For decades, tourism operators have relied on traditional search engines and online travel agencies to attract customers. But as travellers increasingly turn to AI tools such as ChatGPT to research and plan their holidays, the industry is being forced to adapt.

According to Australian travel technology company Traveloris, the shift is already reshaping the tourism sector, with operators across Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia facing growing pressure to remain visible as travellers increasingly use AI throughout the booking process.

Traveloris believes this has created both a challenge and an opportunity for tourism operators, who are grappling with changing consumer behaviour while searching for new ways to drive direct bookings and keep more tourism dollars within their communities.

In response to this, Traveloris has developed a suite of AI-powered tools designed to help operators attract direct bookings and improve their visibility in AI-driven search.

This includes an AI trip planner that allows travellers to research, plan and book multiple experiences from a single website, as well as content optimisation tools designed to help tourism businesses appear more prominently in AI-generated search results.

It also enables operators to showcase and sell more than one million tours and experiences alongside their own offerings, creating additional revenue opportunities while helping visitors discover more activities within a destination.

Since launching the Traveloris platform almost 12 months ago, Cairns Discovery Tours has reported a 20 per cent increase in revenue and a 70 per cent reduction in administrative tasks.

“We are now able to focus on what matters, promoting our region,” Cairns Discovery Tours director Maryanne Jacques says.

“The AI trip planner has been a fantastic addition to our website and helps visitors discover and book more of what Cairns has to offer.”

Traveloris founder and CEO Daniel Blickling says its goal is to help operators become visible, discoverable and bookable in an AI-first world, while creating new revenue opportunities and making it easier for visitors to book more of what a destination has to offer.

“We’re building the tourism transaction layer that connects inspiration, planning and booking, and making it available to the tourism industry,” he says.