Making the Most of the Travel Industry Recovery

The travel industry is showing slight signs of a rebound, at least, if Web traffic is any indicator. Compete recently released data which shows that while differing travel categories (hotel, cruise, air, car rental) are recovering at different rates, all categories are seeing an increase in aggregate unique visitors this year compared to 2008. From Compete’s blog:

In summary, all four categories are showing signs of recovery, and in general consumer research levels are leading indicators. But results here are based on domain level visits: a deeper assessment would include consumer engagement (deeper funnel steps like conducting a search or choosing an itinerary) and actual bookings. A true recovery will be supported by more overall research by travelers, more engagement, and more bookings – coupled with a return of pricing power.

Many consumers are still opting to stay at home, while others say they are reducing the amount of money spent on leisure travel by researching deals online before purchasing. As we recently wrote in our Daily Newsletter, “52% [of US Internet users] told About.com that, like in 2008, they would not travel this holiday season, another 24% said they were even less likely to travel this year than last. Money-saving attitudes, unsurprisingly, have an effect on what kinds of ads are most likely to reach consumers. Asked which online travel advertisements they were most interested in, large majorities of respondents wanted coupons on big-ticket travel items: airfare and hotels.”

“Consumers are certainly spending less, but they are not giving up travel, nor are they turning away from the Web sites that offer them the selection and convenience they value,” said Carroll Rheem, director, research at PhoCusWright, in a statement.

Some companies, most notably airlines, have seemingly positioned themselves well for recovery. JetBlue and Southwest Air are using social media to take advantage of discount-wary consumer attitudes. Both airlines use branded Twitter accounts to promote deals and discounts, while also providing some customer service as a means to encourage deeper brand engagement.

While the vast majority of respondents to an Ad-ology study said social media did not influence their travel decisions, “visitors to airline sites in July 2009 were six times more likely to visit Twitter than the previous year. The research firm also found a correlation between airline booking success and the promotion of low fares via the microblogging service.” More on that here.