Travel marketing—how to reach consumers planning summer vacations

School is out and the days are longer and hotter—the time when Americans’ thoughts turn to getting out of Dodge. But how to reach potential travelers and turn them into actual customers? When they contemplate escapes, Americans who regularly travel or are planning a trip for personal reasons—often vacation—keep three primary considerations in mind, according to a recent Harris Poll survey: cost (64%), destination (60%) and weather (50%). No other factor even cracked 40%. Also not surprising: The number of travelers increases with income (46% of those making less than $50,000 travel versus 81% of those making $100,000 or more) and educational achievement (56% of Americans with a high school diploma or less take personal trips versus 79% of those who have a bachelor’s degree or higher). Bad news, marketers: American travelers are unmoved by advertising, with only 7% citing it as a factor influencing travel destination decisions—dead last among the 15 we tested. Also failing to move the needle: reviews from other travelers (21%) and how destinations look in movies and articles (13%). To cap it off, nearly two-thirds of Americans who take at least one trip per year or are planning a trip doubt that online travel content (in blogs and social media, for example) reflects reality. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs However, there are three other strategies that catch busy travelers’ eyes. Leverage AI to make planning frictionless The good news is that most travelers (81%) enjoy travel planning. That said, more than 2 in 5 Americans who travel regularly or are planning a trip say that planning is tiresome (42%). And three-quarters (76%) said that they would travel more if someone else did the planning. A generation ago, travel agents filled that role: setting itineraries, booking accommodations, and so forth. But when the internet democratized travel, empowering consumers to simply and easily make their own plans, it hollowed out the profession. The number of such jobs dropped by 70% between 2000 and 2021, according to one study. But what the march of technology takes away it can also recreate—in this case in the form of generative artificial intelligence. AI travel-planning apps and platforms are proliferating and figure to become only more ubiquitous as technology continues to remake how we live our lives. AI also has the potential to unlock the portion of potential travelers deterred by the idea of having to make arrangements themselves. Plan for parents One subgroup that might especially benefit from AI travel agents is parents with school-aged and younger children who travel at least once a year. While they are more likely than those without kids of that age to travel (80% vs. 63%) they are also markedly more likely to report that planning a trip is tiring (48% vs. 39%)—and that they would travel more if someone else did the planning (60% vs. 48%). It's true—young children tend to add a (not unwelcome) layer of stress to everything, especially the complications of trip planning. That may be why parents of school-age kids or younger are more likely than those who don’t have them to prefer to travel to familiar places rather than explore new locales (62% vs. 49%). But these parents also understand better than most the importance of travel. They were more likely to say that travel is a higher priority post-pandemic (20%) than either the general population (14%) or those who do not have school-aged children (12%). This is a group, in other words, inclined to travel but for whom some obstacles still inhibit them at least somewhat. Mind the gender and generation gaps Different appeals work better with different groups, especially depending on age and gender. Female travelers, for example, tend to be more adventurous about destinations. Most women (53%) disagree that familiar locations are more appealing than new places. In comparison, 60% of men prefer known destinations over new ones. Brands on the rise A look at up-and-coming brands disrupting their categories Read more here Women are also more likely to seek out bucket list destinations than men (44% vs. 34%). Similarly, consumers approach vacations differently according to their phase in life. Baby Boomer travelers rely on previous experiences as a vacation-planning factor more than younger generations such as Generation Z, for example (54% vs. 25%). Younger generations, on the other hand, seek out bucket list locales report more frequently. Gen Zers, having come of age in a time of social media and online crowdsourcing, weigh online reviews from other travelers twice as frequently as boomers. Here again, the notion of easing the planning experience comes into play. This time the generations with the clearest memory of travel agents are the least interested in help. A mere 36% of boomers would devote more time to personal travel if someone else planned it. The figure rises with successively younger generations: Gen X (50%), millennials (56%) and Gen Z (75%). Like the song says, in summertime the living ought to be easy. If it’s easier for consumers to travel, they will do so more frequently. Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards Join us July 23 & 24 in Boston Learn more here

Travel marketing—how to reach consumers planning summer vacations

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