Does AI change where people actually travel?

The discovery figure and the plan-change figure are the two measures that convert AI visibility into demand, and they are both behavioural rather than attitudinal.

Four in ten travellers encountering a destination for the first time through an AI answer is the inspiration-stage number. Nearly three in ten changing an already-formed plan on an AI recommendation is the stronger finding, because it measures an outcome rather than an impression.

The counterweight to the zero-click worry is measurable: Phocuswright finds about half of travellers who meet an AI answer inside a search engine still click through to the sources. Being named in the answer is therefore not only a branding outcome; for roughly half the audience it still sends a visit.

The counterweight is concentration. An AI answer names a handful of options. Discovery expands for whoever is named and collapses for whoever is not.