A recent industry conference in Spain, attended by many independent and specialist travel businesses, crystallised something that has been building for a while. AI was on everyone’s lips, but the real thread running through the conversations was more familiar: travel still relies on trust and, now more than ever, it also relies on agility.
One of the keynote speakers used the analogy of mountaineering. You cannot start a serious climb without trust in your team and your equipment. But you also need the agility to adjust your route when the conditions turn. Travel is in the same position. Trust remains the foundation of any successful agent or tour operator. Agility, particularly in how we communicate, is what will determine who thrives in a market that is changing quickly.
What struck me most, listening to agents, operators and suppliers, was not a lack of awareness about change. Everyone knows that the landscape is shifting. What stood out was how many people still view public relations and marketing through a very traditional lens.
There is a longstanding and understandable memory in this industry of how PR used to work. Secure a strong feature in a national newspaper, or a prime slot in a key consumer title, and the phones would light up. For many businesses, especially independents and specialists, that playbook genuinely built their early success.
The challenge is that this picture is now out of date, but the expectations attached to it have not moved on. When one piece of coverage no longer triggers a rush of bookings, the conclusion is sometimes that PR has stopped working. In reality, the environment around PR has changed more than PR itself.
Today, customers rarely move from first encounter to booking in a straight line. They might see your name in an article, then search your website, look you up on social media, read your Google reviews, ask in online groups, sign up for a newsletter and, increasingly, consult an AI tool for options and reassurance. They do not make a decision based on a single moment. They make it based on the accumulated impression your brand gives them across all of these touchpoints.
This is where PR and marketing need to work much more closely together. PR is no longer just about the big hit. Its job is to put your name into credible conversations, to reinforce your expertise, to give your marketing something solid to work with. Marketing then amplifies that, through your website, email, paid activity, content, social media and sales activity. If those parts are not aligned, you are missing chances to convert the attention that PR creates into loyal customers.
At the same time, the mechanics of being found are changing. Search is no longer just a case of appearing as high as possible on a traditional Google results page. Large Language Models, the AI systems behind tools like ChatGPT and others, are already being used by customers as a research tool. These systems scan the internet and form a view about which brands look credible. They notice who appears in respected publications, who is quoted as an expert, how consistent a company’s messaging is, how active they are and how people talk about them online.
If someone asks one of these tools to recommend a tailor-made operator for a family safari, a sailing holiday in Greece, or a specialist cultural tour, the result will be influenced heavily by the strength of that operator’s digital footprint. Media coverage matters. Thought leadership matters. A coherent, active online presence matters. All of that is built through PR and marketing working in tandem.
For agents and tour operators, this means reframing how success is measured. A single article that does not immediately generate bookings is not a failure. It is one part of a larger system that, if supported by good marketing, helps you become the name that customers feel they can trust when they are ready to book. Without that layer of visibility and authority, even the best marketing campaigns are starting from a weaker position.
There is also a wider anxiety in the industry that AI will somehow replace the human role in travel. In reality, it is far more likely to reward those who combine deep knowledge with clear, consistent communication. The businesses that keep investing in their reputation, their visibility and their story will be the ones that AI tools, journalists, partners and customers all find and trust.
Public relations has not become obsolete. It has become more strategic. It is no longer a silver bullet. It is one of the core elements that allows your marketing to work, your brand to be discovered and your expertise to be recognised.
Trust is still the constant in this industry. Agility now applies just as much to how you manage your PR and marketing as it does to your product. For agents and tour operators who embrace that, there is considerable opportunity ahead, even in a market that feels more complex than ever.
