AI is collapsing the travel funnel. News Australia wants to own the trust

AI can build an itinerary in seconds. News Australia is betting travellers will increasingly want a human to tell them whether any of it is actually worth doing.

That proposition sits at the heart of the publisher's latest Beyond ’27 strategy, which is reshaping its travel business around a fundamental change in how Australians discover, research and book holidays.

As AI compresses the traditional travel funnel, News Australia believes trust and editorial authority will become more valuable, not less, with brands needing to influence travellers long before they arrive at the booking page.

The publisher has refreshed its News Travel Network, bringing Escape, news.com.au, Travel + Luxury and The Australian together under a unified editorial strategy led by head of travel Kerrie McCallum (pictured). The combined network reaches more than six million Australians each month.

But the bigger play is around the changing mechanics of travel discovery.

Research presented at the fourth instalment of News Australia's five-part Beyond ’27 series found 60% of Australians would consider using AI for travel, including 38% for research and 22% when evaluating their options.

Only 15%, however, currently turn to AI during the dreaming phase, leaving a crucial early window in which destinations and travel brands can still build memory and influence before algorithms and search take over.

That matters because News Australia's research suggests confidence, rather than demand, is becoming one of the travel industry's bigger problems.

While one in five Australians expects to spend less on travel, three in four plan to maintain or increase their spending. At the same time, two-thirds want a travel agent involved in at least some of their planning and one in four says the rise of AI makes them more likely to use one.

Travellers who build confidence during the decision-making process also consume 4.4 times more travel editorial during the dreaming phase than those who don't.

For News Australia, the implication is straightforward: as synthetic content proliferates, trusted human recommendations could command a premium.

“AI isn't replacing human curation; it's making it priceless. Our stories don't just inspire; they drive action. They help readers decide where to go, what's worth booking, and how to spend their travel dollars wisely,” McCallum said.

From SEO to GEO

There is another part to News Australia's strategy, however. The publisher isn't simply positioning its journalism as an antidote to AI. It wants that journalism to become part of the information AI itself relies upon.

News Australia client partnerships national head of travel Emily Ross said the company had tested more than 300,000 AI responses across its ecosystem as it builds what it describes as its 2030 playbook.

“We recently put our GEO strategy to the test in the travel category and the results were instant,” Ross said.

“In 24 hours, it became a top-cited source in AI, with a halo effect in SEO, jumping from position 85 all the way to number four.

“In a world flooded with AI content, where your brand appears is now a trust signal. That editorial backdrop tells a high anxiety traveller one crucial thing: that you're worth trusting.”

That potentially changes the equation for travel marketers. For years, much of digital travel marketing has concentrated heavily on the bottom of the funnel, fighting over search results and reaching consumers as they move towards a transaction.

News Australia's argument is that AI increasingly makes those decisions upstream. By the time someone reaches conventional search or a booking platform, much of the consideration process may already have happened.

Chief revenue officer Lou Barrett put it more starkly.

“Technology is collapsing the traditional booking journey. While brands pour money into reaching consumers at the bottom of the funnel, AI has already captured them at the top,” Barrett said.

“AI tools reference trusted publishers three times more often than brand websites when generating answers, making the citation economy the new home of brand trust.”

News Australia's commercial proposition is therefore increasingly about getting brands into authoritative editorial environments early enough to influence both the traveller and potentially the systems helping that traveller make decisions.

Rebuilding travel for the AI era

The strategy is being accompanied by a substantial overhaul of News Australia's travel products.

Escape is being integrated directly into news.com.au, while its Ask Skye AI assistant is being upgraded into an interactive visual planner capable of building real-time itineraries backed by News Australia's travel editorial.

Travel + Luxury is being refreshed across The Australian's digital platforms alongside a revamped weekend print product and episodic video series, while News is launching Platinum Escape, a quarterly 64-page glossy magazine distributed through its state mastheads.

A new global private marketplace will also allow advertisers to reach international high-net-worth audiences across publications including The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and The Sun.

There's another audience shift looming.

News Australia's research found under-55s are already 3.5 times more likely than over-55s to use AI for travel planning, at 52% compared with 15%, and twice as likely to consider using it in future.

As that cohort moves into the traditionally lucrative 55-plus travel market, News expects digitally fluent, AI-assisted travel planning to become increasingly normal.