AI shifts power in travel distribution from visibility to trust | News

Artificial intelligence is shifting the power in travel distribution from visibility to trust, redefining the way travelers discover, evaluate and book experiences.

Rather than eliminating middlemen, AI is reshaping the value and control of the travel ecosystem. As travelers increasingly rely on AI assistants to plan trips, the industry is moving from a search-driven model to one in which algorithms decide what is seen – and what is sold.

That shift was central to discussions during the panel “AI, Personalization and the Future of Distribution in Travel Experiences,” held at the Juniper Summit at the Palma Convention Center.

The session, moderated by Rubén Gutiérrez, brought together executives from Civitatis, TUI Musement, Juniper Group, NexusTours, Bridgify and Transferz.

AI will be the new gatekeeper

As AI mediates the discovery process, traditional visibility loses relevance. “It’s no longer about who appears first in search results, but about who trusts AI,” said Andrés Spitzer, CEO of Civitatis.

He noted that as AI increasingly mediates discovery and decision-making, companies must rethink how they make themselves “readable” to algorithms, while continuing to strengthen brand value.

In this environment, companies must ensure their content is structured and accessible to AI systems, while building strong brands and delivering consistently high-quality products. Without these elements, even the largest reserves risk becoming invisible.

Spitzer emphasized that this shift increases the importance of product quality and verified user feedback. With more than five million reviews on the platform, he argued that real customer experiences are becoming an important input for both human and algorithmic trust.

Distribution is still the weakest link

Despite years of innovation, distribution remains one of the most fragmented parts of the travel value chain.

Fernando Santos of TUI Musement argued that the sector continues to focus too much on one-off conversions, rather than engaging travelers throughout their journey. “AI allows us to deliver the right product to the right customer at the right time – not just once, but multiple times,” said Santos, highlighting AI’s role in contextualizing offers across different touchpoints.

At the same time, Fernando Santos said that while AI is transforming the way products are made – from demand forecasting to resource allocation – the experience itself remains unchanged. “The delivery remains intrinsically human. That is what customers are looking for.”

From a demand perspective, David Rebolledo, Omnichannel Director at NexusTours, highlighted how AI is changing the way travel expertise is accessed and applied at scale. “What used to require specialist knowledge can now be delivered through AI, making it easier for travelers to make better decisions with less friction.” Rebolledo added that this shift is also changing user expectations, with travelers increasingly expecting instant, tailored answers rather than navigating through traditional interfaces. “The goal is to reduce friction and help travelers understand what to expect in real time, so they can book with more confidence and less hassle.”

From scale to relevance

The rise of AI is also challenging another long-standing industry assumption: that scale alone creates competitive advantage – even with broad global coverage and rapid access to new offerings.

“We don’t want to give travelers a library; we want to give them the right book,” said Amit Shamni, co-founder and CEO of Bridgify. “As an industry, it is our job to ensure that the right product is actually present when the customer clicks”

As AI-driven interfaces replace traditional browsing, distribution is shifting from catalog-based models to intent-driven curation, where relevance and context determine what the traveler sees.

This accelerates the adoption of dynamic bundling, connecting experiences, transportation and events into a single, more valuable proposition.

Interfaces disappear

In addition to distribution, user behavior is also changing rapidly.

Travelers are moving away from browsing and toward direct interaction with AI through chat and voice. The expectation is no longer to navigate through the options, but to receive immediate, tailored answers.

As Spitzer noted during the session, once users get used to interacting with AI, “it becomes very difficult to go back” to traditional interfaces.

From a business perspective
Jaime Sastre, CEO of Juniper Group, described AI not as an improvement at one layer, but as a structural shift across three levels of the ecosystem. “At the supplier level, AI will help reduce costs and improve operational efficiency,” he explains. “At the distribution level, it will accelerate connectivity by making integrations faster and more scalable. And at the orchestration layer, it will unlock new ways to connect products across the ecosystem, especially through cross-selling and contextual recommendations.”

Sastre emphasized that the industry is still in an experimental phase. “The future is not written. What we see today is based on what we have tested and learned so far, but it is up to the industry to determine how this evolves,” he said.

Desiree Kats, head of partnerships at Transferz, warned that AI-driven transparency increases competitive pressure in commoditized segments such as ground transportation. “If all options are visible next to each other, differentiation becomes more difficult and price pressure increases,” she says. At the same time, she argued that AI raises expectations around integration and service quality on the B2B side, where seamless workflows and reliable connectivity could become key factors in partner retention. “Companies that integrate AI into their operations are better positioned to remain competitive, even if they are not the cheapest option,” she added.

The rise of agent-to-agent distribution

Looking ahead, panelists expect a structural shift in the way travel is bought and sold.

“In the next two to three years, 15% to 20% of bookings could happen through AI agents, chatbots or voice,” Shamni said.

If this prediction holds, distribution will increasingly shift from human interfaces to machine-to-machine interactions, further reinforcing the importance of structured data and trusted sources.

Trust becomes the ultimate differentiator

As AI plays a greater role in decision-making, trust becomes the defining factor in travel distribution.

Spitzer summed it up clearly: “We don’t sell experiences – we sell memories. And those memories must be real, repeatable and reliable.”

In an increasingly AI-mediated landscape, competitive advantage will belong to companies that can consistently deliver reliable, high-quality experiences – not just to travelers, but also to the algorithms that shape demand.

Concluding the session, Rubén Gutiérrez called for greater cooperation across the sector. “We are still operating in a fragmented ecosystem and we are losing too much energy to inefficiencies,” he said. “If we work together and focus on transparency and inclusion, the opportunity for growth is enormous.”