Dating back to the artistic travel posters of the mid-20th century, the inspiration to travel has long relied on visual appeal. While stories and guidebooks also spark the imagination, seeing is believing. And since the launch of digital travel search on the internet, language-based searches have dominated.
Inspiration can come from a social media post, be it an image, a reel or a YouTube vlog posted by an influencer. Converting those posts to bookings is more complex, but now, that’s changing. Through the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision, visual search is poised to transform the travel industry.
From Google’s visual-first search products to established travel brands like Marriott and startups like Landfolk and Videreo, the way travelers explore and plan their journeys is shifting from words to images. For travel brands, online travel agencies (OTAs), destination marketing organizations (DMOs), and suppliers, the question is how to best adapt this new capability.
A growing ecosystem of visual discovery
Visual search refers to the ability to search using images rather than text. With the integration of AI, these systems can now analyze the content of photos and videos to surface relevant information, products or destinations—effectively allowing users to “search what they see.”
Tools like Google Lens and Circle to Search redefine how users interact with content. Lou Wang, senior director of product management for Google Search, said the scale of adoption is staggering.
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“Lens is used for over 20 billion visual search queries every month. It’s one of the fastest-growing query types on search,” Wang said.
Among younger users, especially those aged 18 to 24, Lens and Circle to Search are quickly becoming preferred entry points into search. Multimodal queries—where users combine an image with a follow-up text question—tripled in usage over just nine months in 2024.
Circle to search, now available on more than 200 million Android devices, enables users to highlight, scribble or tap on anything they see—whether in an app, browser or social media feed—to trigger a contextual search.
“Maybe you come across a video or social media post of someone exploring a city, and you spot a uniquely designed building. … Simply scribble over it to quickly identify it—and maybe add it to your itinerary,” Wang said.
From visual inspiration to bookable experiences
As AI-enabled visual search becomes more mainstream, innovative travel companies are finding ways to bridge the gap between inspiration and transaction. Last year, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy introduced an AI search tool developed in partnership with Publicis Sapient. It helps travelers find the best home and destination based on natural language, allowing users to describe their ideal destination.
Landfolk, a vacation rental platform focused on Northern Europe, also built a visual search engine, Daisy. Rather than asking users to filter properties through checkboxes or tags, Daisy allows them to search by vibe, feeling or scene.
“You can just write a query like ‘waking up here,’ and Daisy will return the most stunning bedroom views from across Norway or Denmark,” said Chris Sørensen, co-founder and chief technology officer at Landfolk. “It’s a semantic search—no manual tagging required.”
We wanted to build something that matched how people feel about travel—not just what filters they select.
Chris Sørensen, Landfolk
Sørensen said the system indexes all property images using a local AI model. When a user enters a query, Daisy compares the input to the visual index using a similarity score, surfacing the closest matches. It enables more intuitive exploration during the dreaming phase of travel planning.
“We wanted to build something that matched how people feel about travel—not just what filters they select,” he said.
Building the visual commerce layer
Videreo, a newly launched tool co-founded by travel tech entrepreneur Tony Carne, is betting the future of travel commerce on creator content in video form.
Videreo works with influencers and travel content creators to ingest their entire back catalog of travel videos. AI identifies where each video was filmed and matches it with relevant travel products—such as tours, accommodations, or experiences—based on what appears on the screen.
“We turn their content into an interactive, shoppable map,” Carne said. “It’s the first time many creators have a storefront that actually sells travel.”
Carne sees this as a massive untapped opportunity. Despite the rise of creator influence in travel, most influencers still struggle to monetize. Videreo aims to mirror models like LTK in fashion but for tourism—connecting creators and brands more effectively.
“Less than 5% of travel creators are full-time. The rest are juggling jobs and passion projects,” he said. “We believe performance marketing money can be better spent supporting them—not just going to Meta or Google.”
Visual UX still has a long way to go
Despite the apparent demand, many travel platforms haven’t evolved beyond image carousels and static video embeds. Carne points out that some of the industry’s most common practices—like embedding YouTube videos directly into hotel pages—create poor user experience (UX) and often result in users leaving the booking flow entirely.
“It’s still incredibly hard to get video right in travel,” Carne said. “There’s no universal standard for how to integrate video seamlessly into the booking experience.”
Google is beginning to address this gap with tools like Lens for Chrome Desktop, which allows users to select any visual element while browsing and get immediate results without switching tabs. This feature benefits business-to-business (B2B) travel sites or booking platforms, where contextual information can boost conversions.
Balancing speed, trust and authenticity
With the rapid rise of generative AI, some companies are turning to synthetic imagery to enhance or personalize travel experiences. Carne, however, warns against using AI-generated images that don’t reflect authentic destinations.
“It’s dangerous to show a place that doesn’t exist,” he said. “If you’re a five-star hotel and you use AI to fabricate a version of your city, it’s going to backfire. What are you actually selling?”
Instead, he urges the industry to focus on tools grounded in accurate data, verified locations, and credible media—and to invest in building visual experiences that inspire and inform.
What visual search means for the future of travel tech
Across platforms and products, a common trend is emerging: Visual input is becoming a dominant form of search, particularly among younger travelers. Whether they’re identifying landmarks with Circle to Search, discovering remote homes with Daisy or shopping via travel vlogs on Videreo, the behavior is consistent—people want to search how they see.
This shift presents a massive opportunity for travel companies to rethink user experience, booking flows and performance marketing strategies.
“We’re at an inflection point,” said Carne. “There’s so much travel video content being created at scale—it’s no longer about if you’ll use it, but how.”
With shifting customer expectations, and a new generation of tech-savvy travelers, visual search offers a promising path forward for travel companies—one that meets people where they are and where they’re looking.
The statistics around visual search make a compelling argument in favor:
- 20 billion+ visual queries per month via Google Lens
- 3x growth in multimodal search queries in 2024
- 200 million+ Android devices now support Circle to Search
- 75% of travelers start their journey on social media
- Less than 5% of travel creators are currently full-time
- Most OTAs still rely on YouTube embeds and static carousels
Visual search is not a passing novelty. It’s a fundamental shift in how travelers explore, plan and book. The visual web is becoming the gateway to travel commerce, whether through a scribble on a photo, a reel in a social feed or a snapshot of a dream hotel.