Travel content on social media is booming. Influencers are living their best lives across our feeds, and the inspiration is genuinely endless. And the moment you book a trip? The algorithm knows. Suddenly your feed is flooded with perfectly tailored recommendations – hidden beaches, local restaurants, unmissable viewpoints

In many ways, it’s a real positive. Travellers uncover places they may never have found otherwise, and small local businesses benefit from organic, authentic marketing they couldn’t afford to buy.

But there’s a tension here. When everyone discovers the same “hidden” gem, it stops being hidden. The joy of stumbling upon something – that small, personal experience – is gone. We’ve all seen it: huge queues of visitors who spotted something on TikTok or Instagram and want their version of that moment. Take Japan for example – the Mount Fuji Lawson has become a key photo spot, and restaurants that were once local secrets now involve hour-long waits. The uniqueness is lost – if everyone’s doing it, the charm fades.

Take Race Across the World as an example – contestants with no phones, no ability to research anything in advance, and yet they consistently come back with the kind of stories you actually want to hear, and memories that last a lifetime.

For natural spaces, the stakes are even higher. Virality often means overcrowding, and this means real damage – litter, erosion, pollution. The Thai beach initially made famous by a Hollywood film then shared across social media, before subsequently closing to tourists is a prime example of this.

So what’s the answer? This isn’t going away – if anything, AI makes it even easier, pulling every hidden gem into a detailed itinerary without the hours of scrolling. But maybe it could also be the solution. Could smarter algorithms spread the load – pointing different travellers toward different places, rather than funnelling everyone to the same spot? Could they suggest a region rather than a specific restaurant or viewpoint, and leave a bit of the discovery to you?