When a foreign tourist searches Google for a trip to Chile, Chilean websites hold only 14.7% of the top three results. When they ask an artificial intelligence, 44% of the companies it recommends are Chilean: three times more. That is the main finding of the study Tourism to Chile: who wins on Google and who AI recommends, published on 20 October 2026 by ESBUENISIMO LINKS. It analysed 100 tourism searches made from Brazil, Argentina, the UK, Germany and France, each in its own language, and 400 answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude.
The study also measured demand: 339 keywords about travelling to Chile, with Google Ads search volume between October 2025 and September 2026. The result shows that each country searches for a different Chile.
What foreign tourists from each country search for
| Country | Top topic | Second | Searches a month | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | Chile in general (21.5%) | Atacama (17.9%) | 512,510 | July |
| Argentina | Beaches and coast (19.4%) | Torres del Paine and Patagonia (18.5%) | 235,630 | January |
| Germany | Easter Island (30.5%) | Torres del Paine and Patagonia (20.2%) | 102,130 | November |
| United Kingdom | Easter Island (45.7%) | Torres del Paine and Patagonia (16.9%) | 99,400 | April |
| France | Beaches and coast (27.0%) | Torres del Paine and Patagonia (25.1%) | 49,400 | January |
Source: ESBUENISIMO LINKS, with Google Ads data via DataForSEO. Monthly average from October 2025 to September 2026. Ambiguous keywords were excluded, such as "rapa nui" in Argentina, which is also the name of a chocolate shop in Bariloche.
Brazil is by far the market that searches the most: more than half a million searches a month, peaking in July, when Brazilians travel to see snow. After general searches about Chile, what interests them most is the Atacama Desert ("deserto do atacama" adds up to 74,000 monthly searches) and snow: "farellones" and "valle nevado" together exceed 60,000. See our guide to every ski resort in Chile and what to do in San Pedro de Atacama.
Argentina searches for beaches, Patagonia and something no other country does: how to cross the border and what to buy. "Paso Cristo Redentor" gets 14,800 searches a month and "dólar en Chile", 9,900. You can follow the pass status in our news, such as the Cristo Redentor pass opening 24 hours after the snowfall.
In the UK and Germany, Easter Island clearly leads: "easter island" adds up to 33,100 monthly searches in the UK and "osterinsel", 27,100 in Germany. France mostly searches for the coast, led by Valparaíso (9,900 searches a month), and Patagonia. For the island, see what to know before travelling to Easter Island, and for the south, our first-time guide to Chilean Patagonia.
The highest-volume searches about travelling to Chile in each country
| Country | 1st search | 2nd search | 3rd search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | deserto do atacama (74,000) | santiago do chile (49,500) | ilha de pascoa (40,500) |
| Argentina | santiago de chile (18,100) | torres del paine (14,800) | isla de pascua (14,800) |
| United Kingdom | easter island (33,100) | atacama desert (12,100) | moai easter island (8,100) |
| Germany | osterinsel (27,100) | atacama wüste (14,800) | santiago de chile (12,100) |
| France | valparaiso (9,900) | torres del paine (4,400) | santiago du chili (4,400) |
Source: ESBUENISIMO LINKS, with Google Ads data via DataForSEO. Average monthly searches on each country's Google.
Does your hotel, tour operator or winery want to reach foreign tourists who are planning their trip to Chile?
See advertising formatsWhat foreign tourists see on Google
Google's top 3 is dominated by Wikipedia (it appears in 24 of the 100 searches), TripAdvisor (23), Chile Travel, Chile's official tourism website (10), and YouTube (10). But the most striking figure is how much weight sites from the traveller's own country carry: blogs, agencies and media in their language.
| Traveller's country | Chilean sites in Google top 3 | Sites from the traveller's country | Chilean companies named by AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 33.3% | 15.0% | 50.1% |
| United Kingdom | 10.0% | 20.0% | 47.0% |
| France | 8.3% | 40.0% | 44.0% |
| Brazil | 11.7% | 43.3% | 43.6% |
| Germany | 10.0% | 51.7% | 36.2% |
| Total | 14.7% | 34.0% | 44.0% |
Source: ESBUENISIMO LINKS study, 20 October 2026. Each site's country is where the company is based; for multinational platforms, that of the parent company.
In Germany, more than half of the top 3 (51.7%) are German sites, and in Brazil 43.3% are Brazilian. Chilean sites do best in Argentina, where people search in Spanish (33.3% of the top 3), and worst in France (8.3%).
What artificial intelligence recommends to foreign tourists
With AI the picture changes. Instead of encyclopedias and social media, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude answer with specific tour operators, hotels, airlines and wineries. The most named were:
- Global platforms: TripAdvisor (named in 62 of the 100 searches), Booking.com (56), GetYourGuide (55) and Viator (50).
- Chilean: Chile Travel (59), LATAM Airlines (31), Sernatur (29), Explora (27), CONAF (13) and Concha y Toro (10).
But AI mostly reads foreign sources: only 26.3% of the sites it cites as sources are Chilean. And ranking high on Google does not guarantee showing up in AI: only 24.3% of the top-3 sites were named by any of the four AI models for the same search.
What it means if you are planning a trip to Chile
- Cross-check your sources. Google shows many blogs from your own country and AI recommends specific companies. Also check official sources, such as Chile Travel and CONAF, which manages bookings for parks like Torres del Paine.
- Ask by name and date. AI answers change from day to day. Before paying, confirm prices and availability on the recommended company's website.
- Plan around the season. Brazilians search for snow in July, Argentines for beaches in January and Britons for Easter Island in March and April: these are the peak-demand dates. See how foreign tourist arrivals in Chile by country change through the year.
Does your tourism brand want to show up when Brazilians, Argentines and Europeans search for how to travel to Chile?
See advertising formatsHow the study was done
ESBUENISIMO LINKS picked the 20 highest-volume searches in each country, recorded the organic top 3 on the local Google (google.com.br, google.com.ar, google.co.uk, google.de and google.fr) on 20 October 2026, and asked ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, with web search, the same question as a traveller from that country would. It then classified every site and company by type and country of origin. The full dataset can be downloaded from the study page.
Frequently asked questions
What do foreign tourists search for to travel to Chile?
It depends on the country: Brazil searches for Atacama, snow and Santiago; Argentina for beaches, Patagonia and crossing the Andes; the UK and Germany for Easter Island; and France for the coast and Patagonia.
Which country searches the most about travelling to Chile?
Brazil, with 512,510 searches a month across the 339 keywords measured, more than twice Argentina (235,630).
What does AI recommend for travelling to Chile?
Mainly platforms such as TripAdvisor, Booking.com, GetYourGuide and Viator, and the official Chile Travel website. 44% of the companies it names are Chilean, such as LATAM, Explora, Sernatur and Concha y Toro.
How to cite this data
Viajando Chile (2026). "What foreign tourists search for to travel to Chile, and what AI recommends to them", with data from the ESBUENISIMO LINKS study. https://viajandochile.com/en/news/what-foreign-tourists-search-to-travel-to-chile-google-vs-ai
