iCrossing | Travel Behavior And Travel Search Trends 2009

Travel Behavior & Travel Search Trends For the remaining months of 2009

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Financial climate - UK Holiday & Breaks

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*Travel Mole (Dec 1st) http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1133234.php?news_cat=&pagename=searchresult

Predictions said in 2009:• Consumers will move towards “one big holiday” a year.• There will be a reduction in “short breaks” and “city breaks” as a result.

What actually happened:• Post Christmas numbers were lower than last year suggesting economical climate

was impacting on travel industry searches• During March ‘short breaks’ and ‘city breaks’ searches increased against seasonal

trend suggesting people confident in financial situation for a short break holiday.

Predictions have not really rung true

Predictions have not really rung true

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International Financial Climate


• UK search volume was higher as people did more searches looking for better prices/deals to get more value for money

• Australian search volumes were down which can be attributed to economic uncertainty

• Germany had higher search volumes in 2009 compared to previous years which is likely to be due to the Strong Euro

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Financial climate – Deals


• Travel deal searches are higher in 2009 compared to 2008 as people are looking for offers to gain more value for their money

• People are looking to book their bigger family holiday later on in the year due to job insecurity

• We expect May to be a big travel booking period

• Recommendations are to push any offers and deals

Number of searches are up in 2009

Number of searches are up in 2009 D

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UK - Business vs. Leisure


• ‘Conference hotel’ is has considerable lower search volume compared to previous years

• ‘Wedding hotel’ is at similar search volume to previous years

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Whilst trends are down for both business and leisure hotels compared to previous years, ‘beach hotel’ recovers a little towards the end of the first quarter of the year

AU - Business vs. Leisure


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• Both ‘Wedding hotel’ and ‘Conference hotel’ is at similar search volume to previous years

Whilst trends are down for both business and leisure hotels compared to previous years, ‘beach hotel’ recovers a little towards the end of the first quarter of the year suggesting that people are starting to think about booking their summer holidays

DE - Business vs. Leisure


•‘Business hotel’ was consistent with 2008 at the start of the year but volumes have dropped slightly since mid March

• ‘Beach hotel’ is at similar search volume to previous years

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UK Travel Trends


• Research indicates that people wouldn’t abandon going away on holiday but instead try to cut costs, either through holidaying in the UK or looking for last minute deals.

• It also showed that twice as many Britons were planning to spend their holidays in the UK this year and 60% were unwilling to give up holidays.

• The last two summers were two of the wettest in Britain since records began, so although there have been increases in searches for UK holidays, people still appear to be looking abroad where better weather is guaranteed.

• In 2009, YTD searches relating to holidays in Turkey and Croatia search query growth for the more traditional British holiday destinations within the Eurozone has been relatively modest. This is not surprising considering the weakening pound. In the last 6 months, the value of the pound has fallen 11% against the euro.

• However UK consumers are still not aware how weak the UK pound has become and how little they will be able to get for their holiday budgets. Looking forward to 2010 even more UK consumers will look to holiday either further outside the Eurozone or travel within the UK

Australia Travel Trends


• Fewer visitors due to the global credit crunch has meant tourism companies are working harder and smarter to survive, employing new strategies to stay profitable

• Smaller businesses with less investment and commitment are struggling to survive with lower visitor number

• Forecasts range from 4%-15% drops in the number of inbound tourists to Australia in 2009

• The price of holidays and travel is said to have fallen significantly in recent months. Weak demand has meant tour operators and agents have introduced heavy discounts – however these cannot be sustained over long periods of time.

• Demand has been weak because consumers have cut discretionary spending

• Airline companies have been severely hit by the economic crisis and are making cutbacks. This will have a knock on affect to the Australian travel industry as a whole.

• Consumers finding driving across Australia to be more cost effective than flying.

