Travellers want experiences tailored to them, yet tourism ads often look as though they were made using the same template. As many as 60 per cent of respondents believe that many travel ads look alike, while half cannot recall the last tourism ad they saw. For an industry that sells experiences and memories, this raises the question of how much of its own communication stays in people’s minds.
These findings come from Ideas that travel – How tourism brands win the race for tomorrow’s customers, a study presented by LIONS Advisory and TOURISE on 21 October. The report connects changes in traveller behaviour with marketing recommendations, suggesting that growth will require stronger connections between brand storytelling, personalisation and the actual customer experience.
Demand, meanwhile, offers grounds for optimism. In a survey conducted in December 2025, 39 per cent of respondents expected to travel more during 2026 than in the previous year. That figure reached 51 per cent among Gen Z and 47 per cent among Millennials. Brazil, South Africa and India were identified as the markets with the greatest growth potential, while almost half of travellers globally also expected to spend more on travel.
A greater willingness to travel, however, does not mean that a broad message about an appealing destination will be enough to make someone choose it. Almost three-quarters of respondents, 72 per cent, expect brands to recommend experiences based on their interests, while 71 per cent were considering visiting an emerging destination. This gives tourism brands a reason to define more precisely whom they are addressing and what they can offer that audience.
The starting point of the search has also changed. Social media is the leading source of holiday inspiration for 33 per cent of respondents, particularly younger travellers. Content conveying someone’s perspective, story or experience therefore competes with official tourism communications, while also offering destinations an opportunity to reach audiences through a more convincing portrayal of what they offer.
Between inspiration and booking, one significant obstacle remains: trust. More than half of travellers, or 55 per cent, struggle to judge which information they can trust when planning a trip. Before making a decision, they therefore consult reviews, creator content, recommendations from friends and family, AI tools and official channels. A destination’s reputation takes shape across all these sources, so what a brand says about itself must stand up to comparison with other people’s experiences.
The authors organised their recommendations into the IDEAS framework, whose name brings together five areas: Investment, Distinctiveness, Engagement, Authenticity and Seamlessness. Applying them involves decisions about media investment, creative approaches and how a brand supports travellers from the first recommendation through to their stay.
On investment, the report highlights a mismatch between recovering budgets and brands’ presence where audiences spend their time. Global media investment in the tourism sector reached $32.4 billion in 2025, but its share of voice remained below pre-pandemic levels. According to WARC Media data cited in the report, the sector invests relatively little in social media, creators, video and entertainment-led content.
Distinctiveness calls for a clearer answer to why someone would remember a particular brand. As travellers seek destinations that reflect their interests, values and identities, broadly framed messages become less effective. The report therefore recommends clearer positioning and communication that gives a brand its own memorable identity.
Audience engagement is closely connected to this. Within the same feed, tourism content competes with creators, entertainment and every other topic that interests the user. The authors see opportunities to attract attention through richer storytelling, unexpected creative approaches, emotion and connections with the audience’s culture.
Authenticity means aligning the promise with the experience. Reviews, creator posts and visitors’ experiences shape perceptions of a destination alongside official campaigns. Trust therefore requires attention beyond the channels a brand directly controls.
The final area, a seamless and connected customer experience, is becoming particularly significant as AI assistants are used more widely in search, planning and booking. At the time of the survey, 62 per cent of respondents said they were likely to use AI more often in these processes over the following 12 months. According to the report, brands will need to consider both travellers and the technology through which they receive recommendations, using data and automation to make travel easier for customers while providing human service where it is needed.
