AI SEARCH VISIBILITY FOR NZ TOURISM
You can be number one on Google & invisible to AI.
Around 40 per cent of travellers now plan trips with AI tools like ChatGPT, and the travellers searching what to do in New Zealand are no exception. When someone asks for the best tours, activities or places to stay, AI names a shortlist and leaves everyone else out. Run a free AI visibility check and find out whether your tourism business makes the answer.
AI recommends:
- 01 Southern Trails Co.
- 02 Alpine & Co Journeys
- 03 Kea Wild Expeditions
- - Your business not mentioned
AI is changing how visitors find New Zealand
Three things most tourism operators have not caught up with yet. Each one is a reason a competitor gets the recommendation instead of you.
Ranking on Google is not AI visibility
A business can sit at the top of Google and still never be mentioned by ChatGPT. AI engines read the whole web, your reviews, listings, press and partners, not just your website. That is why AI search optimisation is different work from traditional SEO.
The answer keeps moving
Ask AI the same travel question twice and it can recommend different operators each time. Our own testing across the major AI tools shows results shift from run to run. Consistent presence across every answer is the new advantage, and it can be measured and managed.
Schema is the floor, not the edge
Tidy markup helps AI read your site, but it is table stakes. What wins the recommendation is becoming a source the AI engines trust and repeat: accurate listings, strong reviews, and content that answers the questions travellers actually ask.
Free, instant, no obligation
Run your free AI visibility audit
Enter your website and we will score how ready your tourism business is for AI search, and check whether ChatGPT recommends you. It takes about two minutes, and your full report follows by email.
What happens next
From an AI visibility score to a plan, in three steps
The audit is the start. Here is exactly how we turn it into something you can act on.
Run your audit
Enter your website above. We check whether ChatGPT recommends your business, and score the 40+ signals that decide whether AI engines surface you at all.
Get your full report
We send the complete breakdown in plain English: where travellers using AI will find you, where you are being missed, and the quickest wins to fix it.
Book your strategy call
Fifteen minutes with our team to turn the gaps into a clear, costed plan for AI search. Useful whether or not you ever work with us.
Why Colab
25 years in New Zealand tourism. Now helping operators win AI search.
Colab has spent a career helping New Zealand tourism operators get found and chosen, from regional icons to nationwide brands. The channels have changed, the job has not. Today that means generative engine optimisation, often called GEO: making sure the AI engines your visitors ask know who you are, describe you accurately, and put you in the answer. We pair that with the SEO, advertising and strategy work it builds on, all under one roof in Auckland.
Trusted by operators including Stray Travel, Sid Fogg's Austalia, The Island Group and the Duke of Marlborough Hotel.
- + AI search readiness scored against 40+ signals
- + Plain-English reporting, no jargon
- + Strategy, SEO and paid media under one roof
- + New Zealand owned and operated
Questions operators ask us
AI search, answered in plain English
What is AI search optimisation, or GEO?
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making sure AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity find, trust and recommend your business when people ask them questions. It complements traditional SEO: rankings get you found in Google, GEO gets you named in AI answers.
Why does my tourism business not show up in ChatGPT?
Usually because the signals AI engines rely on are thin or inconsistent: sparse listings, unstructured website content, few trusted mentions across the wider web. A business can rank well on Google and still be invisible to AI. The free audit above shows where you stand.
Do travellers really use AI to plan New Zealand trips?
Yes. Around 40 per cent of travellers worldwide now use AI tools in trip planning, and the share is growing each year. Visitors increasingly ask AI for tours, accommodation and itineraries before they ever reach Google, which is why AI visibility now matters to NZ operators.
How is GEO different from the SEO work we already do?
They overlap, and good SEO is the foundation. GEO adds work SEO does not cover: how AI engines describe your brand, whether they cite you as a source, and how consistently you appear across repeated answers. We measure both, and report them side by side.
See exactly where your business stands in AI search.
Travellers are already asking. Find out what AI tells them, free.
LifeCare
SEO migration done right: 50% growth, zero losses
Website migrations don’t have to cost you visibility. Through a carefully planned SEO migration and phased optimisation strategy, LifeCare not only protected existing rankings but unlocked over 50% year-on-year traffic growth.
Stronger foundations, better visibility for core services, and results that lasted beyond launch.
INFO HUB
Advice You Can Put To Work
Confused by marketing and branding terms? You’re not alone.
This blog shares practical explanations of the strategies, ideas, and tools that matter - helping you make sense of it all and how it applies to your business.
SEO: How To Get Found Online
For small to medium businesses in New Zealand, SEO is one of the most effective ways to attract consistent, high-quality leads without relying entirely on paid advertising...