Half of travellers now plan trips with AI. Your destination pages decide if they find you.

Almost half of all travellers have already used AI to plan a trip. That is the headline of IATA's 2026 Global Passenger Survey, published on 28 October 2026 and built from more than 10,000 responses across over 200 countries. In the Middle East the figure reaches 72%. In Asia-Pacific it is 57%. When these travellers ask an AI tool about a destination you sell, the answer they get back is assembled from web pages. This post is about making sure one of those pages is yours.

How many travellers actually plan with AI now?

IATA asked passengers directly. 49% said they have used AI for travel planning:

• 21% used it to search for flights to a specific destination, the most common use
• 19% used it to find the cheapest flights
• 17% used it to get inspiration for where to go

The regional split is where it gets interesting for an Indian agency. Middle East travellers lead at 72%. Asia-Pacific is at 57% and Africa at 52%. North America sits at 47%, Latin America at 43%, and Europe trails at 35%. If you sell to inbound or Gulf-based clients, your buyer is almost certainly already asking AI before they ask you.

Nick Careen, IATA's Senior Vice President for Operations, Safety and Security, put it plainly: "People are using AI to plan their travel. It's important for airlines not only to ensure their offerings show up in AI, but also to develop convenient links to convert an AI conversation into a real booking." He was addressing airlines. Every word applies to a travel agency.

What happens when a traveller asks AI about your destination?

Picture the query. Someone types into ChatGPT or Gemini: "Is Manali doable in December with young kids?" or "How many days do I need for Kashmir?" The AI reads destination pages across the web and writes an answer from what it finds.

The pages it can quote share a shape. A direct answer at the top. Headings phrased as real questions. Specifics like best months, drive times, budgets, and who the trip suits. A visible date that shows the page is alive.

A page with a hero photo, three adjectives and a contact form gives the AI nothing to repeat. In that answer, the agency does not exist.

What kind of destination content does AI quote?

• Answer first. Open each section with the answer in one or two sentences, then give the detail. AI lifts the opening lines.
• Question headings. Write headings the way clients ask on WhatsApp: "What is the best month for Ladakh?" beats "Ladakh Overview".
• Specifics over adjectives. "October to March, 4 to 6 days, works for seniors" gets quoted. "A mesmerising paradise" does not.
• A short FAQ block. Five real questions with two-sentence answers at the bottom of each destination page, marked up so machines can read it.
• Freshness. Update the page when seasons, prices or visa rules change, and show the date. AI tools favour pages that look maintained.

The same habits lift your Google ranking. SEO and AEO pull in the same direction here, so this work pays twice.

What should your agency do this month?

1. List your five best-selling destinations.
2. For each one, write down the eight to ten questions clients actually ask before booking. Your WhatsApp history is the research.
3. Answer each question in two or three plain sentences on that destination's page.
4. Add the FAQ block at the bottom and have your developer tag it with FAQ schema.
5. Set a reminder to refresh each page when the facts change.

A small agency knows its routes better than any portal. That is the opening here, because your answers come from real bookings, not a content farm. Write down what you already know and the machines will find it.

Where does NAMA fit?

Content brings the enquiry in. What happens in the next few minutes decides the booking. NAMA's part starts the moment the enquiry lands: the quote goes out in 15 minutes, while the traveller who found you through an AI answer is still deciding.