• However short stay, business travel is still required and so seems relatively unaffected

• Tourists are buying directly from operators at the last minute to take advantage of special prices


• Research suggests German tourists are going to be taking shorter trips and staying closer to home

• Roughly 50% questioned are unhappy with German holiday operators. Avoiding packages and booking flight only and arranging hotel separately. Not many people are going away more than once a year

• The number of business travelers visiting Germany has been going up continuously over the past few years

• Most people are still planning for a summer holiday in 2009 - 57% plan to go away with 3/4 of the people planning a holiday plan to spend more than they did last year - could be due to the strength of the euro

• Less people are going during the cold seasons to make sure they can get away during the summer. The are also making sure they book these trips in advance

• Spa holidays are becoming more popular within the German travel market

• More people this summer are going to be looking for all inclusive deals

German Travel Trends

Fastest Growing Destinations


1. Bangkok, Thailand2. Los Angeles, USA3. Porto, Portugal4. Dalaman, Turkey5. Orlando, USA6. Istanbul, Turkey7. Sharm El Sheik, Egypt8. Bodrum, Turkey9. Burgas, Bulgaria10. Oslo, Norway

*SkyScanner (May 11th) http://news.skyscanner.net/articles/2009/05/002370-summer-travel-trends-winners-and-losers-of-british-tourist-traffic.html

1. Spain2.Turkey 3.Italy4.Portugal5.Greece 6.Tunisia 7.Egypt 8.Germany internal9.USA10.Caribbean

1. Paris, France2. New York, USA3. Florence, Italy4. London, UK5. Sydney, Australia6. Prague, Czech Republic7. Barcelona, Spain8. Bangkok, Thailand9. Tokyo, Japan10. Dublin, Ireland

Internal Travel Focus


People are looking to travel more within their own countries. This is mainly due to:

•Increased fuel prices and travel costs

•Poor economic climates

“There will be a ‘cocooning’ effect, with both international and domestic consumers less inclined to travel to destinations far from home”

Travel & Swine Flu


• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8043527.stm

• Demand for long-haul holidays has held up well despite the swine flu outbreak and the recession, says Europe's biggest travel firm, TUI Travel.

• Long-haul bookings in the UK were up 2% in the past two weeks from a year ago.

• It said customers were switching from Mexico to destinations such as Jamaica, Egypt and the Dominican Republic.

• Separately on Monday, Thomson and First Choice Holidays said they had cancelled all outbound flights operating to the Mexican resorts of Cancun and Cozumel until 18 May.

• It said that about 250 of the 2,500 customers that were in Mexico at the time of the swine flu outbreak accepted its offer to be flown home early.


#1 Internet, Internet, Internet

• The internet as an information and booking medium will play a bigger role than previous years

#2 Mobile Services

• For years we have been talking about the trend for location based services and 2009 is the year this is going to hit mobile search - concierge blogs, SMS marketing, what's on in your area

#3 Cross Platform Content

• As hardware becomes smaller, software needs to become cross-platform compatible - take a picture, upload to flickr with pre set geo targeting

#4 Social Software

• More people will start blogging, videos, wiki while on holiday talking about their experiences

#5 Social Marketing

• People will be making decisions based on social network information - get your voice out there. People are more likely to book a holiday if they can read reviews from other travellers

#6 Maps

• Open street map is going to change the way maps are sold to tourists. some business models will be out dated and need to change

#7 Performance Marketing

• Companies are going to need to assess all marketing activities from an ROI perspective, SEO and SEM are just the tip of the ice berg - you need to do more than just that

Top Trends for Digital Tourism

Outlook for 2010

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Looking Forward: 2010 Predictions

• In market internal travel is key – UK, AU & DE

• Deals & Added value will be highly sought for – UK, AU & DE

• Increasing flight prices will continue to have a negative impact on the travel industry.

• UK consumers looking outside of Eurozone

• DE top destinations are within the Eurozone

• 09/10 winter holidays will be down – UK & DE

• Decrease in frequency for business travel but still a requirement – UK, AU & DE

• Hotel Wedding market is unaffected and should become part of 2010 focus – UK, AU & DE