When the Photo Lies, the Booking Dies: Authenticity in the Age of AI | Sarah Colgate
How many photos do you actually have of your experience?
Real ones.
Recent ones.
Photos that show a real guest, on a real day, having the time of their life.
Most operators have a handful.
The same hero shot from three years ago. A few staff photos that are a bit dark. And then they wonder why their socials are flat and their bookings still come through Viator.
I ran Aquaduck on the Gold Coast and we needed content constantly. Every week. New seasons, new groups, new weather, new reasons for someone to book. The hunger for fresh photos and videos never stops in this industry.
You are never done, so create a system that works for you.
Let me tell you what I learnt at Arival in Brisbane this year, sitting in the session on creators and social commerce. Because the way operators get content has changed and the operators who understand it are turning that content straight into direct bookings.
The problem is not that you need more content
The problem is where your content sends people.
Here is what is happening across Australia and New Zealand right now.
OTAs are sitting at 31% of bookings, up from 24% in 2023.
Operator websites have dropped to 28%.
And 41% of operators named direct bookings as their top priority for 2026.
Read that again.
More of us want direct bookings.
Fewer of us are getting them through our own websites. Something is not adding up.
Part of the answer is content. Not more of it for the sake of it. The right content, in the right place, doing a job.
A creator on board your tour, posting an honest reel of the day, reaches people your brand account never will. That is the bit most operators miss.
Your business account does not show up in social search the way a real person does.
People do not search "best whale watching Gold Coast" and stop on a company page. They stop on a creator they trust.
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What a creator actually does for you
When I talk about creators I do not mean a mega celebrity with a million followers and a fee to match.
The spectrum now runs from huge stars all the way down to emerging creators with a few thousand engaged locals.
Brands are leaning into those emerging creators and not just to save money. Smaller creators often have warmer, more loyal audiences.
A good creator gives you three things.
First, content you can use for months. Reels, photos, short form videos for your own socials and your website.
Second, reach into audiences who would never find your brand account on their own.
Third, this is the one operators forget, trust. Every step of a creator's video shows the real experience. The booking, the arrival, the guide, the moment. That authenticity is the whole point. You cannot fake it and you should not try.
I saw an example at Arival that stuck with me. Max Tours in Las Vegas works with creators weekly. Fifty-two pieces of content a year, produced by people who are not on staff. Imagine having that much real, fresh, usable content rolling in every single week. A dream come true for any operator.
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How to pay them and why you must
I have to say this part plainly.
Pay your creators properly.
There are a few models that work. You can pay a flat fee, give them a free ticket and then add a bonus based on views. That rewards the content that actually performs. You can bring creators on board your regular tours, let them film and post it as a collaborator so the reel lands on both accounts. Then you can accept or decline the collab, which ensures you are getting the content you want and need.
Also the affiliate model of old is coming back too. A 5% promo code, tracked, so the creator earns when their audience books. That ties their reward directly to your bookings, which is exactly where you want it.
Whatever you choose, pay them for lifelong usage of the content. If you want to keep using that reel on your website in two years, you need the rights to it now. That means a contract. A real one. This is the bit operators skip and regret.
Do the right thing by the people making your content. Authenticity comes from respect and your audience knows when it is missing.
Where this turns into bookings
Content is lovely.
Bookings pay the bills.
So you have to close the loop. Put the booking information inside the reel itself. Talk about the tour in the video. When someone comments, reply instantly with a DM and the itinerary. Many creators set up an auto reply for exactly this, so a comment turns into a conversation turns into a booking while the person is still excited.
Watch your saves and shares, not just your likes.
A save means someone is planning to come back and book. A share means they are telling a mate. Those are the numbers that move bookings.
And here is the part you cannot skip.
Track it. Put a question on your booking form. Ask how they heard about you. Tag the bookings that came from a creator. If you do not measure it, you will never know which creators are worth keeping and which were just a nice day out.
What to do in the next 30 minutes
Do not run off and sign a mega influencer this afternoon.
Start small and start tracked.
Sit down and write your creator plan. One page. Who is your customer, what feeling are they actually buying and which two or three emerging creators in your area reach those people.
Decide your model, fee plus bonus or collab post or affiliate code. Write down where the content will live, your socials and your website. And decide the one number you will track on your booking form.
That is your strategy. Not a celebrity. A plan.
For me, the operators who win the next few years will be the ones who treat content as a booking tool, not a vanity project. You already know you need more photos. Now you know how to get them and how to turn them into direct sales.
Want to know where your business is leaking bookings to agents and where your direct channel is strong enough to take more weight?
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