How Destinations Can Go from Insights to Results with AI Tools

How Destinations Can Go from Insights to Results with AI Tools - An Expert Guide

Santiago Rodriguez, Ph.D. Jul 9, 2025 7:00:00 AM

How Destinations Can Go from Insights to Results with AI Tools - An Expert Guide

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Written by Santiago Rodriguez, Ph.D., and originally featured on his website.

In today's rapidly evolving tourism landscape, leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be the key to staying ahead. This guide will walk you through a 7-step process, from strategic planning to market outreach, using free or low-cost AI tools. And at the end, you'll also learn how to customize or create your own AI tools tailored to your unique needs. So, let's dive into how to go from insights to results in 7 steps with tourism AI, plus get the free tools and learn how to create your own.

Why It Matters

Despite the growing accessibility of AI tools, most tourism professionals still struggle to connect insights to outcomes. Many collect data, understand their markets, and even build plans, but fail to act on them efficiently. This gap leads to missed opportunities, inefficient campaigns, and poor resource allocation. Worse, destinations that don't keep up with data-driven strategies risk falling behind more agile, tech-savvy competitors. With traveler behaviors constantly shifting, it’s critical to use AI not just for understanding the market but for adapting quickly and getting tangible results.

How Some Tackle This Problem the Wrong Way

Many tourism professionals attempt to tackle these challenges with outdated approaches. Some invest in generic AI tools without aligning them with their strategic goals, leading to confusion or irrelevant outputs. Others rely too heavily on intuition or traditional marketing methods while ignoring available data. There are also those who collect vast amounts of information but never turn it into real-time actions, letting valuable insights sit idle. These missteps not only waste time and money! They also prevent destinations and businesses from staying competitive in a fast-changing digital tourism environment.

How to Do It Correctly

To address these challenges effectively, it's important to follow a structured process. The key is to integrate strategy, data, and communication using smart, accessible AI tools. In the next 7 steps, I will walk you through how to move from strategic planning all the way to market outreach. Each step includes a free AI tool that I crafted myself or a lower-cost service (Step 3) that I supervise in person. And the final step (7) explains how you can create or customize your own AI tools to suit your specific needs.

1. Strategic Planning

Strategic planning involves reflecting on and setting the goals of your destination or business, crafting your offer, identifying target markets, and outlining the steps to achieve desired outcomes.

Tool:

Use the AI Tourism Expert to brainstorm strategies and identify potential markets. This tool can, for example, help simulate traveler personas and predict their preferences, aiding in tailored service offerings.

2. Market Assessment

Get insights on the 5 key dimensions of your target markets (economic, political, social, environmental, & psycho-emotional) to understand the contextual factors to succeed.

Tool:

Employ the Context-based Market Assessment & Forecast AI to assess your target markets based on 37 contextual factors. Based on the latest available online news and data, this tool provides insights on the current feasibility of conquering your markets, builds conservative and optimistic scenarios, and provides strategies. It is like market research, but instantaneous and updated.

3. Data Collection

Gather intelligence on how your target markets discover and book travel experiences to your destination. In this step, I recommend reaching out to Herrmann Global - Tourism Insights & Marketing. A tourism think tank specialized in world-class, highly affordable data and marketing solutions for lesser-known and smaller destinations.

Service:

Within Herrmann Global's Get International Visitors Program, ask for:

Media Monitor: Discover how media inspires your international target markets.
Global Search: Understand your ideal visitors' search and planning behavior.
Booking Report: Track month-over-month impact through hotel data.

4. Forecasting

Easily predict future demand based on your current and past data about travel interest, visitation, hotel occupation, spending, or any numeric data points you have available. Forecasting aids in resource allocation and strategic decision-making.

Tool:

The Statistical Forecasting AI integrates powerful forecasting methodologies with AI to analyze historical data patterns and predict future results in an easy way.

5. Content Creation

Craft engaging content that resonates with your target audience. Just tell the AI the subject you want to write about. Effective content creation enhances visibility and attracts potential visitors.

Tools:

Travel Blogger AI - Inspirational: Generate stories that inspire people to visit your destination.
Self-Guided Tour Creator AI - Practical: Let your visitors explore your destination by themselves. Check here what your self-guided tours can look like.
How-To-Articles Writer AI - Educational: Educate your team or partners about key aspects of your business.

6. Outreach

Drive organic traffic and reach your target audience through your content by leveraging the power of social media across various platforms. Outreach ensures that your message is seen by the right people.

Tools:

Social Media Expert: Let AI know on which platform you want to post, provide the subject, and it will create the perfect copy and image for you.
LinkedIn Post Top Voice Creator: Craft perfectly structured & highly engaging posts for LinkedIn based on an idea, text, image, or trending topics search. Post for a professional audience to grow your network and increase your business.
Image-To-LinkedIn Post AI: Provide an image, screenshot, or chart, and the AI will craft the perfect post for a professional audience to grow your network.

7. Build Your Own AI Tools

Customize or create AI tools tailored to your business needs at low cost and with no code.

Tool:

Open a ChatGPT Plus account for $20 USD a month (no sponsorship here, this is really what I use!), go to "Create GPT" and, only using natural language (like giving written instructions to an employee), create as many customized AI's as you like, just like the ones you find here.

Note: You can also start with a free account, but to build and save your own tools (or "GPTs") you will need a Plus account.

An Invitation for You

If you are ready to take action, deploying these AI strategies can help you grow your tourism business, enhance your career, or attract your ideal visitors. Reflect on your challenges and goals, learn from others in the industry, and make room in your schedule or the schedule of a team member. Putting these tools into practice requires time and knowledge. You won't just learn from the AI, you will teach and train it as well. AI is mor ethan a task manager, it's a collaborator and you will learn together.

Summary and Recap

Strategic Planning: Define strategy using AI brainstorming and support.
Market Assessment: Analyze viable markets with contextual AI tools.
Data Collection: Gather fresh insights on your markets' behaviors.
Forecasting: Predict demand using AI and statistical methods.
Content Creation: Generate relevant, unique content with AI.
Outreach: Distribute content effectively across platforms.
Build Your Own AI Tools: No-Code Custom Solution.

Embrace the power of AI to transform insights into actionable strategies, driving growth and innovation for your destination and business.

Final Thoughts

It has never been cheaper and easier in human history to access such powerful tools. The current state of AI is the worst we will ever see. It will only get better. Right now is your best opportunity to expand your career and work with AI.

Gina Donio October 15, 2024