How AI Can Help Promote Your Travel Agency

As 2025 approaches, travel advisors — both individuals and agency leaders — are likely thinking about how to manage their businesses in a new and uncertain economic environment. Previously, I identified three key areas where AI technology is impacting the travel industry. In this article, I’ll focus on how AI can help with business promotion.

Promoting the Business

Marketing materials offer the greatest potential for AI use in business promotion, but they also come with risks. What may seem like a simple, harmless action can have unintended consequences.

Marketing Materials

Marketing materials shape how a business presents itself to current and potential customers. Tone is just as important as content. For those who aren’t comfortable crafting professional, persuasive copy, AI tools can be useful.

To effectively use AI for this purpose, two conditions must be met: (1) The instructions given to the AI tool must be specific and clear. (2) Review the AI-generated content carefully. This step allows you to catch mistakes made during prompting and refine the message. You may need to either rework the prompts or make manual edits. AI can help, but it cannot make final decisions for you.

Press Releases

Press releases are an effective way to gain free publicity — if done correctly. Unfortunately, many fail to achieve their goals due to two common issues: (1) Poorly written content: Media outlets are unlikely to revise sloppy drafts. (2) Lack of news value: If the press release doesn’t contain useful news, it won’t be picked up.

To avoid the first issue, ensure your press releases follow accepted industry formats. A quick search for “proper form of press release” online will yield plenty of helpful guides, including this one from Newswire.

To avoid the second issue, understand what qualifies as “news.” If you’re unsure, AI may be able to offer ideas, but it’s often more efficient to consult professional resources or writing guides.

Elements of a Strong Press Release

According to Google AI, a good press release includes:

• Headline: A clear, attention-grabbing title summarizing the news.
• Dateline: The city and date of the announcement.
• Lead paragraph: A concise summary of the most important information.
• Body paragraphs: Detailed explanation of the news, including facts, figures, and quotes.
• Boilerplate: A short description of the company, its mission, and products.
• Contact information: The name, email, and phone number of the media contact.

Other key considerations include:

• Newsworthiness: Make sure your announcement is relevant to your audience.
• Accuracy: Verify facts and details for accuracy.
• Conciseness: Keep press releases to one page, but no more than two.
• Professional tone: Write in a formal, businesslike style.
• Proofreading: Review for grammatical and spelling errors before distribution.

Destination Information

Destination content is abundant on the internet, but AI can provide shortcuts for advisors looking to personalize that content for clients. However, nothing replaces firsthand experience. If you or your advisors have recently visited a destination, that personal insight will almost always be better than generic, AI-generated text.

AI-generated destination information should be seen as a supplement, not a replacement. AI can’t replicate the human connection that travel advisors provide. Advisors know their clients in ways AI cannot, which allows them to highlight experiences tailored to each individual.

While some may argue that AI can predict client preferences using past travel data, I believe the time and effort required to fine-tune that approach would exceed the value of the results.

Images and Visual Content

Images are a powerful promotional tool in today’s highly visual world. AI now allows users to create original images and infographics, which can be useful if done correctly. But there are some risks.

Not all AI-generated images are truly “original,” and determining the originality of AI art is difficult. Using images pulled from the internet without permission is risky and may result in copyright violations. Getty Images, for instance, reported having 521 million images and videos in its inventory at the end of 2022, and they actively pursue legal action against copyright violators.

To protect your business, consider these solutions: (1) Take images yourself, preserving the metadata so you can prove ownership if challenged. (2) License images from a stock photo company, which often have vast libraries of travel photos. (3) Use images supplied by destinations or suppliers, but keep records of where you got them and any terms of use.

Website Content

A travel advisor’s website is a crucial branding tool. It showcases the business’s professionalism, expertise, and trustworthiness to potential clients and suppliers. The content should be clear, engaging, and optimized for search engines.

AI tools can be used to generate website content, but success depends on how well you frame your prompts. Poorly worded prompts can produce inaccurate or unoriginal content. AI may also inadvertently produce content that is subject to copyright by another business. To avoid potential issues, review AI-generated content carefully, fact-check it, and run it through a plagiarism checker before publishing.

Presentations for Suppliers

Presentations for suppliers can be created using AI-driven tools like Microsoft Copilot or SlidesGPT. These tools can convert basic information into visually appealing slide decks, saving time and effort. However, you should always review the results to ensure accuracy and clarity. No one wants to encounter errors or misrepresentations during a professional presentation.

List Making

AI can also be used to create lists, which can be time-saving tools for travel advisors. With clear and specific prompts, AI can generate client packing lists, trip itineraries, or “top 10” lists of destination highlights. Since these lists are often straightforward, errors are typically easy to spot and correct.

Search Terms and SEO

AI tools can be useful for generating keywords and search terms for SEO purposes. Crafting the right search prompts is essential for effective results. If the results aren’t relevant, try adjusting the prompts and running the search again.

Final Thoughts

Be alert to anything that seems “off” in AI-generated responses. Errors and inaccuracies are common in AI-generated content, especially in travel-related information. While AI tools are becoming more powerful, they are also becoming riskier. Rely on your own common sense, and use AI as an aid, not as a replacement for human judgment.

The next and final article in this series will address “Evaluating Business Performance and Acquiring/Disposing of the Business.”