When it comes to digital marketing, 2025 has seen some major upheavals, like major drops in organic search traffic and the dominance of short-form video. Next year, these changes won’t reverse course, they’ll only get stronger, along with new hurdles. The old era of “lazy reach” is dead. Attention is all. 2026 is all about being fast and real, being entertaining and talked about, and being everywhere your potential visitors and customers are searching. Here are the 10 biggest digital marketing trends that will define success for the travel, tourism, and hospitality vertical in 2026.

The Shift: Travelers are sick of the “brand”.

B2C? Think again. It’s all about H2H (human-to-human). 86% of consumers believe authenticity is a key factor when deciding which brands to like and support. Overly polished YouTube videos and intricate graphics are being ignored.

The Strategy: “Employee-Led” Destination Marketing.

Stop hiring actors and start leveraging locals with authority. Put a GoPro on your trail guides and film your museum staff talking about their passions.

Hot Take: People trust people, not brands. A 15-second iPhone clip will always outperform a $50K destination video.

The Shift: SEO isn’t dead, but organic search traffic is bleeding — right into AI chatbots and social media.

60% of Google searches now result in zero clicks to websites (rising to 77% on mobile).

The Strategy: Structure and Keyword-Heavy Social Content

We need to start optimizing our webpages for conversational search. Use FAQs, listicles with obvious formatting, and structured snippets like bullets and tables, so that AI can easily read it. On your social posts, use keywords consistently in your captions, text-overlays on videos, and narration. Not only will you boost your reach on those social platforms, but search engines and generative AI are beginning use social media as trusted sources.

 Hot Take: If you can’t get the click, get the citation.

The Shift: The hard truth is that social media is no longer about connection, it’s about consumption.

Meta disclosed in 2025 antitrust trial materials that only about 7% of time spent on Instagram is now spent viewing content from friends. Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook in particular had “turned into more of a broad discovery and entertainment space.” Social media is an entertainment avenue that’s beginning to replace TV (especially given those subscription costs).

The Strategy: Optimized, Purposeful Video Content

Short-form content should grab attention and make users want to learn more. Focus on piquing interest, because when you do, algorithms will show users related content or they’ll go searching for it themselves. That’s where long-form content comes in — the 4-minute “come with me” itinerary to seal the deal.

Hot Take: Entertain them, and they will come.  

The Shift: The World Cup won’t bring you visitors, but it will bring you opportunities.

I’m not just saying this as a constant player and a huge fan of the beautiful game — the World Cup really matters. Every bar will have games on, and people will be talking about it. You won’t be able to escape it. Estimates show the US will have 1.24 million visitors for the World Cup

The Strategy: Optimized, Purposeful Video Content

It will be nigh impossible for destinations that aren’t hosting games to get people to visit between matches. These are going to be Europeans and South Americans for the most part, and the games come thick and fast, happening in major cities across the US every few days. Renting a car and driving 4 hours isn’t reasonable. Instead, use the event to plant seeds for future travel: from ConnectedTV to Digital out-of-home ads in the host cities.

Hot Take: Don’t burn your budget trying to steal attendees. Steal their attention while they’re glued to the screen.

The Shift: You can’t just post and ghost.

The real conversations about your destination aren’t happening on your page. They’re happening in Facebook Groups, Discord channels, and comment sections. 

The Strategy: Invest in Community Engagement

Community managers need to do exactly that: manage the community. Now more than ever. If you spend time building connections and driving conversations, it will only help you. We’ve seen it a lot this year. Destinations that have a supportive community will bounce back a lot faster after a crisis than those with Negative Nancy’s shouting at them. Encourage positivity and positive people will see your content.

Hot Take: A thoughtful, glowing comment is worth more than 1,000 impressions on a billboard.

The Shift: It’s driving trip planning, and it’s too big to ignore.

YouTube is the world’s second biggest search engine and destinations all too often use it as a video library for their ads. Meanwhile, 2025 research shows that American Millennial and Gen Z travelers use YouTube and Instagram the most for trip-planning. It’s time to start using it as much.

The Strategy: Play the Funnel

Use short-form content to grab attention and build awareness. Those Reels and TikTok you post all should be Shorts. Then, start to develop depth with long-form content, like a local’s guide to best kept secrets or the top free things to do. If you don’t believe it matters, head to YouTube and make a few searches. There are travel videos out there racking up the views.

Hot Take: If you ignore YouTube, you’re ignoring a huge audience.

The Shift: Gen Alpha is turning 16 in 2026, and their influence is only growing.

Research shows that more than 8 in 10 families now plan trips collaboratively, and Gen Alpha already impacts destination and activity decisions by sharing content with parents and grandparents. We need to start thinking about them now, or we risk getting caught flat-footed.

The Strategy: Pay Attention. Don’t Be Ohio.

Having formative years during COVID means that a lot of Gen Alpha is craving connection and outdoor activities, while also being glued to their phone. The truth is, we just don’t know what will work and won’t yet. But it’s important not to treat them as “mini” Gen Zs. They’re their own group, with their own preferences, and their meme culture that moves at lightning speed is only now beginning to confusingly trickle into mainstream pop culture (just watch Ariana Grande’s face when Adam Sandler says “6-7”).

Hot Take: Ignoring the 16-year-old in the back seat is soon to be ignoring the person in the driver’s seat. Terrifying.

The Shift: From futureproofing to futuristic targeting.

First-party data is crucial — not just because cookies, or pixels data, might eventually go away, but because AI can use this data so effectively for targeting. Some of TwoSix Digital’s best results in 2025 came from campaigns that leveraged audiences built from customer or email lists.

The Strategy: Level Up Your Targeting.

Feed the AI with high-quality data. Use tools like Google’s Performance Max campaigns and Meta’s Advantage+, which utilize many data sources and signals to find your perfect traveler.

Hot Take: The best targeting in 2026 isn’t about picking demographics — it’s about knowing how to give AI enough good data to find them for you.

The Shift: Live content is exploding. Trends last days, not months.

On a weekly basis, 27-29% of internet users are watching live streams. People value the authenticity and the relevancy of recommendations or news that come out of these, because they’re as up to date as you can get. TikTok pushes content so quickly that saturation is rapid, leading to faster burnout. You could be going for funny but end up cringe.

The Strategy: Shoot From the Hip

Don’t hesitate. Jump on trends before they get stale. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Most content creators will tell you that their viral posts were usually afterthoughts or throw-aways, not what was on their content calendar. Start leveraging livestreams for notable events to gain traction in the moment.

Hot Take: Transparency and relevancy is more valuable than perfection.

The Shift: From Vanity Metrics to Impact Metrics.

AI search engines mean less traffic is coming to sites, but that doesn’t mean fewer eyes will be on our content. Your destination being cited as a trusted source could be more important than a website session. At the same time, with attention such a valuable commodity, impressions and clicks aren’t as important as engagement rate and time on site.

The Strategy: Redefine Your Goals

Sessions → Brand Mentions (Are they talking about you?)

Likes → Saves & Shares (Did they find value?)

CTR → GA4 Engagement Rate (Did they care?)

Hot Take: Moving the goalposts before they become impossible to reach.

Next year is set to ignore the polish and punish the passive, while rewarding marketers that are brave, fast, and present. The objective remains the same as ever: increase awareness. It’s just that there are more tools and there’s more noise. Provide value and be more than a brand. And remember, while the changes might seem intimidating, most will make our jobs as marketers easier and more enjoyable. Leverage the top digital marketing trends of 2026 to get the most out of your efforts in the coming year.

Nick Danowski

Lead Content Strategist & Senior Data Analyst