No industry has been as devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and its effects as travel. Airlines, car rental agencies, hotels and resorts, online booking services, cruises and destination marketing organizations, and business travel support services found their operations ground to a near-halt for much of Q2 2020, and the situation has barely improved in H2.

Cruise line operators understandably experienced some of the steepest cuts. According to ad sales research firm MediaRadar, cruise companies were spending just $1.2 million per week on ads in the last two weeks of March, compared with $12 million to $15 million per week in January and the first week of February.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for traveling dropped off significantly, especially in the US and UK, two of the hardest hit countries. The situation is exacerbated by a halt in business traveling and cruise ships worldwide.

We define travel to include airlines, car rentals, hotels and resorts, online travel agencies, cruises, and destination marketing organizations, inclusive of leisure and business travel.

Travel: Includes airlines, car rental, hotels and resorts, cruises, and destination marketing organizations; includes both leisure and business travel. Other (industry): Includes categories that fall outside of those mentioned, such as real estate, manufacturing and industrial, education, government, etc.

Airlines like easyJet and Ryanair, the InterContinental Hotel Group, and cruise line operator Carnival Corporation are some casualties of this collapse.

Roughly one in 10 respondents cited either short-haul or long-haul international vacations, compared with just 6% for cruises. Another May 2020 survey by LuggageHero painted a brighter picture for international travel in 2021, but that may be partly because it was conducted by a luggage storage company.

Travel: Includes airlines, car rental, hotels and resorts, cruises, and destination marketing organizations; includes both leisure and business travel. Other (industry): Includes categories that fall outside of those mentioned, such as real estate, manufacturing and industrial, education, entertainment, information technology and consumer electronics, etc.

The services sector will be the hardest hit, especially travel-related spending like domestic flights (decreased spending by 84% of respondents in the McKinsey poll), hotel stays (83%), and adventure/tours and cruises (77%). Other service sector categories to be affected by dropped spending include fitness and wellness (67%), pet care (51%) and quick-service restaurants (55%).

Travel includes airlines, car rental, hotels and resorts, cruises, destination marketing organizations; includes both leisure and business travel.

Examples include self-parking capabilities, collision avoidance, lane-centering steering and adaptive cruise control. Health and wellness: Systems designed to keep drivers comfortable and gauge their fitness to drive. These can include adaptive heating and cooling systems and sensors that monitor vital signs, alertness and blood-alcohol levels.

We define travel advertising to include airlines, car rental, hotels and resorts, cruises and destination marketing organizations, leisure and business travel.

In terms of modes of travel, 65% of respondents said they prefer driving their own vehicle for their first post-lockdown trip, and 71% said they would completely avoid tour buses and cruises. Nearly half said they would avoid taking a cruise in the next few years, as concerns over contracting the virus elsewhere worldwide persist.

Among those working with cruise and airlines brands, six in 10 respondents reported that they will raise their Facebook and Instagram spend. Not sure if your company subscribes? You can find out here.

A recent partnership between influencer marketing platform indaHash, cruise line company Cunard, media agency PHD UK and DOOH specialist Clear Channel put social media influencers, video and DOOH together to create an innovative campaign. Four social media influencers were invited to take a cruise to the Arctic Circle.