Back in 2017 we wrote an article exploring how changing SEO travel trends had seen many consumers move away from traditional travel agencies to find their dream destination online. Now in 2019 we’ve taken another look, exploring 4 travel trends to be aware of to help attract customers in this competitive market…
Holidayers are travelling further afield
With Brexit uncertainty continuing, fewer British holidaymakers have booked their next trip within the European Union. According to Thomas Cook, almost half of the holidays it sold up until the end of February 2019 were to non-EU destinations. The Post Office has also released figures showing increased demand for long-haul destination currencies such as the Japense yen and Indonesian rupiah.
AI and chatbots helping the travel industry
Integrating chatbots into a travel website can provide a seamless, streamlined and personalised experience for a user. Using AI and machine learning, chatbots can help travellers avoid trawling through lots of content and speed up the booking process – plus they can run 24/7. If you don’t already have a chatbot strategy in place, could it be worth implementing one for the future?
TripAdvisor is no longer the number one travel website
Booking.com has overtaken TripAdvisor to be the world’s most popular accommodation reservation and review site. With the average site visit duration being over 7 minutes (compared to TripAdvisors’ 3 minutes), Booking.com has an estimated 40,000,000 unique monthly visitors to its site. The website manages to get users from search to book in a minimum amount of time thanks to its ‘urgent’ style of messaging and easy to use systems.
Social media strategies are still important
Creating a targeted social media strategy on the right social platforms for your audience is still effective in 2019 with a recent survey by CMO predicting social media spend within marketing budgets is expected to increase 128% to 21.4% in the next five years. For the travel and leisure industry, social platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest are especially popular. Why not see how regularly posting could help your business with brand awareness and lead generation?
If you need any advice on any of our trends touched upon get in touch – we’d love to help! As always, it’s still important to regularly check and monitor your website data to ensure you’re aware of how you’re attracting visitors and where they are spending their time on your website. And if you think we’ve missed an important travel trend or would like to see one explored more, let us know!
