# Destinations now have to please AI, not just travellers

Canonical-URL: https://hoteltech.news/digest/destinations-please-ai-tourism
Text-Version: https://hoteltech.news/digest/destinations-please-ai-tourism.txt
Markdown-Version: https://hoteltech.news/digest/destinations-please-ai-tourism.md
Language: en
Published: 2026-09-18T08:15:53.892Z
Modified: 2026-09-18T08:15:53.892Z
Author: Joan Sanz
Topics: Artificial Intelligence
Summary: A Create Consulting China report reveals that AI is already shaping how Chinese tourists pick destinations, and most destinations are not ready for it.

## Article

A report from [Create Consulting China](https://www.hosteltur.com/178707_un-nuevo-desafio-planta-cara-a-los-destinos-turisticos-gustarle-a-la-inteligencia-artificial.html) has mapped how artificial intelligence behaves when Chinese travellers ask it to recommend international destinations. The finding is blunt: the recommendations AI hands back are already steering real trip planning, and most destinations have zero control over what that answer says about them.

The study, led by **Alfred Li**, vice president of the consultancy, analyses how the model picks and ranks places, what it highlights and what it quietly leaves out. For a hotel or a DMO, that means the battle for visibility has moved from Google rankings and OTA listings to a black box nobody fully understands yet.

My read: this is an opportunity more than a threat. Whoever feeds clean, structured, well-attributed content about their destination will show up in those AI answers. Whoever doesn't, disappears. **The work is the same as always, just a new distribution channel**.

## Sources

- Hosteltur: https://www.hosteltur.com/178707_un-nuevo-desafio-planta-cara-a-los-destinos-turisticos-gustarle-a-la-inteligencia-artificial.html

## Citation

Destinations now have to please AI, not just travellers. Hotel Tech News. 2026-09-18. https://hoteltech.news/digest/destinations-please-ai-tourism