Industry · Travel
Build a travel and attractions directory and run it from your own AI
A travel directory helps people plan trips: attractions, campgrounds, tours and things to do by destination. We run one ourselves: Aquariums List covers every open public aquarium in the US we could verify, researched from official sources with the same MCP tools you get. It’s the directory on our live demo.
Built on Directories.ai: Aquariums List
Aquariums List (directories.ai/aquariumslist) was researched state by state from each aquarium’s official site, with phones and emails left blank when no source showed them. It was imported as drafts into six type categories, then scored and checked for duplicates before publishing. Closed aquariums were left out.
Directories people build in travel
Each of these runs on the same platform. Pick one audience and one area to start; categories and location fields let you widen later.
- Aquariums, zoos and science centers
- RV parks and campgrounds
- Tours and activities by destination
- Family attractions by state
A starting category structure
Categories become your browse pages and your search landing pages, so give each one a unique intro and FAQs.
- By attraction type
- By state
- Indoor or outdoor
- Good for kids
- Open year-round
Where the listings come from
Attraction lists are small enough to research directly: your AI assistant reads official sites and queues each one. Public sources such as recreation.gov cover federal campgrounds, and business searches cover private parks and tour operators.
Contact details are only filled in from a real source, never guessed.
How a directory like this makes money
Directories.ai charges a flat price per directory and takes no cut of what you earn.
- Ticket and tour affiliate links
- Display ads on destination pages
- Featured placement for private campgrounds and tour operators
Launch plan
- 1
Create the directory and categories
Describe the niche to your AI assistant and let it set up the category tree. The launch-directory playbook walks through the rest.
create_categoryget_playbook - 2
Populate it with real businesses
Start with the free open-data source, or a Google Business Profile source on your own key, and import by search term and city. Imports land as drafts and never duplicate a business already listed. Records you already hold go in with ingest_listings.
list_listing_sourcesestimate_listing_importstart_listing_importingest_listings - 3
Check quality before publishing
Score every listing, merge duplicates and fix the weakest entries first, then publish in one step.
score_listingsfind_duplicate_listingsset_listings_status - 4
Invite businesses to claim
Send claim invites in daily batches with follow-ups, so owners keep their own details current.
list_claim_outreachinvite_listing_claim
Try asking your assistant
- “Research every public aquarium in New England from official sites and queue them as drafts”
- “Write a “best family attractions in {state}” guide for each state category”
- “List attractions with no hours and look them up on their official sites”
Frequently asked questions
Can I see a live example?
Yes. The live demo at directories.ai/demo shows Aquariums List and the Claude conversation that published it.
How do I handle seasonal places?
Use a custom field or category for seasonal hours, and note closures on the listing.
Keep reading
Ready to run your directory with AI?
MCP access is included on the Growth plan. Pay per directory, cancel any time.