AI Could Be an ‘Existential Threat’ to DMOs. How Some Are Getting Ahead of the Curve

Big Lincoln is the AI chatbot mascot on Enjoy Illinois, the website run by the Illinois Office of Tourism and charged with carrying out travel marketing campaigns for the state. 

The organization launched the tool in June and has received more than 8,000 messages from users since then, according to Daniel Thomas, deputy director for the Illinois Office of Tourism.

The same AI that powers the website’s chatbot will soon power replies for the organization’s accounts on the Meta-owned social media platforms Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. 

Illinois is among a growing number of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) that have integrated similar generative AI tools. 

Despite initial pushback from DMOs on adopting the tech, some leaders in the sector are moving ahead.

Brand USA recently hired Janette Roush for the newly established role of chief AI officer. Funded partially by the U.S. federal government, the organization leads the country’s international tourism marketing and often consults with smaller DMOs.

Roush said during a Brand USA conference last month that now is the time for DMOs to get ahead of the curve.

“You read the newspapers. You’ve heard what Google is doing with their generative AI Overviews,” she said. “And the trickle down effect of that is we’re going to have less traffic to our websites. So that’s an immediate upcoming impact of generative AI that we need to learn to get ahead of. It’s a kind of existential threat, possibly, for a DMO.”

Brand USA did not respond to an interview request from Skift.

Why Now?

Roush said during the conference that she had done nearly 50 talks with travel professionals, meeting planners, and DMOs on how to use AI. Continuing that educational work will be a key aspect of her role, which she started in October after leading marketing for the New York City tourism and conventions bureau.

Big companies like Expedia have internal teams to do this work, but most smaller travel companies do not. She said Brand USA is integrating AI throughout the organization, with plans to share everything it learns with the industry. 

“We need to understand how this stuff works so we can take advantage of it,” Roush said at the conference.

“I do not want lack of expertise to be the reason that the U.S. travel industry falls behind when it comes to AI. This is going to affect how we advertise, how we personalize our offerings, how we reach our customers; it’s going to change how our customers want to reach us or how they want to do their travel planning.”

Thomas from the Illinois Office of Tourism believes much of that caution around DMOs adopting AI comes from a lack of understanding on how it could be beneficial, as well as legal concerns around privacy. 

“I think that’s softening somewhat,” Thomas said. 

How DMOs Are Using AI

Big Lincoln is powered by GuideGeek. 

Ross Borden, CEO of travel media publisher Matador Network, released GuideGeek in early 2023 as an OpenAI-powered consumer trip planner accessible through WhatsApp. 

He’s been building the DMO business since then, as well as strengthening the consumer tool, which now provides booking links for flights, hotels, and ticketed tours. The error rate has gone from 15% to 2%, he said. 

The AI for DMOs is trained on content from each client website and prioritizes that content when answering questions. Enjoy Illinois, for example, already has 100 curated itineraries. So if a user asks about driving through Route 66, the chatbot’s answer includes a link to relevant information on the Enjoy Illinois website. 

On the back end, the DMOs can view how users are interacting with the chatbot, providing intel on traveler interests. The chatbot operates in 50 languages.

Destination Toronto recently launched a GuideGeek-powered AI chatbot, called 6ix, on its website and Meta accounts. Other GuideGeek DMO clients include Visit Idaho, Visit RenoTahoe, Tourism Greece, Visit Aruba, Visit Fort Lauderdale, Tourism Manitoba, Tourism Richmond, and Visit Estes Park. 

Mindtrip, an AI trip planning website, told Skift that it is developing a similar service for DMOs. In September, the company was working with six organizations to pilot a product.

And the city of Dublin was working on a project with OpenAI to develop practices on how DMOs could use the tech, which culminated in a conference to share the ideas with organizations throughout Europe. 

It’s not easy to measure the return on investment for this type of tool, same with website updates and marketing campaigns in general. For Illinois, Thomas said it’s about looking toward the next generation of travelers. That means this early AI tool is likely just the beginning of what’s to come.

“I look at it along similar metrics as a website,” Thomas said. “For me, it isn’t about quantity, per se; it’s about the quality of the engagement.” 

Growth for GuideGeek

Borden plans to spin out GuideGeek into a separate company. GuideGeek and Matador Network share much of the staff for now, but GuideGeek will likely build out a fuller staff.

Borden says the list of DMO clients is continuing to grow. With one client, he’s working on a more comprehensive trip planner that can pull in photos, videos, and maps into a full-page experience. GuideGeek is also launching a data and insights portal for clients.

Beyond DMOs, Borden expects that GuideGeek will power travel chatbots for other companies too.

“I think this time next year, we’ll be working with different hotel brands, probably different airlines,” he said.