More travellers now ask a chat assistant or an AI-written search summary where to go, what to do and how many days to stay. They get one blended answer instead of ten links. For a destination, the question changes from "do we rank?" to "are we described accurately, and are we included at all?"

The good news is that the work is mostly sound, unglamorous content and data management. Here is where to start.

1. Test what the assistants say about you

Spend an hour asking the questions your visitors ask. Use ChatGPT, Google's AI summaries, Perplexity and a maps app. Try prompts like:

  • "Three days in [destination] with two children in autumn"
  • "Is [destination] good without a car?"
  • "Rainy day activities near [destination]"
  • "Quiet alternatives to [destination]"

Write down what is wrong, outdated or missing, and which sources the tools seem to lean on. Repeat every few months, because answers shift.

2. Write pages that answer real questions

AI tools favour clear, specific text over brand language. Replace "a land of endless discovery" with facts: how to get there from the nearest airport, how long a walk takes, what is open in November, which attractions suit wheelchair users.

Build practical pages around itineraries, getting around, seasonal guides and family or accessibility information. Put the answer in the first lines, then add detail.

3. Make the basics consistent everywhere

Opening hours, addresses, names and contact details should match across your website, Google Business Profiles, social accounts and listing sites. Contradictions are a common reason a tool gets something wrong or leaves a business out.

  • Choose one official spelling for each place name and use it everywhere.
  • Mark seasonal closures clearly, with dates.
  • Keep one page per attraction or area, not several overlapping ones.

4. Help your local businesses be accurate

Your destination is described through its hotels, guides, museums and restaurants. Run a short workshop or send a simple checklist: claim your Google profile, check hours, add recent photos, answer reviews, list accessibility details. A destination whose small businesses are well maintained gets described better.

5. Use structured data and clean technical foundations

Ask your web team to mark up events, attractions, places and FAQs with schema.org structured data, keep pages fast on mobile, and maintain an up-to-date sitemap. Publish event calendars as real pages, not only as images, PDFs or embedded widgets that crawlers cannot read.

6. Earn mentions from trusted sources

Assistants draw on what others say about you. Encourage genuine coverage: travel writers, local guides, regional newspapers, community forums, and reviews from real visitors. Give journalists accurate fact sheets and good photographs with proper captions. Aim for being useful to the people who write about you, not for volume.

7. Be honest about who you are for

Vague claims that you suit everyone make you easy to skip. Say clearly who the destination serves best: walkers, families, food lovers, rail travellers, off-season visitors. Specific positioning gives an assistant a reason to recommend you for a specific request.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Chasing tricks. Stuffing pages with keywords or generating hundreds of thin AI-written pages tends to hurt quality and trust.
  • Leaving old pages online. Outdated event pages and closed attractions get repeated as fact. Update or remove them.
  • Ignoring languages. If your key markets speak other languages, write proper versions rather than rough translations.
  • Treating it as a one-off. Set a quarterly routine: test prompts, fix errors, refresh seasonal content.

A simple first month

  1. Week one: run your test prompts and record the results.
  2. Week two: correct basic data on your own site and profiles.
  3. Week three: rewrite your five most visited pages to answer questions directly.
  4. Week four: brief local businesses and agree a review date.

No one controls what an assistant says. But a destination with clear, current and consistent information gives it the best chance to get the story right.