Category: In the News

With an ongoing global trade war and stricter border enforcement, the travel and tourism industry in the U.S. is starting to see a dip in visitors. During the month of March, international visits to the U.S. declined 14% year over year, according to the U.S. Travel Association, which also found, if the decline is maintained throughout the year, the U.S. will see a $21 billion loss in “travel-related exports.”

For marketers in the travel and tourism space, the effects of that drop will depend on how reliant they are on international travel. Agency executives say that the marketers who are more reliant on international travel are delaying bigger budget outlays, such as sponsorships and partnerships, as well as reworking their audience strategies to manage the current climate. 

Meanwhile, marketers who are more reliant on domestic travel are leaning into messaging for that market even further and touting messages of value — economic and otherwise — to appeal to travelers. What makes the current market so difficult isn’t just a reduction in international travel, but also the economic climate and the more “nervous and anxious” consumer mood that has marketers across the board worried about the next quarter and beyond.

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AI agents are no longer just experimental tools — they’re rapidly becoming indispensable intermediaries in how people search, shop, and interact online. As platforms like Google, OpenAI, and Perplexity race to roll out agentic AI, the advertising industry is bracing for a shift that could redefine consumer journeys and reshape digital marketing strategies.

Despite all the hype, many marketer’s generative AI investments are still modest or even nonexistent. One Gartner survey of more than 400 marketing leaders found that 27% of CMOs reported their teams had little or no adoption of generative AI. However, it’s still early — both in terms of impact and in terms of preparations. And with the search landscape ever-evolving, Gartner analyst Noam Dorros marketers could risk creating a “massive headache” for themselves by trying to chase what the future might look like.

“You still have to focus on what’s three feet in front of you, which is your consumer, and understand their behaviors and their needs,” Dorros said. “… If you are foundationally sound when this changes again, you’ll give yourself a better launch pad to pivot and adjust accordingly.”

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