Artificial intelligence is changing the way people plan their days out. Where once search engines sent visitors directly to your website, now AI systems are increasingly providing answers before users even click. From Google’s new AI features and Alexa voice queries to tools like ChatGPT recommending itineraries, the landscape of digital discovery is shifting quickly.

For visitor attractions, this shift is significant. Many marketing teams have focused on perfecting traditional SEO, yet AI-driven search is altering how potential visitors ask questions and how they receive recommendations. The attractions that adapt early will position themselves to capture attention from audiences who are already planning visits in new ways. Those who don’t risk slipping into invisibility. 

What is changing?

Google’s AI-powered results are now surfacing answers directly on the results page, reducing the likelihood that users will click through to your website. Voice search continues to grow, particularly among families asking devices for “the best things to do nearby this weekend”. Meanwhile, conversational AI like ChatGPT is being used for trip planning, where it generates itineraries and suggests attractions without visitors ever seeing a search engine results page.

Traditional SEO still matters, but it is no longer enough. Ranking well for “museums near me” will not necessarily get you recommended when someone asks ChatGPT for “family-friendly indoor activities in rainy weather”. The forward-thinking attractions are the ones enhancing their SEO foundations with strategies tailored for AI discovery.

AI systems evaluate content differently from traditional search engines. They favour information that is comprehensive, accurate, and useful. They look for content that shows authority and expertise, rewarding sites that answer a broad range of visitor questions.

Your strategy should go beyond keywords. Anticipate the real questions potential visitors ask. Families want to know what facilities are available, how long a visit takes, what’s included in the ticket price, and whether the attraction is accessible. The more clearly your content answers these needs, the more likely AI systems will trust and recommend you.

By creating detailed and reliable content, you achieve two goals. AI tools can confidently suggest your attraction, and search engines will also reward your site with stronger rankings.

Voice search adds another dimension. The way people speak is not the same as the way they type. A typed query might be “Cambridge museum children”, whereas a spoken one sounds more like “What is the best museum for kids near Cambridge?”

This matters because your content must reflect both forms of behaviour. The solution is not to abandon your keyword strategy but to expand it. Write content that reads conversationally, includes natural language phrasing, and still incorporates the core search terms. Local SEO is particularly important here, as voice results strongly favour accurate and location-specific information.

Traditional SEO metrics such as rankings, impressions and click-through rates remain valuable, but they no longer capture the whole picture. Attractions now need to monitor how they appear in AI-generated responses, whether in Google’s AI snippets, in ChatGPT itineraries or in voice assistant answers.

The most proactive attractions already check how conversational AI tools describe them compared to competitors. They track whether they are recommended in sample itineraries, and they test queries that their audiences are most likely to ask. This intelligence helps to refine content strategies so that they match how visitors are now discovering information.