AI-Pushed Personalization: The Way forward for Journey in 2025
In at the moment’s journey market, success for winter locations isn’t nearly pure magnificence or nice services – it’s about delivering customized experiences that make friends keen to spend extra. Whether or not you’re managing a ski resort, a mountain vacation spot, or a winter tourism area, HBX’s “Journey Traits 2025” research reveals your guests are able to pay as much as 67% extra for superior experiences. This aligns with McKinsey’s latest findings that 71% of consumers anticipate customized interactions from the manufacturers they select.
Google Continues to Dominate Visitors Technology
Working with Salzburgerland’s tourism (SLT) board over our multi-year partnership, we’ve seen how a Information Graph together with different digital advertising actions throughout 9 languages can rework on-line presence throughout peak curiosity durations.
In collaboration with Salzburgerland Tourismus, we now have developed a centralized information hub powered by a Information Graph. For extra insights you possibly can learn this text (in German) “Information Graph: Touristisches Wissen für Google & Co“. This platform connects numerous companions within the area—resorts, eating places, and ski resorts—providing them a collection of superior digital instruments. Via this hub, native companies acquire entry to website positioning automation for exact entity annotations, AI-driven content material era with Agent WordLift, and highly effective advertising automation companies. By leveraging this shared infrastructure, Salzburgerland Tourismus empowers its companions to reinforce their on-line presence and visibility, in the end boosting tourism and driving income progress throughout the area.
As search curiosity in snowboarding has grown considerably – with Google Traits displaying document curiosity peaks in December 2024 – SLT’s digital presence has delivered exceptional outcomes on Google’s SERP:
36.2% enhance in clicks from search outcomes
22.2% enchancment in click-through charges
Constant high 12 common positions throughout extremely aggressive ski-related phrases
22.5% progress in visibility for his or her core German-language ski content material

But right here’s the problem each vacation spot faces: how do you capitalize on this rising curiosity when your staff is caught within the each day grind of updating situations, services, and actions throughout all of your channels? The answer lies in leveraging structured information for hyper-local personalization. Think about routinely updating your Google Enterprise Profile primarily based on real-time situations, or delivering customized content material to guests primarily based on their pursuits and the present state of your vacation spot. That is now potential by connecting your Information Graph to automation instruments – one thing that, in response to the World Journey Market 2024 report, fewer than 15% of tour operators at present supply. The consequence? Your advertising staff can deal with what actually issues: creating these premium experiences that at the moment’s vacationers are keen to pay extra for, whether or not they’re hitting the slopes, exploring winter climbing trails, or having fun with mountain wellness experiences.
Search is turning into more and more extra conversational
As we analyzed search information from Google Search Console we are able to see clearly that search queries develop more and more conversational, reflecting how folks naturally ask questions or search recommendation, locations like SalzburgerLand are uniquely positioned to learn. Over the previous 12 months, our evaluation reveals a marked enhance in question complexity, range and size, indicating a shift in consumer habits towards asking extra detailed, customized questions. This pattern is bolstered by conversational AI instruments and evolving search algorithms, which encourage customers to work together with engines like google as if chatting with a information.


For tourism boards, this shift presents a chance to attach with vacationers extra meaningfully. By crafting content material that mirrors these conversational patterns and leveraging structured information to serve dynamic, localized responses, winter locations can improve their visibility whereas assembly the rising demand for tailor-made, human-like search experiences.
Constructing Blocks for Success
When vacationers seek for winter locations at the moment, they’re not simply getting a listing of blue hyperlinks anymore. Google, Bing, and different engines like google are offering wealthy, detailed data instantly of their outcomes – from real-time slope situations to facility particulars and upcoming occasions. However there’s an excellent larger shift taking place: the rise of AI-powered search is altering how folks uncover and plan their winter journeys.
Our work with Salzburgerland reveals what’s potential whenever you get the inspiration proper. By organizing their vacation spot information in a Information Graph that each engines like google and AI methods can perceive, they’re seeing their content material seem in new and highly effective methods:
Their ski resorts present up in wealthy outcomes with reside snow situations and facility standing
Their content material is getting used to reply direct questions in Google’s AI-powered search (AI Overview)
Their ski touring choices seem in Bing’s AI-generated journey planning options
Their slopes and services information powers interactive options in search outcomes


Comparative Evaluation: Digital Methods of Obertauern vs. Bardonecchia (An Unfair Comparability)
Let’s delve right into a comparative evaluation of two distinguished ski resorts: Obertauern in Salzburgland, Austria, and Bardonecchia in Piedmont, Italy. Each locations boast roughly 100 kilometers of slopes, providing a novel alternative to discover how digital methods and personalization influence their visibility and attraction.


