Q3 2025 Destination Website Performance: Organic Softens, LLM Traffic Grows, Discovery Diversifies

By: Kyle Huff

| Updated Nov 17, 2025

Building on Tempest’s Q1 and Q2 analyses of destination website performance, our Q3 review extends the year-long study of how travelers discover and engage with DMO websites.

As traveler behavior evolves, pathways into destination sites are shifting. We’re seeing changes in how audiences arrive and how deeply they interact, with results varying by market and focus. Some destinations posted standout gains, while the broader landscape points to fewer visits and lighter interaction than a year ago.

Here are Tempest’s key takeaways from the Q3 analysis.

1. Organic traffic is cooling on average, but strong outliers remain

Organic remains a leading acquisition channel for most destination websites, even as volumes soften. For the destination websites analyzed, average organic sessions declined –5.50% YoY. That trend hides a wide spread of outcomes, however. Several destinations produced large organic gains in Q3, some as high as +85% YoY.

Of the nearly 80 destination websites reviewed, only 39% reported YoY organic traffic gains. Among those gaining sites, the average total quarterly sessions were ~202,000, while destinations with YoY losses averaged ~430,000. This suggests larger sites with more content covering a broad range of topics are more susceptible to today’s SERP changes, while smaller sites are less affected (for now).

AI-shaped SERPs and in-engine answers are compressing the pool of available organic clicks, so total visit opportunities are down. When organic visitors arrive, they engage deeply. In Q3, organic held the highest average engagement rate at 72%, which reinforces organic as the channel that most often matches the traveler’s moment.

Key Takeaways

Despite possible losses, do not abandon organic search as a primary discovery channel. Refine your approach so the clicks you do win create clear value.

Match intent and semantics. Build and refresh content that answers specific traveler questions at each planning stage. Use plain language, logical headings, FAQs, and internal links that make topic relationships obvious to people and machines.
Focus on signature experience depth. Create topical clusters around defensible themes (neighborhoods, trails, seasonal events). Depth improves visibility across Google’s query fan-out and increases the odds of LLM citation.
Make pages easy to scan and act on. Lead with concise summaries, short paragraphs, and clear subheads. Use descriptive links and contextual “next steps” to extend the session and keep travelers exploring the destination.
Keep seasonal content sharp. Launch and update timely collections (for example, fall festivals or winter getaways) with clear itineraries and relevant partner callouts to capture in-market intent quickly.

ChatGPT drove the majority of LLM sessions to destination websites in Q3 2025 (94%).

2. LLM traffic is still small, growing quickly, and highly engaged

Answer engines are emerging as a recognizable source of quality visits. LLM referrals reached 0.30% of all traffic in Q3 (up from 0.19% in Q2). While still under one percent, the growth is meaningful and concentrated: ChatGPT drives ~94% of LLM visits to DMO sites, with Perplexity at only ~3%. Engagement climbed as well, with LLM visitors averaging a 70% engagement rate in Q3 (up from 67% in Q2), second only to organic.

LLM users often arrive after consuming a synthesized answer, which means they tend to be more intentional and closer to action. The current share is small, but the trajectory favors destinations with clear, citable content and strong authority on core experiences.

Key Takeaways

Do not treat LLMs as a replacement for search. Treat them as an adjacent discovery surface and refine content for citation and clarity.

Write for answers, not just rankings. Add concise “What to know,” “How to get there,” and “Best time to visit” blocks that can be lifted verbatim.
Use schema consistently. Mark up events, attractions, FAQs, and organization details to improve machine understanding and citation accuracy.
Strengthen authority beyond your website. Build credible signals on Reddit, TikTok, forums, and with publisher partners so models and users recognize your brand as a trusted source.
Reinforce topical authority. Expand clusters around signature experiences with practical details, maps, FAQs, and safety/access notes that LLMs and travelers value.

3. Channel mix is leveling as paid retreats and organic share dips

Destination website discovery is spreading across more surfaces. Paid sessions fell from an average 62% of sessions in Q2 to 21% in Q3, while organic’s share eased to 46% (from 49% in Q2 and 52% in Q1), its lowest point this year. The net effect is a more balanced mix where social, publisher content, and answer engines all play a larger role before a traveler lands on a DMO site.

This shift does not diminish the importance of search. It means performance management should reflect a portfolio of channels rather than a single hero source, and on-site experiences should help each visit accomplish more.

Key Takeaways

Measure the whole portfolio. Set goals and dashboards that attribute value across Organic, LLM, Social, Referral, and Paid so you can see how discovery paths work together.
Sustain always-on visibility. Keep evergreen search and social content active around signature experiences, then layer seasonal pushes to capture demand spikes.
Prioritize clarity over volume. If paid volume eases, make each visit count with clear page structure, prominent next steps, and relevant partner connections that extend the session.
Watch channel mix by audience segment. Break out new vs returning, in-market vs early inspiration, and device to tune where you invest and which stories you surface first.

Yes, Chef.

4. Fewer visits than last year, so make every session count

The macro picture points to lighter traffic overall. Total sessions are down -24% vs Q3 2024, and organic gains are down -32% vs Q3 2024. 38% of all destinations analyzed reported losses in total website visits YoY.

With fewer visits entering the funnel, the value of each session increases. The clicks you do earn carry more weight for downstream actions and for the signals that sustain visibility. Channels that still deliver high engagement — notably organic (72% engagement rate) and LLM (70% engagement rate) — show that quality remains even as quantity declines. The job now is to squeeze more meaning from every visit by improving clarity, speed, and measurement so you can prove impact and spot opportunities faster.

Key Takeaways

Design for clarity and momentum. Structure pages for quick understanding: clear headings, short paragraphs, answer-first summaries, and descriptive links. Keep the path simple and relevant with contextual “next steps” and thoughtfully chosen related content that aligns with search intent.
Tighten GA4 “key event” tagging. Audit your setup so key events reflect true conversions or meaningful actions (e.g., partner referral, outbound click to partner, visitor guide request, form submission, itinerary save; exact events will vary by site). Remove key event status from low-value interactions such as broad timers, auto-scroll, or generic scroll depth to avoid inflating Engagement Rate, while still collecting them as standard events for analysis.
Report by intent and channel. Break out Engagement Rate, Engaged Sessions, Average Engagement Time, and key events by Organic, LLM, Paid, Referral to see where high-intent visits originate and how they behave.
Refresh the pages that matter most. Keep top entry pages current with practical details and timely updates. Small relevance gains on high-traffic surfaces compound quickly when every visit counts.

What DMOs should do next

Make visibility a KPI. Track rankings, traffic, and LLM / AI Overview citations and clicks in the same dashboard.
Align to intent. Structure content for clear questions and answers, with semantic headings, FAQs, and internal links that show relationships.
Build authority where you’re unique. Grow experience-led topic clusters (neighborhoods, trails, seasonal events) that feed both search and LLM answers.
Earn authority beyond your site. Invest in Reddit, TikTok, forums, and publisher partners so users and AI systems recognize your organization as a credible source of destination information.
Measure real impact. Use tools such as Tourism Economics’ Website Impact Calculator to translate website performance into visits and economic value.
Optimize for quality over volume. Fewer visits mean each session must do more: keep paths simple, highlight next steps, and report engagement by channel and page type.

Need help navigating these constant changes?

Tempest’s Growth Marketing team can benchmark your performance, assess answer-engine visibility, and build experience-led content strategies that grow engagement across channels.