Antonio Sánchez from Visit Benidorm, posed a thought-provoking question: “Does AI kill authenticity in destination marketing?”
Traditionally, destination marketers have believed that creative excellence demands substantial budgets, specialised agencies and extended production schedules. Visit Benidorm is systematically dismantling this assumption. The emergence of AI has transformed what is possible for DMOs, enabling them to enhance daily operations and foster creativity in ways that were previously unimaginable. However, it also presents certain challenges and risks that need to be considered. Antonio Sánchez, AI Executive and Content Creator at Visit Benidorm, posed a thought-provoking question: “Does AI kill authenticity in destination marketing?” This question is increasingly shaping how smaller destinations with limited resources can effectively reach a broader audience while preserving the human touch that makes storytelling truly engaging.
Thinking about this question, Antonio compared two AI-generated images of Benidorm’s skyline, created from identical prompts, separated by a year. The earlier version, from his 2024 X. Design Week talk, showcased the imprecision and more abstract nature of early generative AI. In contrast, the 2025 version was almost photorealistic. This proves the rapid speed at which generative AI is developing. For a destination that welcomes 2.8 million travellers, this rapid development presents a strategic opportunity to enhance storytelling, rewarding experimentation now rather than waiting for the technology to fully mature.
Grasping Benidorm’s readiness to innovate and adopt AI necessitates exploring its beginnings. In the 1950s, Benidorm’s residents possessed what Antonio described as an 'innovative DNA'. As merchant sailors, they travelled abroad, absorbed new ideas and returned home determined to implement change. This historical pattern of seeking external knowledge and adapting to local contexts fostered a cultural predisposition towards experimentation long before AI became a topic of discussion.
Benidorm’s transformation from a fishing village to a city with an iconic skyline emerged from having a community that consistently sought a competitive advantage. By 2008, Benidorm had earned recognition as the world’s first smart destination. This recognition followed Segittur's five-pillar methodology: governance, innovation, technology, sustainability and accessibility. Benidorm’s 2025 European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism recognition from the European Commission further demonstrated the city's strategic focus on innovation.
Antonio presented a formula that reframed the entire conversation. Traditionally, creativity required talent, skills and resources. Learning video editing, photography, sound design and content production demanded training, while executing campaigns required budgets for agencies, location and equipment. This equation naturally favoured larger organisations with larger budgets and more extensive teams.
AI has fundamentally altered that equation. Now, technical skills can be replaced by AI tools, many of which are accessible without cost. This means that creativity can go further by just combining AI with talent. But the revised formula also contains a crucial caveat that talent remains irreplaceable. What becomes more important than ever is the human capacity for ideation, strategic thinking and authentic storytelling.
AI is not a substitute for creativity. Instead, it has democratised access to creative production tools whilst amplifying the importance of genuine creative vision. The destinations that succeed in this environment aren't those with the largest AI budgets, but those with the clearest creative vision and the courage to experiment.
Antonio showcased the necessity to prioritise creative direction when sharing the range of content Visit Benidorm has produced with the assistance of generative AI. The tools, many available through free subscriptions, enabled a lean team to produce content that would have required an agency retainer just years earlier:
Each tool solves a specific operational challenge. Together, they represent a comprehensive content production system accessible to teams of any size.
Perhaps the most significant insight Antonio shared was the fundamental shift in content discovery. While traditional SEO remains relevant, traditional methods are now insufficient. As Antonio observed, SEO is “not dead, but we need to adapt to the new era”. From this context, DMOs must now consider where they would appear when users ask AI tools for travel recommendations. This question now holds as much strategic weight as traditional search rankings.
DMOs must now optimise for inclusion in AI-generated recommendations, which requires different content strategies. This includes structured data that AI systems can interpret, with content specially formatted for AI consumption. This AI-optimised structure helps to direct answers to common traveller questions.
Visit Benidorm uses a few different tools to advance AI optimisation. The DMO uses Answer the Public to monitor the questions people ask LLMs about destinations, then adapts their content to address these queries directly. Antonio also highlighted how Visit Benidorm uses a ChatGPT agent for optimising content, helping to structure it specifically for AI consumption. Antonio shared how using this tool helped the DMO bring its content to the top of search results.
Visit Benidorm’s Christmas campaign presents an excellent example of the DMO's experimental approach. As an entirely AI-generated campaign, based on an idea from the DMO's marketing team, the concept was to showcase the city's diverse offer and connect it with the character of Santa Claus. Each video balanced entertainment with genuine destination storytelling. More significantly, the campaign shifted perception about Benidorm beyond sun and beaches.
The entire campaign was produced in under 24 hours. Yet, this short timeframe did not impact the engagement, with the first video in the micro-campaign accumulating over 75,000 views in only a couple of days. This success was due to its self-aware humour, warm storytelling and unexpected premise, such as Santa discovering natural parks and attempting to swim in December.
The workflow illustrated how AI tools combine in practice: human ideation for the concept, Perplexity for scripting, ChatGPT for imagery, ElevanLabs for voices and Meta AI for animation. As Antonio explained, it's important to “humanise your brand, but thanks to AI, now we can create this at scale”. Audiences respond to creativity and storytelling quality regardless of production method.
Antonio wasn’t afraid to confront the negative aspects of AI. When every destination uses identical tools, the outputs may become similar. This is particularly relevant given that the internet is already struggling under what he termed “AI slop” — the explosion of low-quality, formulaic content generated without strategic purpose or creative vision. Destinations that rely on AI without adding distinctive human value risk contributing to this homogenisation, ultimately undermining their own differentiation.
AI doesn’t kill authenticity when used with clarity about destination identity and confidence in creative vision. This mindset is what drives Visit Benidorm's methodology for experimentation, which consists of 3 principles:
The small team size of the DMO acts as a key advantage, enabling communication to flow easily and test ideas rapidly, with leadership fully supporting experimentation. Organisations that encourage experimentation, view failure as a learning opportunity and prioritise genuine storytelling are poised to succeed in a marketing landscape that will increasingly feature AI within the creative development process.
Essential to Visit Benidorm’s content strategy is a reconceptualisation of social media as “entertainment networks”, spaces where audiences expect to learn, discover and have fun. Traditional destination marketing treats social media as a simpler distribution channel. The entertainment network paradigm demands content that provides genuine value.
AI Executive and Content Creator
Visit Benidorm
Created for destinations around the world, this programme will provide the insight to help you become a sustainability leader within your organisation.
Designed to teach you how to master must-have tools and acquire essential skills to succeed in managing your destination or organisation, be ready to challenge all of your assumptions.
Designed to teach you how to master must-have tools and acquire essential skills to succeed in managing your destination or organisation, be ready to challenge all of your assumptions.
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