11 Marketing Predictions for Small Travel Brands in 2026

The marketing landscape is moving at pace, and staying on top of what works and what is ‘best practice’ nonsense is harder than ever. 

2026 will be a year of staying dialled into the trends and evolution in the marketing world, whilst resisting the temptation to be too reactive as things inevitably bounce around and new ideas and platforms emerge.

To try and help navigate the incoming tornado of change, we’ve put together some marketing predictions for the year ahead so travel brands can try to bring some calm and strategic thinking to their marketing plans through the year, whilst remaining on their toes. 

If you want to get the latest updates as things evolve, sign up to our newsletter here and we’ll guide you along the way.

The Fragmented Marketing Landscape

I talked a lot about this in 2025, and I think it will only increase in 2026.

Your audience is everywhere. All at once. They’re asking ChatGPT where the best yoga destinations are in Europe, then googling the yoga resorts in those areas. All the while, looking at Instagram on their phone, finding videos of those locations. They’re in yoga communities on Facebook and subscribed to the newsletters of a yoga mat brand. And they’re on the /yoga subreddit, scrolling through the conversations that may or may not include you, and maybe reading the Sunday Times at the weekend too.

That’s a lot of places you could get in front of them.

Your job is to work out where the most targeted places are, what stage of the buying journey they’re at with each one, and how difficult it is to compete there.

It’s complex. It’s challenging. But there’s lots of opportunity too, if you spend time and energy working it out.

Key Action: Create audience personas and really get under the skin of who they are and where they’re hanging out.

Email Is More Important Than Ever

Another topic I’ve yapped on about for a long time.

Given your audience is all over the place – as described above – when they do find you, it’s crucial you grab them with both hands.

You do that with email marketing.

Email? But that doesn’t work anymore, Tom you old giffer! 

Apologies to the naysayers. It works better than ever. 

Get a lead magnet on your site. Create automated, personalised, story-led emails. Segment your audience. Inspire them and show off your knowledge and authority. Build trust. 

And the bookings will come. 

Key Action: Get a high-quality lead magnet on your site asap.

The Rise of Attribute Based Selling

Hyper personalisation is key in 2026.

People want experiences and information tailored to their exact requirements. 

And it’s now possible to give that to them.

This impacts lots of different channels.

People now search for ‘African safari camp with waterhole facing tent’.

Having a page that caters to people with these desires will increase your chances of getting found in Google or LLMs like ChatGPT.

Creating video content showing off these camps and sharing on your social channels gives you a better chance of being found on Instagram or TikTok.

Sharing packages that cater to this audience with your email list (or at least the segment that is interested in safaris) will increase the likelihood of engagement from people who want to pay for that experience. 

Think about how you can unbundle the elements in your offering, or build up specialist packages that cater to particular passions (stargazing, wellness, cycling etc etc), and create those on your website and share them on your socials.

The right people will find you. And they’ll love you for it.

Key Action: Research the hyper-targeted packages/content you could create that your audience will love.

Long Term Collaboration with Partners

Many people’s perspective on influencers has been akin to that of journalists. 

Send them on a trip, get them to write/post about it, hope for bookings.

There’s so much scope now for a longer term view. And some influencers are doing a fabulous job of partnering with aligned brands and making it work for everyone. 

Think about who your audience is and who they might follow. Take your time, do your research, find the right people or profiles. 

When you find them, think about how you can partner over the long term. Maybe they take a commission on each booking they drive. Then they’re incentivised to promote you actively over the long term. Let them experience what you offer so they become a real advocate and can tell your story authentically. 

You might be a wildlife trip specialist. Who has the attention of an audience who love tracking snow leopards or Bengal tigers, and other endangered species? Do they have an Instagram profile? YouTube channel? Newsletter? 

Partnering with just one or two of the right partners for the long term can drive a far more significant commercial return than chasing likes with people who have massive, but irrelevant, social followings. 

Key Action: Pick one of your niche audience personas. Ask your LLM of choice to give you ideas of where they might be hanging out and top influencers in that space (as well as diving in yourself).

Video Is A Must (‘non-negotiable’ if you’re Steven Bartlett)

Ok, maybe not the most groundbreaking prediction, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore video as a travel brand. So many businesses still use stock video or none at all of their own making, and 2026 is the year to put that right. 

Hire someone to go and get loads of amazing footage for you that you can use on your website and social channels through the course of the year. 

Or do some influencer/partner trips which incorporate the requirement for them to create content for you, that you own and can use across all your collateral. 

It can be one trip where you collect all the footage, then you can roll that out over the course of the year for the various different marketing needs you have.

Behind the scenes company video is also great. Share material from DMCs on the ground or connections you have in hotels and accommodation. 

And AI tools can help you edit them really easily now too, so you don’t need to be a tech extraordinaire to generate quality output.

If you haven’t already hopped on board the video train, this is the year to do so!

Key Action: Go and get some quality video content!

Storyliving vs Storytelling

Stop talking about what other people are doing in places or showing influencers in destinations. Instead, tell the story of the customer if they went to said destination or had the experience themselves. 

Don’t say ‘look at this view’, talk about who the customer will become when they’re immersed in the experience. 

“Become an expert Italian cook on this authentic immersive experience in Bologna. Learn how to create classic Italian dishes from Nonna and recreate them when you return home with your family.”

