The daily life of any marketing professional working in the travel and tourism industry is about trying to get travelers to book their next getaway, flight or accommodation through their product or service.
No matter what kind of business you run, the digital revolution has turned it all upside down, regardless of size, type or sector. This is a situation that Google has used to analyze user data and more than 300,000 tourism related searches.
Thanks to this process, the analysis has concluded that in recent years, digital travelers have gone through a series of changes when it comes to organizing, planning, buying and even enjoying their travels, leisure trips and events; and according to Google, there are three instances where all parties in the travel sector can take advantage of this transformation.
Wide offer
Google has detected that for many of these digital travelers, the tourist scene can be overwhelming. This means that when booking a trip, users confess that it is difficult for them to choose among all the alternatives.
There are suggestions everywhere: in social media, Internet ads, from our relatives and acquaintances, magazines... It all makes the decision much more complicated than in the past, when it was enough to go to a travel agency and choose between the wide range of discounted travel packages.
But now there are so many things to consider that some travelers suffer what psychologists call ‘the paradox of choice’, meaning that the more options, the more doubts one may have about where to go and how.
For hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and other businesses in the industry, it is essential to stay in the mind of the tourist at this time and, through technology, send ‘signals’ to the client that you are what they look for at every moment.
Multi-device
This has been defined as the omnichannel experience and it has gained importance thanks to digitalization. It is about getting users to have a fast, intuitive and, in some way, continuous experience either through a mobile, PC or other devices. In fact, Google data reveals that multi-device journeys last longer than those that are done from a single device.
Still, one must keep in mind that searches from mobile devices are more important today than ever, and companies that encourage, personalize and optimize this type of experience will be the ones that succeed in the future.
First step, the search
And speaking of searches, the Google report has brought up that for the vast majority of digital travelers, it is precisely that previous research what helps them make a decision. That is, as the Internet giant points out, “purchase tours that had begun with a search resulted in a more immediate purchase than those that had started through an online travel agency website”.