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

Insights from two years of Visitor International research (8,100+ travelers)

From Print to Click: How Brochures Drive Digital Action

For most visitors, a brochure is where the next step begins. Visitor International research gathered over two years shows that 88% of visitors who use brochures, maps or guides say something they found prompted them to pick up their phone to find out more or to act, whether that means planning a visit, making a booking or completing a purchase.

That is the step digital-only marketing overlooks.

Brochures introduce travelers to places, services and experiences they did not know existed. They spark interest in print and send visitors straight to their mobile devices, often while they are in-destination and ready to act.

That makes brochures a catalyst: print sparks digital. A visitor picks up a brochure, sees something of interest and reaches for a phone. They search your name, type in your web address or follow a QR code, and there is no digital trail pointing back to the brochure.

That spark is invisible to Google Analytics. There is no ad click, no referral code and no campaign attribution. The visit shows up as direct traffic or organic search, yet the action was prompted by the brochure.

The visitor was guided there by print. Many of the brand searches and direct hits in your analytics may well be brochure-driven behavior.

This holds for well-known brands too. Visibility at the point of decision wins business, whatever the name recognition. Being in print puts you in sight when visitors are choosing what to do.

Why Print Matters More in the Age of AI

Online search is changing fast. With AI-generated answers and summarized results, travelers see short, pre-digested responses shaped by algorithms in place of long lists of businesses. That leaves fewer places to appear, especially for smaller tourism businesses.

Print puts you in front of visitors first: in the hotel lobby, at the visitor center, at attractions and transport hubs, wherever visitors pick up ideas. When they discover you in print, you already have their attention.

From there, the digital journey changes completely. Once a visitor picks up your brochure, they know exactly what to look for. They skip the broad searches and the AI summaries. They type in your name, scan your QR code or search with purpose, and go straight to you.

That is a directed search, sparked by print.

The Real Role of Print in a Digital Strategy

Where do brochures fit in a digital-first world? Right at the start.

Brochures activate digital. They create awareness, prompt action and send visitors online with intent. As AI rewrites how search works and visibility is increasingly filtered, being the first thing a visitor discovers is one of the most powerful advantages a business can have.

Print puts you there first. That is why it matters.

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NOTE: The insights in this article are based on a 24-month study conducted by Visitor International — the International Association of Visitor Information Providers — from July 2024 to June 2026. The study gathered responses from over 8,100 travelers across 12 countries, representing visitors from 113 countries. The 88% figure is based on the 5,871 respondents who used a visitor brochure, map or guide during their trip, and reflects their experience of brochures across the whole trip.

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