This isn’t nearly higher search rankings – it’s about being current wherever and nevertheless persons are planning their winter journeys. Whereas different locations scramble to keep up primary listings, structured information places you steps forward. When somebody asks an AI search engine “The place can I am going snowboarding with my household subsequent weekend?“, your vacation spot may be really useful with particular, present details about family-friendly slopes, ski actions, and situations.


Constructing the Digital Spine of Ski Tourism
The Information Graph Basis: A Historic Perspective
The journey towards structured ski resort information started in 2016 when the implausible staff at STI Innsbruck (on the time nonetheless coordinated by the good Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dieter Fensel who just lately handed away 😢) proposed the SkiResort schema to schema.org. This initiative marked a serious shift in how winter sports activities locations are represented within the digital ecosystem, transferring past mere technical specs to redefine digital engagement.
The Evolution of Ski Resort Information that started as a easy proposal in GitHub has been ultimately expanded (additionally with our suggestions throughout the course of our analysis initiatives) into a sturdy framework for ski vacation spot illustration.
Annotating Ski Resorts with Schema.org
The schema launched a pivotal new class, SkiResort, representing each an area enterprise and a sports activities exercise location. This class, with its in depth properties, shortly grew to become a foundational mannequin for representing ski resort entities in data graphs throughout alpine areas in Europe and globally. In collaboration with companions corresponding to SalzburgerLand Tourismus, we prolonged this basis to handle real-world complexities and combine real-time operational information. This consists of snow situations, slope issue ranges, raise standing, grooming data, and cross-country tracks.
Constructing on the unique schema.org specification, our implementation for SalzburgerLand enhances the core SkiResort kind by embedding properties that help hybrid queries utilizing SEOntology (our shared vocabulary for website positioning). We additionally built-in further marketing-relevant attributes to complement the graph whereas guaranteeing adherence to plain practices.


Now, each companion within the area can immediately entry up-to-date information from every of the 52 ski areas by schema.org and SLT’s Information Graph, enabling them to reinforce their advertising efforts and develop modern new AI-powered companies.


This question exemplifies how semantic search combines structured information and embeddings to ship exact and contextually related data, corresponding to family-friendly ski choices or real-time slope situations, to companions of SalzburgLand tourism.
From Information to Motion: Automating Winter Tourism with Zapier
The structured information revolution in winter tourism isn’t nearly organizing data – it’s about placing that information to work. Via WordLift’s new Zapier integration, we are able to now assist ski resorts rework the central Information Graph right into a dynamic engine powering their digital presence. Let me present you.
Take Katschberg-Aineck’s morning updates, for instance. Day-after-day at 6 AM, their system routinely queries the Information Graph for present situations, raise standing, and path data. This information flows by Google’s Gemini AI (or any LLM of their desire), which crafts pure, participating updates tailor-made for various platforms. The consequence? By the point early-bird skiers examine Google Maps or their social media, they might see recent, correct situations throughout each channel.


