AI in 2026 for Destinations: Sorting Facts from Noise

Intentful Insights Team
March 9, 2026 at 1:27 PM
6 min read

This recap distills the key points from a recent webinar led by Marina Petrova, CEO and Co-Founder of Intentful, on February 25, 2026. The source page also includes the complete session video.

How AI Interprets Your Destination Brand

AI is surrounded by plenty of hype, but for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), the essential change is learning how AI systems understand and represent your brand. This shift extends well past conventional search.

• AI relies on code rather than visual design: AI systems are not evaluating your polished imagery or campaigns the way a traveler does. They process the HTML underneath the page.
• Modular site builds can create blind spots: Many DMO websites use modular, widget-driven content sections. Those layouts can make pages look empty to AI systems when the page’s contextual structure is not preserved.
• Structure comes before copy: Before rewriting large portions of content, make sure your web team is addressing site architecture and page structure for AI readability.
• Long-form formats perform well: Given current website constraints, blogs and other long-form pages are useful because AI systems can parse them and pull information from them more easily.
• Your brand exists across many sources: AI stochastically (randomly) draws on thousands of outside references when forming an understanding of your brand. Accurate and consistent representation needs to extend across partner websites, publishers, earned media, and your owned channels.

The Move Toward Interactive Destinations

AI platforms are beginning to monetize large audiences, and that is quickly changing the advertising environment.

• A new advertising model is emerging: ChatGPT now includes ads. At this stage, they are impression-based and targeted through conversational context, while user data is not shared with advertisers.
• The industry is shifting beyond one-way messaging: Traditional ads talk at audiences. AI is pushing marketers from simple impression capture toward live, two-way customer interaction.
• Intentful's Generative Response Ads: Intentful initiated the move from speaking at customers to speaking with them. Generative Response Ads, also known as interactive ads, have now launched with multiple DMOs. Although adoption is still early, Intentful sees this as a game changer for reducing the distance between engagement and action. For this invention, Intentful has a global patent pending.

Making Agentic AI Easier to Understand

Agentic AI is getting major attention, but destinations need a clear view of what is real and what is still hype.

• Assistants and agents are not the same: An AI assistant, such as a typical website chatbot, answers direct requests. An AI agent operates more independently and can carry out multi-step work for you.
• Agents depend on 3 core elements: Effective agents need Knowledge, meaning access to context and data; Skills, such as formatting, rewriting, or coding; and a clearly defined Assignment.
• Begin with small, secure uses: Agentic AI is still in its earliest stage. Start with simple 2-to-3-step workflows that improve everyday tasks, and be careful with the internal information and permissions an agent can access.

Your 2026 Action Plan

• Make structure and readability the priority: AI does not interpret your website by looking at the visuals. It reads the code beneath the experience. Work with your development team or agency to confirm that AI systems can actually read your site structure.
• Get ready for interactive engagement: Start adapting your digital strategy for conversational, interactive experiences across channels.
• Test carefully: AI agents should not be ignored, but they should be introduced thoughtfully, with privacy and data security treated as strict priorities.

About This Article

Intentful Insights shares perspectives on AI, brand strategy, and the broader shift from speaking at customers to speaking with them.

This article focuses on Intentful's Generative Response Ads (GRA), an ad unit format that lets consumers ask questions and get real-time, brand-specific responses inside the ad placement itself. GRAs sit within Intentful's broader intelligent brand infrastructure, alongside Brand AI Agents, AI Assistants, and the As Seen by AI© discoverability program.

Intentful is commercially deployed since 2021, working with organizations in travel and tourism, performing arts, CPG, telecommunications, and agencies globally. Contact: [email protected]