Tours become missions or investigations around a city. Customers receive physical/sensory objects related to the experience before they leave. Guests contribute to community journals when they stay at local, boutique hotels.

These all make the experience more immersive, experiential and real, which is increasingly what travellers are looking for in our digital world.

Key Action: Review the copy on your site and in your socials and adapt it to use a more immersive approach.

SEO = GEO = AIO. Integrated Marketing FTW.

If you’ve been thinking about 7 different strategies for your SEO, GEO, PR, (insert acronym) etc etc., then 2026 is the year to put that right. 

Good SEO is at the heart of what LLMs are delivering, and if you want to get found by more people through those platforms, then you need to be ranking well in search engines. 

You also need to be getting referenced on other relevant websites, so PR plays a role in getting referenced in LLMs too (and ranking well in Google). Don’t just focus on the big names though, Bill and Ben’s Cruise Blog can be just as important and influential as Travel + Leisure, so your off-page strategy should reflect that.

As highlighted in the first prediction in this post, your audience are fragmented and interacting on lots of channels in lots of ways, and tackling your marketing in a multi-channel approach will lead to bigger wins.

2026 will be the year travel brands realise this and start approaching their marketing in an integrated, agile way. Or at least, the clever ones will.

Key Action: Stop thinking about channels separately and start thinking about an integrated marketing plan (we can help with that if you like).

Traffic Is Dead. Long Live Impressions & Conversions.

We like talking about bookings and revenue with clients, and the way the landscape has evolved through 2025 has only lent itself further in that direction. Which is great news!

Marketers have long been mired in traffic, rankings, likes and other metrics without connecting the dots to the real impact on revenue and commercial factors. 

Changes to cookie data and the impact of zero-click searches mean traffic data is no longer a good representation of progress or which aspects of marketing activity are working well. Your rankings might be better than ever, but GA4 still tells you traffic’s down. Or is it? No-one really knows anymore.

This year marketers need to look at more commercial aspects of their activity and the connection between different channels that lead to conversions. 

Separating by channel is no longer particularly helpful either with the fragmented user behaviour we’re seeing, the key is having your brand appear in as many places as possible along that journey. 

Approach your marketing in an integrated way and then measure commercial outcomes to see if you’re really winning. 

Key Action: Make sure you have good conversion events set up on your website, tracking codes for other places, and are connecting the dots from offline bookings to the online customer journey.

AI-Assisted Marketing Teams

We’re all still getting our heads around the potential AI offers in our personal lives and in business. 

But there is one thing in no doubt at all; it can accelerate and improve many aspects of your marketing, which every small travel brand should be taking advantage of.

Whether you’re an individual in-house marketer, a business owner or a small marketing team, AI tools can massively level up your output. 

And forget AI slop. That’s for the lazy, uneducated folks. Do it right and you can do things that would usually take teams of people, expensive consultants, or hundreds of hours. And you can make the quality even better than humans would deliver. 

Key Action: If you want to learn more specific, practical ways to use AI in your travel business then sign up for the next cohort of the Travel AI Compass. You’ll save lots of money and lots of time, and change the face of 2026.

Direct Bookings in LLMs

Whilst we’re talking about AI, let’s explore what’s going to happen in the LLMs. 

Large OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia are spending billions to be the default agent inside LLMs.

So people can ask Gemini or ChatGPT “find me a family friendly hotel in London near the west end which has a walk in shower” and the answer will include a booking link for those platforms (and maybe even the potential to ask it to book it for you, if you’ve set it up in an agentic way).

And no doubt this will keep evolving so they can ask “find me a family safari in Africa for 2 weeks which is priced mid range and lets me see the big 5”. OTAs aren’t as well placed to deliver packages for these kind of queries, so there is opportunity for smaller operators to fill that gap and benefit.

How the LLMs integrate booking mechanisms will be a big topic this year and something that marketers need to be aware of as the technology evolves.

Key Action: Keep your finger on the pulse and aware of how this evolves and how your booking process could benefit (our newsletter will help you stay ahead of the game).

Trust is Premium. Personal Service Wins.

As AI invades our lives at a rate of knots, people will become increasingly sceptical about where their information is coming from and whether to believe it. 

Even convincing video and audio can now be created that you can’t tell apart from reality.

The antidote?

Real life, trusted relationships built over time. 

Increased value placed on the personal touch and community. 

You can win by doing the things that are harder to scale. Care for your clients. Tell them engaging stories. Build a relationship with them over time so they trust you and don’t want to risk going elsewhere.

This is where small business has the advantage. We can bring personality, connection and community. 

When you’re thinking about your marketing in 2026, this should be at the top of your list.

Key Action: Identify all the ways you can build trust and community with your audience. Build your email list. Tell stories. Run events.

Summary

And there you have it! 

Let’s see how many we got right this time next year.

2026 will be the year of balancing AI investment and progress with enhanced personal service and connection. Automation combined with reality. Technology working alongside community.

If you can even get close to the right balance with your marketing this year, you’ll be in good stead for a successful 2026. 

About The Author...

Tom McLoughlin

Founder

Tom is here to steer the ship in the right direction, to ensure what we offer is best in class, and to keep clients and the team happy! Naturally, he loves to travel, but Honduras is a favourite destination after having spent a year there teaching after finishing school.