AI is becoming a major discovery channel, with customers increasingly shifting from traditional search engines to conversational AI assistants.
Arival’s 2026 research, based on a survey of 2,550 US and European travelers, highlights just how quickly AI has entered travel planning:
- Two in three travelers now use AI when planning trips.
- More than one in four US travelers use AI to discover tours.
- Nearly one in three US travelers use AI to find attractions.
Just a year earlier, only 8% of US travelers and 7% of Europeans reported using AI for tour discovery.
For dive centers, this creates another opportunity to reach new customers who may be interested in scuba diving but haven’t decided which operator to book with.
How AI Is Changing Activity Discovery12
8%
of US travelers used AI to discover tours in 2025.
25%+
of US travelers are using AI to find tours in 2026.
54%
of US travelers who used AI for trip planning used it to find attractions and activities — the most common use.
AI-powered search is changing how people discover experiences, whether they’re planning a vacation, looking for a weekend activity or searching for scuba diving lessons close to home.
The question is no longer whether customers can find your business online. It’s whether AI-powered search tools have enough information to consider your activities when making recommendations.
How AI Finds and Recommends Activities
Imagine someone asking ChatGPT: “Where can I try scuba diving near me this Saturday?”
AI needs to identify experiences that match the request: a suitable location, an activity for beginners and, ideally, an option available on the requested date. Rather than simply matching keywords, these systems interpret the request, look for relevant information from multiple sources and turn it into a tailored answer.
Google, for example, explains that its AI search features can perform several related searches to gather information before generating a response, a process called query fan-out.
The information available to these systems can make a difference:
- Relevance to the request. Does the activity match the customer’s location, interests, budget and experience level? A clearly described Open Water Diver course is easier to match to a beginner’s request than a generic page advertising scuba diving.
- Accessible, detailed product information. Structured details such as activity type, duration, requirements and location help search systems understand what an experience offers.
- Credibility and online reputation. Reviews, customer ratings and references on established third-party websites provide additional information about an operator. Arival identifies OTA listings, review platforms and authoritative third-party mentions as important for AI search visibility.
- Pricing, availability and bookability. Clear prices, current schedules and a direct booking option help turn a recommendation into an actionable choice. Accurate availability becomes particularly important as AI tools develop the ability to assist with booking, not just planning.
AI platforms use different methods to retrieve and select information, and none of these factors guarantees a recommendation. However, an experience that exists only in brochures, social media posts or offline booking records provides little information for AI-powered search to work with.
Why Listing Your Activities Online Matters More Than Ever
For dive centers, bringing courses and scuba diving activities online as structured, bookable products is an important step toward AI-powered discovery. As AI tools move closer to the point of purchase, accurate availability and instant confirmation will help customers move from recommendations to reservations with fewer steps.
The practical route is to connect with a platform like PADI Adventures™ that already speaks this language. This Membership tool allows you to list courses, guided dives and snorkeling experiences with clear details, pricing and booking options, making them discoverable through PADI’s digital ecosystem and beyond.
With PADI being the only scuba diving agency listed as an official Google Things to do connectivity partner, eligible activities can also be booked via Google without requiring any technical integration from you. This exclusively extends PADI Dive Centers’ reach across well-established discovery channels while helping prepare your business for the growing role of AI in finding and booking experiences.
Your next customer may be asking AI what to do nearby or where to learn scuba diving on vacation. Make sure your experiences are online, clearly described and ready to be booked.
