Last week, while reviewing our Google Analytics, I noticed something that made me stop in my tracks: a growing stream of traffic from sources like ‘chat.openai.com’, ‘perplexity.ai’, and ‘claude.ai’.
After coordinating 5,000 tours through London’s attractions, I thought I’d seen most shifts in visitor behaviour. This one’s different.
The 15% You’re Missing
Six months ago, AI platforms sent us virtually zero traffic. Today, they account for 15% of our discovery traffic—and growing exponentially. While the industry debates AI’s potential impact, the revolution has already started. Your future customers are asking ChatGPT for recommendations right now.
Here’s what our operational data from 30,000 visitors reveals: AI-referred visitors behave nothing like traditional search traffic. They spend 40% longer on booking pages. They convert 2.3 days faster. They arrive with specific requirements already articulated—”private Tower of London tour with Blue Badge guide for elderly parents” rather than “London tours.”
The behavioural difference stems from how AI platforms operate. When ChatGPT recommends three tour operators, users trust those recommendations implicitly. Unlike Google’s endless results pages, AI creates what I call the “consideration set advantage”—you’re either in those three recommendations or you’re invisible.
Why Tourism Gets Hit First
Tourism faces unique vulnerability to AI disruption. Consider how people plan trips: complex queries requiring a nuanced understanding. “Family-friendly historical tours that avoid crowds, suitable for grandmother with mobility issues, focusing on Tudor history.” Google struggles with this. AI excels at it.
The trust transfer phenomenon particularly affects tourism. When AI recommends a tour operator, users assume the platform vetted quality, certifications, and reviews. They arrive at your booking page pre-convinced. Our data shows AI-referred visitors need 60% fewer page views before booking.
Behind the scenes, AI platforms evaluate operators through sophisticated criteria. Review consistency matters more than volume—500 steady five-star reviews outperform 2,000 mixed ratings. Blue Badge guide certifications carry unusual weight. Response times, operational hours, and speciality descriptions all factor into recommendations.
The Knowledge Graph Reality
What determines whether AI recommends your tours? After analysing hundreds of ChatGPT responses mentioning London tourism, clear patterns emerge:
Winners share these characteristics:
- Structured, clear information about services
- Consistent operational excellence reflected in reviews
- Specific expertise rather than generic offerings
- Professional certifications are prominently mentioned
- Accessibility information is explicitly stated
Losers make these mistakes:
- Vague “all London tours” positioning
- SEO-optimised content that lacks substance
- Inconsistent review patterns
- Missing operational details
- No clear speciality or differentiation
The 15% of bookings with accessibility requirements increasingly come through AI channels. Platforms excel at matching specific needs with appropriate services—but only if you’ve structured that information correctly.
The Exponential Growth Curve
Current numbers might seem manageable—15% of traffic, growing monthly. But consider the context: ChatGPT reached 700 million weekly users faster than any platform in history. Perplexity grew from 10 million to 100 million users in twelve months. When these growth curves go vertical, positioning becomes impossible to change.
London’s £36 billion tourism economy depends on discovery. If 30% of visitors find experiences through AI by 2026—entirely plausible given current trajectories—operators invisible to these platforms lose access to nine billion pounds of potential revenue.
Practical Steps for Right Now
Waiting means losing ground to competitors who move today. Here’s your immediate action plan:
Track AI traffic immediately. Add ‘chat.openai.com’, ‘perplexity.ai’, and ‘claude.ai’ to your analytics tracking. You can’t optimise what you don’t measure.
Test your AI visibility. Ask ChatGPT about tours in your specialty area. Do you appear? How are you described? What competitors get mentioned?
Structure your information. Clear headers, logical flow, explicit certifications. Write for comprehension, not keywords.
Emphasise operational excellence. Response times, availability windows, guide qualifications—make these explicit, not implied.
Document accessibility features. The £15.3 billion accessible tourism market increasingly discovers through AI.
The Window Is Now
Our decade of coordinating Blue Badge guide experiences provides unique visibility into tourism transitions. This shift differs from mobile adoption or social media marketing. Those were additional channels. AI discovery represents infrastructure change—like the shift from print directories to search engines.
The operators establishing AI presence today lock in algorithmic advantages that compound over time. Early recommendations influence future suggestions through feedback loops. Current leaders become tomorrow’s defaults.
You can bet your life that discovery is phase 1, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be able to book experiences right through AI. If it doesn’t happen within 18 months, I’ll eat my captain’s hat!
While competitors debate AI’s potential impact, smart operators recognise that the revolution has already begun. The question isn’t whether AI will transform tourism discovery—it’s whether you’ll be discoverable when your next customer asks ChatGPT for recommendations.
Read my original article on LinkedIn
