As we move away from Google’s 10 blue links catalogue search to AI Search Engines that aim to provide “Answers” and not links, we have all been wondering what will replace SEO and PPC, to allow travel businesses to gain visibility in these new engines.
We now understand that the future is the Model Context Protocol (MCP): an open, standardised interface that enables AI Search Engines to find and interact with travel data and services instantly. Consider MCP as a universal adaptor, like a travel plug adaptor suitable for different countries, allowing AI agents to connect with various booking systems, hotel inventories, pricing engines, and more, without needing custom integrations for each one.
MCP was only launched by Anthropic in November 2024, but has exploded in relevance as major AI providers, including OpenAI and Google Gemini, have now adopted it.
A key weakness of Large Language Models (LLMs) is that they require massive computing power to convert the internet’s knowledge into a searchable database. Once created, these LLMS become outdated instantly, necessitating external links to databases to access up-to-date product pricing.
Most major AI players are openly stating that the incremental gains from adding more data to LLMs are minimal, and they are shifting their focus to more reasoning-driven approaches, whilst integrating up-to-date pricing and tools via MCP links.
This makes developing MCP wrappers for your API feeds to make them understandable by AI search engines a new but essential requirement.
Many years ago, I drew an analogy comparing travel websites to supermarket stores, where businesses spend too much time rearranging stock on the shelves and putting up special offer signs, instead of focusing on building roads to the supermarket and making customer parking easy.
This has never been more the case as we migrate to AI Search.
Very soon, each of us will have a “Digital Twin” on our phones that knows all our likes, tastes, and requirements. These AI agents will contact businesses using AI Search engines MCP connections to source the best holiday offers that match their master’s requirements.
Hence, many holiday makers will no longer even come to your website, with the research and choice stages occurring in the AI Search engine. These engines will choose their suppliers based on how easily their data is accessible via MCP.
This vision may take some time to be fully realised, but observe the visibility of Booking.com and Skyscanner in ChatGPT Agent and Perplexities Comet tools to understand the benefits of having MCP layers.
However, many UK travel businesses are unsure where to start their MCP journey because it’s a highly technical process that requires software, hardware, and a detailed data security strategy, as you’re integrating AI systems into the core of your technology.
This is why Ian Pattison, an ex-Google AI head and now CEO of my Neural River AI Consultancy, has focused his entire team on providing MCP implementation services.
If you want advice, check them out: https://www.neuralriver.ai/
Firstly, a business needs to document its existing visibility through a benchmarking survey, as implementing MCP is an iterative process that requires constant monitoring and feedback loops to drive improvement.
Most travel businesses likely already have price APIS to display their prices on comparison sites like Trivago and Icelolly.com. However, it’s essential to understand that AI engines will not just search based on price; they will also need contextual information, such as whether a hotel is suitable for families or adults, and what review score it has.
AI search queries will often be long and complex, such as “Find me the best 10 hotels based on review scores, for a 7-night holiday to Alcudia, Majorca in May 2026, suitable for families with a kids club and present them in price order”. To be a preferred partner, you will have to answer all these questions in your MCP response.
The exciting aspect of MCP is that it completely overturns the travel hierarchy, with the Google PPC algorithm losing its dominance, leading to an equal playing field where every travel business has a chance to gain access through offering the most comprehensive MCP services.
Inevitably, this will lead to new entrants and businesses that may dominate in the future, including those we have not yet heard of. However, being an asset owner, like a low-cost carrier’s tour operator, also provides a significant advantage, so don’t expect the wholesale change we saw when the internet and low-cost carriers destroyed the traditionally vertically integrated tour operators.
We have some exciting months ahead.