88% of Travelers Go Online After Seeing Something in a Visitor Brochure

Insights from the Visitor International 2025 Research (5,300+ respondents)

From Print to Click: How Brochures Drive Digital Action

For most visitors, a brochure isn’t the end of the journey—it’s where the next one begins. According to the 2025 Visitor International research, 88% of travelers said something they found in a brochure prompted them to go online to learn more, plan a visit, make a booking, or complete a purchase.

And that’s the part many digital-only marketers miss.

Brochures often introduce travelers to places, services, and experiences they hadn’t even considered—because they didn’t know they existed. They spark interest offline and lead visitors straight to their mobile devices, often while they’re still in destination and ready to act.

This makes brochures a catalyst: print sparks digital. A visitor picks up a brochure, sees something that interests them, and reaches for their phone. But when they search your name, tap in your URL, or follow a QR code, there’s no digital trail that points back to the brochure.

That spark is invisible to Google Analytics.

There’s no ad click. No referral code. No campaign attribution. It looks like a direct visit or organic search—but in reality, the action was prompted by the brochure. The visitor didn’t just randomly look you up—they were guided there by what they saw in print.

Many of those "brand searches" or "direct hits" in your analytics? They may actually be brochure-driven behavior.

Even well-known brands aren’t exempt. Visibility still matters. If you’re not in front of visitors at the moment they’re looking for things to do, you’re missing out—regardless of name recognition. If you're not in print, you're often not in sight.

Why Print Matters Even More in the Age of AI

The way people search online is changing—and fast. With the rise of AI-generated answers and summarized search results, travelers are no longer seeing long lists of businesses or full websites. Instead, they’re shown short, pre-digested responses shaped by algorithms.

This means fewer chances to appear, especially for smaller tourism businesses.

But here’s the difference: print doesn’t wait to be found. It puts you in front of visitors first—at the hotel rack, the visitor center, the café, the ferry terminal. When they discover you in print, you’ve already won their attention.

And from there, the digital journey changes completely.

Because once a visitor picks up your brochure, they know exactly what to look for online. They’re not entering broad terms or hoping to stumble across you in an AI summary—they’re going straight to you. They’re typing in your name, scanning your QR code, or searching with purpose.

That’s not a random search. It’s a directed one—sparked by print.

The Real Role of Print in a Digital Strategy

So if you're wondering where brochures fit into a digital-first world, here’s the answer:

Brochures don’t compete with digital—they activate it.

They create awareness, prompt action, and send visitors online with intent. And in today’s landscape—where AI is rewriting how search works and visibility is increasingly filtered—being the first thing a visitor discovers may be the most powerful advantage you can have.

Print puts you there first.
That’s why it matters.

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