Posted on June 6, 2016 by Media Culture
Travel Guide to Destination Marketing:
Infographic & Insights on the Latest Trends
With the summer travel season on the cusp of being in full swing, and the total number of international travelers growing year after year, sometimes it seems like travel or destination marketing is everywhere we look. We decided to take a look at travel activities and habits across the globe, including which destination marketing trends and vehicles are most prevalent in the travel industry today.
What did we learn? A lot! We found out that today’s travelers no longer rely on just one or two channels of accessible information when planning a trip. Instead, today’s informed traveler relies heavily on web-based information to plan and book his or her trip. In fact, more than half of those surveyed disclosed that a destination viewed via social media was an inspiration for their vacation, suggesting that, when it comes to destination marketing trends, traditional “word of mouth advertising” has been replaced to a large degree by shared imagery.
Want to know more about the motivations and trends of today’s world travelers? Our Travel Guide to Destination Marketing infographic, below, takes a look at the world of travel marketing and how it affects travelers and traveling worldwide.
Some additional key insights on destination marketing include:
- When seeking information on travel and/or to book travel, most travelers turn to a variety of channels and sources, including review sites, social media and online travel services.
- Top ways to book travel for those surveyed were online via computer or via smartphone.
- Travelers’ motivations for travel vary, and can differ by gender. Top reasons for travel include: “relaxation,” “get away from home” and “experience different cultures.”
- When it comes to travel destinations, the most popular were: France, USA, Spain, China and Italy.
- At the top of the list for television advertisers for (2015 data) were: Southwest Airlines, Trivago.com, Disney, Royal Caribbean and Expedia.com.
- Destination marketing trends of 2015 showed that digital ad spending by device were: Desktop/laptop $28B and Mobile (smartphone and/or tablet) at $31.6B.