Google Expands Search with Travel Attractions Ads

Google has confirmed that it is expanding its advertising business for attractions and experiences by testing new ad formats directly within Search. The move deepens Google’s role in how travelers discover and book activities, tickets, and tours before and during their trips.

How it works

The new ads appear when users search for major destinations or attractions, such as Disneyland California or Universal Orlando. These ads are displayed in a dedicated booking-style section labeled “Sponsored Tickets & Tours.”

Within this interface, Google shows paid offers from multiple booking and experiences platforms, including Headout, Trip.com, and Klook. Users can view ticket options, compare prices, and click through to complete bookings, all without leaving the search results page.

These ads are built on Google’s existing “Things to do” infrastructure, which aggregates inventory submitted by operators, OTAs, and ticketing platforms. This system allows partners to surface real-time pricing, availability, and ticket details, turning Google Search into a discovery layer for experiences.

Google’s growing influence in travel bookings

This initiative aligns with Google’s broader strategy of embedding travel planning and comparison tools directly into its ecosystem.

Google already allows users to compare flights and hotels, and is increasingly positioning itself as the starting point for end-to-end trip planning within Search, Maps, and AI-powered experiences.

Recently, Google began testing a new mobile flow for US users that connects AI Overviews to AI Mode powered by Gemini. A traveler’s natural language search generates an AI Overview with guidance on climate, events, and timing.

By tapping “Ask a follow up,” users can enter a conversational interface where they refine preferences, adjust budgets, compare locations, and incorporate flights and hotels, further blurring the line between search, planning, and booking.

Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash