspiration from poets and travel writers? Homer, Marco Polo, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, Arthur Rimbaud, Robert Louis Stevenson and, more recently, Sylvain Tesson have constantly taken us on journeys to lands near and far.
This approach is not enough. It is also essential to study, observe and detect trends, understand requests, how people search for their holidays and the needs they express. It is essential to be attentive to these weak signals in order to offer content that resonates with the public’s deepest desires and not just ‘tell a story’, but inspire the desire to live it.
AI does not rely solely on official websites, but also draws on trusted third parties. These are not really new either, particularly the media, which are playing an increasingly important role in the reliability of the responses generated. Just look at the rapid increase in the number of French and international media outlets that have signed agreements with generative AI platforms: for example, Le Monde, Associated Press, and the Financial Times, among others, feed OpenAI (ChatGPT), while Der Spiegel, Numerama, El País, and once again Le Monde feed Perplexity.ai.
The media are intermediaries with whom it is essential to build long-term relationships through ongoing press relations activities and by communicating accurate and relevant content. For brands and companies, this is also a way of playing their part in preserving the accuracy of information.
Tourism, a sector accustomed to change
The tourism sector regularly experiences upheavals: economic crises, health crises, environmental and technological impacts. From the late 1990s onwards, the sector was quick to embrace the internet revolution. It was not the first to do so, but once again we can highlight the notable role played by Microsoft, which launched Expedia in 1996, and SNCF, which launched Voyages-sncf.com in 2000. Today, faced with the new turning point brought about by artificial intelligence, the sector has all the cards in its hand. One figure sums up the scale of the change: the global AI market in tourism is estimated at $3.37 billion in 2024, with expected annual growth of +26.7% until 2030, according to Grand View Research.
To respond to the challenge of Search GPT, tourism players must now create emotion while remaining pragmatic, through more literary, creative, lively, sensitive and unique content. This is a snub to automation, as it will always be necessary to take a step aside to stand out.
I will end with a title that exudes warmth and asphalt Un été à Paris by DJ Cam (feat Anggun), because we mustn’t forget that part of the French population doesn’t go on holiday in the summer. And a reading recommendation: Café Neon et autres îles by Jean-Christophe Bailly, published by Arléa Poche, because Greece remains a top destination, close to 2 million of our compatriots visited in 2024. But can we blame them? Have a great holiday!
