A new series of interviews with AI and travel technology leaders argues that discovery, planning, booking, and personalisation are collapsing into a single AI-agent-driven layer, with major implications for how travel is sold.
The linear travel funnel that has underpinned the industry for two decades of search, compare, book, and experience is beginning to break down, according to leaders featured in a recent podcast series on agentic AI.
The 3-part series, “The Rise of Agentic AI in 2026”, was produced by Dan Christian, founder and host of the Travel Trends Podcast based in Canada, and brought together travel leaders from across AI, travel technology and hospitality.
The central argument: AI agents are increasingly sitting between traveller intent and action, merging discovery, planning, booking, and personalisation into a single intelligent layer rather than the traditional sequence of separate stages.
From tools to agents
Participants frame the shift as a move from systems that respond to systems that act. Unlike generative AI, which produces content, agentic AI is designed to execute actions autonomously, booking, recommending, resolving queries and adapting to context in real time.
“We are in the agentic era of AI,” said Gilad Berenstein of Brook Bay Capital. “AI agents are being deployed globally to assist in complex tasks.”
How discovery is changing
The clearest disruption is at the top of the funnel. Where travellers once searched for inspiration, compared options and built itineraries themselves, that behaviour is shifting toward conversational interfaces and AI-mediated decisions.
“It’s almost unfathomable to go back to the way we used to search and peck and hunt,” said Mindtrip chief marketing officer Michelle Denogean.
That has consequences for visibility. Traditional SEO and paid acquisition may no longer be enough, as brands need to optimise for AI interpretation, structured data, and machine-readable content.
“You need to have a plan for that because if you don’t, you won’t show up,” warned AI consultant Tahnee Perry.
Where the human role fits
Despite concerns about automation, industry leaders consistently emphasise that human roles in travel are not disappearing, but evolving.
“A travel advisor, what makes them special is them and their experience and their personality,” said Perry. “The profession of a travel advisor is safe.”
Rather than replacing human expertise, AI is increasingly seen as a force that removes operational friction, making human judgment, taste and emotional intelligence more valuable.
“AI is excellent at doing those repetitive, mundane tasks that allow staff to focus on experiences,” said Jesse Fischer.
This reallocation of effort, from administrative work to experiential value creation, is expected to redefine roles across hospitality, advisory services and travel operations.
Context as the new advantage
As the funnel collapses, the leaders argue that context, real-time signals such as location, intent and environment, becomes the competitive edge, moving personalisation away from historical behaviour toward continuous adaptation.
“Context actually matters almost more than data points on the customer,” said iWander chief executive Marius Nigond.
Tripian chief executive Jeff Kischuk framed the broader change plainly: “What you’re seeing is AI moving from novelty to utility.”
What it means for smaller players
As AI tools become cheaper and faster to build, the historical advantages of scale, large teams, big budgets and infrastructure begin to erode.
Distribution, however, remains the sticking point.
“This is the golden era of small and medium businesses,” said Perry, while Magpie’s Christian Watts cautioned: “Just because you can build something amazing doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to get distribution with it.”
The 3-part series is available on the Travel Trends Podcast.
KARRYON UNPACKS: If discovery really is shifting from search bars to AI agents, the question for Australian sellers is no longer just who ranks on Google, but whether their content and product can be read and acted on by a machine. The reassurance running through the series again is that the advisor’s value, judgment, taste, and relationships are the parts that the agents cannot replicate.