The magic can occur in actually simply three steps. First, our GraphQL (a question language for APIs) interface pulls exact, structured information about all the pieces from snow situations to raise operations about any of the 52 ski areas. Then, Gemini transforms the semantic information into participating, pure language updates.
Lastly, Zapier distributes these updates throughout greater than 6,000 potential integrations – from Google Enterprise Profile to social media platforms, cell apps, and even inner communication channels (the picture above is barely an instance from the webhook.web site to showcase this performance).
This isn’t nearly effectivity; it’s about accuracy and attain. Each quarter-hour the information is up to date within the Information Graph and immediately cascades throughout their complete digital ecosystem. A single snowfall report can doubtlessly routinely replace Google Maps, refreshes social media profiles, and even triggers focused emails to friends – all whereas sustaining excellent consistency throughout channels.
For the advertising groups working within the area, this automation may be transformative and it’s offered by the Salzburgerland Tourismus utilizing semantic net applied sciences.
They’re now not simply centrally managing information; they’ll orchestrate a symphony of updates that preserve digital vacationers knowledgeable and engaged throughout each touchpoint. And with winter tourism turning into more and more digital-first, it’s essential for staying aggressive in 2025 and past.
Conclusions
As we step into 2025, the way forward for winter tourism is being formed by the seamless integration of structured information, AI-driven personalization, and automation. For vacation spot managers and tourism operators, the message is evident: to stay aggressive and related, your digital technique should evolve.
By leveraging Information Graphs, instruments like Zapier, and AI methods, locations can automate real-time updates, ship customized experiences, and meet the rising expectations of at the moment’s vacationers. This isn’t nearly staying seen in search outcomes or LLMs—it’s about being the trusted information at each step of the traveler’s journey, from inspiration to reserving and past.
With vacationers keen to pay 67% extra for customized experiences, the ROI is evident. Semantic information can rework your vacation spot right into a dynamic digital presence that not solely informs however evokes. It’s time to harness this energy, not simply to reinforce effectivity, however to create the premium, customized experiences that vacationers are more and more keen to pay for.
The decision to motion is evident: embrace the instruments, construct your Information Graph, and take management of your digital narrative. Whether or not you’re a ski resort, a tourism board, or a tour operator, now’s the time to set the usual for winter tourism within the digital age. The slopes are prepared, the information is ready—cleared the path! Let’s preserve the dialog going—attain out at the moment!
Questions & Solutions
How can AI-driven personalization improve the journey expertise in winter locations by 2025?
AI-driven personalization is reworking the journey business by enabling winter locations to supply tailor-made experiences that improve visitor satisfaction and willingness to spend extra. In response to HBX’s “Journey Traits 2025” research, guests are keen to pay as much as 67% extra for customized experiences. This aligns with McKinsey’s findings that 71% of consumers anticipate customized interactions from manufacturers. For extra insights on AI’s function in advertising, you possibly can discover our article on AI Disrupting Content material Advertising and marketing.
How can journey manufacturers make the most of Zapier to automate their digital advertising efforts?
Journey manufacturers can leverage Zapier to automate their digital advertising efforts by integrating their Information Graph with numerous platforms to streamline content material updates and distribution. For example, through the use of WordLift’s Zapier integration, manufacturers can automate the stream of real-time information corresponding to situations, services, and actions throughout a number of channels. This ensures that their digital presence is persistently up to date and fascinating, enhancing each effectivity and attain. To study extra about how Zapier may be utilized in digital advertising, you possibly can discover our Zapier Introduction Information.
Does schema markup influences LLMs/AI?
Schema markup, or structured information, doesn’t instantly affect the responses of huge language fashions (LLMs). Nonetheless, it performs a vital function in shaping AI engines like google by:
Enhancing Coaching Information: Structured information contributes to the datasets used to coach AI fashions, serving to them acknowledge and categorize entities corresponding to merchandise, areas, and organizations.
Enhancing Entity Understanding: By defining clear relationships between completely different information factors, schema markup aids AI methods in understanding and responding to particular queries, particularly these associated to native companies and merchandise.
Facilitating Search Engine Integration: Platforms like Bing Copilot and Google Gemini make the most of structured information to offer enhanced search outcomes, demonstrating the worth of entity-based understanding. Our publish on Schema.org Markup and website positioning delves into why schema is essential for website positioning.
In abstract, whereas schema markup doesn’t instantly have an effect on LLM outputs, it considerably contributes to the ecosystem that trains and informs these fashions, thereby not directly impacting their efficiency.
References:
The Future Of Advertising and marketing Automation [White paper]
WordLift’s Zapier Integration and the app on Zapier’s web site