Visitors planning trips to Galway using artificial intelligence chatbots are being repeatedly directed towards the same small group of attractions, new research suggests, raising concerns that less prominent tourism businesses could miss out as AI becomes a bigger part of holiday planning.
Research by AI performance platform Searchable found that five attractions appeared in 87% of answers to questions about what to see and do in Galway. The figure is significantly higher than the national average of 76%.
Kylemore Abbey was the most frequently recommended attraction, appearing in 92% of Galway-related answers analysed. It was followed by Connemara National Park, which appeared in 88%, the Latin Quarter at 84%, and Spanish Arch at 81%. The Aran Islands completed the group of five.
The research analysed 2,820 questions about Galway put to ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Google AI Mode as part of a wider study of more than 76,000 questions about tourist attractions across all 26 Irish counties.
The findings suggest that travellers asking AI tools for recommendations may be repeatedly exposed to the same destinations, while a large proportion of Galway’s attractions receive little or no visibility.
Searchable found that 68% of Galway attractions appeared in fewer than one in 10 answers. A further 15% were not mentioned at all in the questions tested, including Kilcornan Lost Village and Teampall na Seacht Mac Rí.
Even questions specifically asking for “hidden gems” produced a relatively narrow set of recommendations. Searchable said the same five attractions appeared in 41% of answers to those queries.
The company’s CEO and co-founder Chris Donnelly said AI systems were drawing on a limited pool of online information, resulting in repeated recommendations.
“AI chatbots are reading a select pool of online sources and turning them into the same repetitive recommendations,” he said. “Most local businesses won’t be aware of what those sources are, or why they’re not being recommended, even for attraction requests that relate to them.”
The findings come as AI tools increasingly become part of the way people research and plan holidays. Searchable’s data indicates that one in 10 AI chatbot users is already using the technology for travel planning and recommendations.
Donnelly said the trend could have consequences for businesses and attractions that are not appearing in AI-generated itineraries.
“With more travellers deciding where to go using AI, our data shows they’re being steered towards the same small group of attractions,” he said. “Places not included on that list risk missing out on primary footfall until the end of 2026.”
The issue could become increasingly significant for Ireland’s tourism industry as overseas visitors remain an important source of spending. Donnelly pointed to Fáilte Ireland’s March Quarterly Economic Update, which found that August to December was the only period in 2025 when overseas visits grew, with overseas visitors accounting for 60% of all tourist spending.
Searchable’s research covered 11 categories of attraction and measured how frequently destinations were recommended or absent from AI responses. The company said the data was correct as of September 2026.
Nationally, the study found that one in 10 Irish tourist attractions was never named by the AI systems tested, highlighting the potential gap between the breadth of attractions available to visitors and the narrower selection surfaced by AI-generated recommendations.
