The internet is going to change. We know this. How it will change, everyone is still figuring out. But one thing keeps coming up in conversations with people in tourism: they want to connect with people again. We seem ready to collaborate in more meaningful ways.
ChatGPT opened our eyes to how generative AI helps with everyday tasks. It can give you an instant meal plan, even plan your trip. But that's the starting point, not the destination.
For travellers: the research problem
Planning a trip used to mean asking around, buying a guidebook, or trusting your instincts when you arrived. Then came TripAdvisor, Google reviews, and a thousand "Top 10" listicles. Now we have AI summaries that confidently tell you where to eat, without ever having tasted a thing.
The problem isn't lack of information. It's too much of it, and not enough of it that feels real. Social media is drowning in AI slop. Google just serves up summaries. So what happens now when you want to find the best pub in an unfamiliar town? Will it get easier? Your guess is as good as mine.
Here's the thing though: the good content still exists. Local tourism websites, destination guides, visitor information sites, they're still doing the work of curating genuinely useful information about their areas. What's changing is how people find them. Clickthroughs from Google are dropping. AI overviews are answering questions before anyone reaches the source. But that doesn't mean the content has lost its value. It means the paths to it are shifting, and we haven't fully figured out what that looks like yet.
Whether someone arrives at a local tourism site via Google, a social link, or a recommendation from a tool like planory, the value is the same: real information, curated by people who know the place. The challenge now is making sure those resources reach the people who need them.
What I do know is this: the best recommendations still come from people who actually know a place. The barista who tells you about the beach that doesn't show up on Google Maps. The B&B owner who knows which restaurant to book for your anniversary. That knowledge exists, it's just hard to find when you need it.
For local experts: your knowledge matters more than ever
If you run accommodation, lead tours, or work in tourism, you answer the same questions every week. "What should we do if it rains?" "Where's good for dinner with kids?" "Is it worth visiting X?" You have answers, good ones, built from years of local knowledge and guest feedback.
But sharing that knowledge at scale? That's harder. You can't personally guide every guest. A quick recommendation at checkout doesn't do your expertise justice. And generic AI tools don't know what you know.
planory isn't trying to replace human knowledge. It's trying to surface it. To connect the people who know a place with the people trying to plan their visit. There's a lot to figure out, and we want to figure it out with you.
What we're building
planory is a conversational trip planner. You tell us what you're looking for, we check the practical details, weather, what's open, and help you build a plan you can actually use. One conversation instead of twenty browser tabs.
But the real value comes from local voices. We're building a Local Expert programme for accommodation providers, tour operators, tourism organisations, and anyone with genuine local knowledge to share. Your recommendations, surfaced to travellers who need them, at the moment they're planning.
It's early days. The product is live, the features are growing, and we're learning what actually helps people plan better trips. That's where you come in.
An invitation
Like most start-ups, this is a journey. I'm self-funding, with a couple of investors interested in what we're building. Your support at this early stage is genuinely valuable.
If you're planning a trip: give planory a try. Tell us what works and what doesn't. We're building this for you.
If you're in tourism: consider joining the Local Expert programme. Help us shape what it becomes. Your feedback will directly influence the features we build.
Any feedback you can share would be brilliant. Just email me at wendy@planory.ai
Here's to building trips worth sharing.
Wendy
