Showing Up in AI-Generated Travel Recommendations
When a traveler asks ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, "What's the best Colorado mountain town for a long weekend in October?" the AI may recommend only three or four destinations. Unlike traditional search, there is often no page two of results and no chance to compete for a click after the fact. Being included in the answer is becoming as important as ranking in search.
The data shows this shift is real. In Future Partners' May 2026 State of the American Traveler report, 27.6% of American travelers said they had used AI to plan a trip, up sharply year over year (Future Partners). That number climbs to 44.8% among travelers planning a FIFA World Cup trip, and 50.7% among Millennials planning the same. The same report shows the share of travelers who used a digital influencer to plan a trip jumped from 17.3% a year ago to 23.8% this month. AI-assisted planning is not a future trend. It is current behavior.
For Colorado destinations, this matters because AI tools are being used for exactly the types of trip-planning decisions DMOs influence most: shoulder-season travel, itinerary building, family vacation planning, outdoor recreation recommendations, event discovery, and destination comparisons. These are the moments when travelers are deciding not just where to stay, but which community to visit in the first place. They are also the moments tied to the outcomes Colorado DMOs care about: spreading demand across the calendar, dispersing visitors beyond the busiest corridors, supporting stewardship, and attracting higher-value guests.
The discipline now has a name: Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO (sometimes called AEO, Answer Engine Optimization). GEO for DMOs focuses on increasing the chance that a destination, attraction, event, or piece of content is referenced inside AI-generated answers. SEO remains critical for traditional search. GEO sits alongside it and emphasizes content quality, authority, structured data, trusted third-party mentions, and clear answers to the questions travelers actually ask.
Six practical steps to start with:
Audit what AI tools say about your destination today. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude (Perplexity and Grok if you are feeling ambitious) the same trip-planning prompts a visitor would ask. "Best fall colors weekend in Colorado." "Family-friendly Colorado town for spring break without skiing." "Where to go in Colorado during shoulder season." Note which destinations come up, which sources the AI cites, and where your community appears or doesn't.
Publish the traveler questions you want AI to answer. Long-form, evergreen guides with clear subheadings, specific recommendations, and named sources tend to get cited. Good starting topics for Colorado destinations include best fall-color weekend itineraries, three-day family trips, accessible outdoor recreation options, stargazing guides, winter activities beyond skiing, and sustainable visitation tips. Specific, useful, locally grounded content gets pulled into AI answers. Brochure copy does not.
Use schema markup. Hotels, events, attractions, and reviews all have structured data formats that AI systems read. Many destination websites already contain this information, but without schema, AI has to guess what the page means from the text alone. Schema removes the guesswork by giving machines clear context, which helps with both search engines and AI answers. Most modern CMS platforms and tourism website providers support schema, but many DMOs either don't turn it on or only apply it to a few pages. Expanding schema across key visitor content is one of the highest-impact technical improvements a destination can make.
Show up in the sources AI trusts. AI models lean heavily on Wikipedia, local news, trusted travel publications, and reputable industry research. Getting your destination featured in a Colorado Sun travel piece, a regional outlet, or an industry research report is now a GEO play, not just a PR win. AI systems also draw from public conversations on platforms such as Reddit. Monitoring destination-related discussions, answering questions when appropriate, and encouraging local experts and partners to take part in authentic conversations helps make sure accurate information is available where travelers are already looking for advice.
Build topical authority around your destination's differentiators. Own a few topics instead of trying to own everything. If your destination is known for dark skies, fly fishing, mountain biking, agritourism, heritage tourism, family travel, or winter recreation, build a deep library of content around those themes. AI systems tend to favor sources that show consistent expertise across a topic area rather than one-off articles. This is the same idea behind strong brand positioning, applied to a new channel.
Help your partners with AI. Share these steps with the attractions and partners that drive the most search interest in your area, including national and state parks, signature events, and destination hotels and lodges, so they can benefit from GEO too. When your partners show up in AI answers, your destination usually does as well.
GEO is unlikely to replace SEO, content marketing, PR, or social media. It sits on top of all of them. The Colorado destinations that produce authoritative content, earn trusted third-party mentions, build strong technical foundations, and answer traveler questions clearly will be well positioned in both traditional search results and AI-generated recommendations. The audit can begin today, and the destinations that start learning now will have a meaningful advantage as traveler behavior continues to evolve.