28/08/2026
The biggest shift coming out of the Mumbrella Travel Marketing Summit and Awards was clear: travel marketing is moving beyond being easy to find. Brands now need to be easy to choose, by both people and AI.
Search behaviour is changing quickly. Trust is being built across more touchpoints, and the lines between media, content and creators are disappearing. For marketers and media buyers, visibility now has to work across paid media, organic discovery and creator influence as one connected strategy.
A few takeaways that stood out for GRG:
• Travel content needs to work for human attention and AI discovery. Clearer answers, stronger structure and genuinely useful content will matter just as much as traditional keyword strategy.
• Search is increasingly shaped by summaries, recommendations and direct answers. Brands need to be easy for AI platforms to understand, trust and surface.
• Creators are becoming an important part of the decision journey, not just an awareness channel. They help build credibility and make brands feel more relevant and real.
• Media performance needs a broader lens. If discovery happens before someone reaches a search result, clicks alone will not tell the full story.
• Creative, content and media need to work together. Consistency across touchpoints will become increasingly important as audiences move between platforms, creators, search and AI-led discovery.
For GRG, this reinforces how the role of a media agency is evolving. It is no longer just about where to buy media or how efficiently it can be bought. It is about helping brands show up in the places where decisions are being shaped.
The strongest travel brands over the next few years will not simply be the loudest. They will be the ones audiences trust, creators want to support and AI can confidently recommend.
Want to make sure your brand is visible where decisions are being shaped next? Reach out to GRG: https://grg.co/contact-us