From destination decisions to travel discovery
Travel planning used to be relatively straightforward. Travellers would decide they fancied Amsterdam, France, or a long weekend somewhere sunny, then turn to Google with a few practical questions. As a travel copywriter, my job was to craft copy that gently shepherded them towards the booking button.
Now? Travellers are spoilt for choice, and behave accordingly. With endless possibilities at their fingertips, they don’t always arrive with a destination in mind.
They increasingly expect travel brands to help narrow the field.
The planning phase might begin with a loose brief: a relaxed atmosphere, a walkable city, a foodie weekend, or a direct flight from somewhere in the UK. Someone could end up in Paris, Copenhagen, or Porto, but first they want brands to make a compelling case for one place over another.
For travel brands, the opportunity is no longer simply to sell a destination. It’s to shape the moment of inspiration before that destination has even been considered.
Travellers want ideas, not just destinations
As discovery habits shift, the content travellers value is changing too. Traditional destination guides, such as ‘Things to do in Paris’, still have an important role to play. But brands must also create content around what people really want from a trip.
From dog-friendly holidays to Europe’s best foodie cities, this means digging deeper into why someone should visit a destination. Travellers want relevant recommendations, meaningful inspiration, and help turning an overwhelming range of possibilities into a manageable shortlist.
Whether they’re using AI, social platforms, or traditional search, the expectation is often the same: ‘Don’t just give me information – help me decide where to go and explain why it’s right for me.’
For travel copywriters, that makes our role more editorial than ever. It asks us to understand the person behind the search, not just the words they type.
The rise of genuinely useful travel content
One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is that generic travel writing no longer cuts through. A list of landmarks and a few paragraphs of destination history will rarely be enough to inspire someone during the research phase.
Travellers want details that feel authentic. They’re looking for the kind of local insight they might get from a friend who’s just returned from holiday: the neighbourhood worth staying in, the cafés where locals drink their morning coffee, and which attractions are overrated, alongside those that genuinely deserve the hype.
For editorial teams, that means spending more time exploring local publications, forums, traveller recommendations, and community discussions. The aim is to uncover stories and details that feel original, relevant, and useful.
Good content should help readers picture themselves in a destination before they leave the house. Achieving that requires rich human insight.
Riona Doherty, our Content Strategy Partner, explains:
“When it comes to LLM citations, the travel industry has the most diverse cross-channel mix, drawing heavily from publishers, community forums, video platforms, review sites and brand websites. First-hand reviews are perhaps more important in travel than in any other vertical.
Few people would book a hotel, cruise or long-haul flight based solely on a brand’s owned content or media coverage. Customers want reassurance from real-life experiences. This is reflected in the prominence of community-led forums and review sites cited in LLM responses to travel queries, making it increasingly important for marketers to understand how their brand perception is being shaped."
By combining technology with editorial judgement, we can move beyond assumptions and design content around what travellers genuinely care about. It’s a more intelligent approach to inspiration, grounded in empathy rather than volume.
Writing for imagination, not just information
If travellers are looking for inspiration before they’ve chosen where to go, our job is to make a trip feel real before they start comparing flight times. That’s why sensory description matters more than ever in travel writing.
The most effective articles aren’t necessarily packed with facts. They’re the ones that help travellers imagine what a trip might feel like. That means moving beyond practical description and leaning into atmosphere, emotion, and experience.
The aim is to pull readers into the moment. Rather than simply saying a destination is beautiful in the morning, linger on the details that bring it to life: pale sunlight slipping across colourful harbour buildings, coffee cups clinking outside neighbourhood cafés, the buttery smell of pastries drifting through the crisp air, or the low hum of a market waking for the day.
Good travel writing has always painted pictures. But when information is instantly available, the ability to inspire becomes even more valuable. Travellers can find facts almost anywhere. What they’re really searching for is a sense of possibility.
Why travel brands need to rethink inspiration
The shift from destination-led to inspiration-led discovery creates a significant opportunity for travel brands.
People don’t wake up wanting to book a train ticket, a ferry crossing, or a flight. They wake up dreaming about the feeling of getting away: the break from routine, the excitement of somewhere new, and the promise of a trip that’s worth their time and money.
We need to enter the conversation earlier. Rather than waiting until someone is ready to book, we can provide inspiration in response to the open-ended questions people increasingly ask:
- Where can I fly to directly from the UK?
- Which European cities feel underrated?
- Where should I go with children?
Being useful at this stage gives a brand a stronger chance of becoming part of the journey before booking is even on the cards. It also presents an opportunity to design the discovery experience around real human needs, connecting insight, technology and imagination in ways that help people move forward confidently.
Inspiration is no longer simply the softer, upper-funnel element of travel marketing. It’s where preferences form, options narrow, and decisions begin to take shape.
A new era for travel storytelling
As travel discovery evolves, the future will not belong to brands that simply provide more information, but to those that tell better stories, help travellers discover places they hadn’t considered, and share local knowledge that feels credible and genuinely useful.
Sometimes, the most valuable piece of content isn’t the final booking page. It’s the article that sparks the idea in the first place.
For travel writers, that is an exciting place to be. The platforms people use to discover travel may change, but the power of a well-told story remains the same: it makes you want to pack a bag and go.
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