State of the Industry: The 2019 Report on Travel Advertising - Perspectives from 600+ Travel Marketers Around the World - Sojern
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State of the Industry: The 2019 Report on Travel Advertising Perspectives from 600+ Travel Marketers Around the World
The digital advertising ecosystem grows increasingly complex for travel marketers.
To that end, Sojern surveyed more than 600 travel marketers In Sojern’s 2019 Report on Travel Advertising, you will learn:
around the world to better understand how they’re navigating • The biggest marketing and measurement challenges,
these complexities. We examine their key challenges, how they including the tools and metrics relied on to help drive brand
are allocating advertising budget across channels, where they awareness and conversions
are finding success, and what technologies may impact the future
• Strategies and approaches used to determine spend
of marketing.
allocation across platforms and channels
As consumption of media constantly evolves—be it playing
• Which digital media channels and formats are being used,
with virtual reality, watching streaming videos, or asking Alexa
and which are most effective, to influence travelers along
for trip recommendations—marketers are presented with new
the path to purchase
challenges to master, including a number of new advertising
platforms, channels, formats, and measurement tools. This report • The future of travel advertising, and what innovations could
will help travel marketers better benchmark their own budget disrupt the way marketers reach their audiences
and advertising decisions, giving them insight into what others
in the industry are doing across regions, verticals, and size of
advertising budgets.
“We’re at the forefront of seeing users’ changing behaviors. Searching for and booking travel
is not linear and travelers are not loyal to specific brands—even if they’re a part of a loyalty
program. We often see more than 500 touch points in a traveler’s path to purchase, across
multiple channels and devices, and it’s only continuing to expand. So how can you scale your
marketing campaigns with the same approach and marketing budget
when you need to be everywhere?”
Stephen Taylor
Chief Revenue Officer, Sojern
“You must shift your mind from airing your campaigns and waiting for your audiences
to chase you. It’s really important to find your audience and then be there,
where they’re most interested and engaged.”
Lilian Moschidou
Marketing Director, This is Athens & Partners
State of the Travel Industry 3
State of the Industry:
The 2019 Report on Travel Advertising
The Complexity of Engaging Today’s Traveler 5
The State of Travel Advertising Spend 9
Successful Digital Advertising Tactics and Channels 21
Campaign Measurement Tactics 31
What’s Next for Travel Marketers 37
Executive Summary 47
About Sojern 50
Methodology 51
State of the Travel Industry 4
Chapter 1
The Complexity of
Engaging Today’s Traveler
State of the Travel Industry 5
The Complexity of Engaging Today’s Traveler
Key Challenges for the Travel Marketer
Expiring real-time inventory, multiple distribution channels, and a complex path to purchase
are just a few of the challenges unique to travel marketing. Add to that the changes in how
data is used (GDPR), the increasing number of tools and technology available, and the shifting
models used to show return on investment (ROI), and many marketers are faced with multiple obstacles to
effectively and efficiently do their jobs.
To understand more around the key challenges travel marketers face, we asked respondents to rate how each
impacted their organizations.
“Personalization across multiple customer touch points has always been
the goal for travel marketers. It’s not just a better brand experience, it’s the
difference between winning or losing the booking.”
Kurt Weinsheimer
Chief Solutions Officer, Sojern
State of the Travel Industry 6
Global Top Marketing Challenges
Delivering personalized ads
and offers in real-time
Achieving ROI and profitability targets
for my advertising investments
Targeting travelers during a specific point
along their path to purchase
Keeping up with the fast-paced advertising
and technology landscape
Understanding how to use my
customer data more effectively
Driving direct bookings
Managing pricing and profitability across
my distribution and marketing partners
Proving incrementality
Reaching new travel audiences
Managing integrated campaigns across
Google, Facebook, and other media partners
Ensuring brand safety
How challenging would you describe each of these common travel marketing challenges? (Percentage of respondents who selected “very/extremely challenging”)
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 7
The Complexity of Engaging Today’s Traveler
Top Challenges by Region
While Airlines and Hotels also count delivering personalized
• NA: 46% Keeping up with the fast-paced advertising and
technology landscape ads and offers in real-time among their key challenges, their
top challenge varies:
• EU: 45% Understanding how to use my customer data more effectively
• APAC: 55% Driving direct bookings • Airline Marketers: 49% Understanding how to use their
customer data more effectively
• LATAM: 51% Delivering personalized ads and offers in real-time
• MEA: 49% Keeping up with the fast-paced advertising and • Hotel Marketers: 48% Keeping up with the fast-paced
technology landscape advertising and technology landscape
Top Challenges by Travel Vertical
Most verticals agree that delivering personalized ads and offers in Top Challenges by Size of Advertising Spend*
real-time is their top challenge:
When breaking out the challenges by annual advertising spend, it is
• 52% of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) understandable that each category has different pain points. Smaller
advertisers, for example, are focused on making every dollar count, while large
• 46% of Attraction Marketers
advertisers have more resources to focus on the customer experience, and
• 61% of Car Rental Marketers optimizing every customer touchpoint.
• 55% of Cruise Marketers
• Small Advertisers: 51% Achieving ROI and profitability targets for my
advertising investments
• Mid-Size Advertisers: 43% Keeping up with the fast-paced advertising and
technology landscape
• Large Advertisers: 58% Delivering personalized ads and offers in real-time
* Small Advertisers - Annual advertising budget of less than $50,000
Mid-Size Advertisers - Annual advertising budget between $50,000 to $1 million
Large Advertisers - Annual advertising budget of more than $1 million
State of the Travel Industry 8
Chapter 2
The State of Travel
Advertising Spend
State of the Travel Industry 9
The State of Travel Advertising Spend
Evolution of the Digital Travel Marketing Landscape
Digital advertising
represents the 2018 Global Ad Spend
largest portion
of ad spend for all global marketers in
4%
2018 at 47 percent—and that number
will only grow. Two in three travel 8% Digital
marketers plan to spend more on digital
Print
in 2019, versus one in three who plan to 12%
increase spending on television, print, Television
radio, or out of home media. 47%
13% Out of Home
Radio
16%
Other
Approximately what percentage of your or your travel client’s advertising dollars was spent across the
following media channels in 2018?
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 10Regional Breakdown of Ad Spend
At a regional level, there is not much variance when it comes to digital
2018 Ad Spend, By Region advertising budgets in 2018. Our survey respondents in North America (NA),
Asia Pacific (APAC), and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) all spent over half of
their advertising budgets on digital. And for 2019, every region overwhelmingly
reported they would spend more, with Latin America (LATAM) leading at
60% NA 77 percent—making this the region with the biggest planned growth in digital.
EU
50%
LATAM
40% Global 66%
MEA
30% APAC NA 63%
20% Percentage who Plan EU 66%
on Increasing Digital Ad
10% Spend in 2019, by Region LATAM 77%
0% MEA 61%
Digital Television Print Out of Home Radio Other
APAC 72%
Approximately what percentage of your or your travel client’s advertising dollars was spent across the following How do you anticipate your ad dollars will be allocated in 2019 across the following media?
media channels in 2018? (Plan on spending more)
Source: Sojern, 2019 Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 11The State of Travel Advertising Spend
Vertical Breakdown of Ad Spend
Digital represents the largest portion of advertising budgets for all verticals.
2018 Ad Spend, By Vertical However, more than 50 percent is still allocated to offline vs. online—creating an
opportunity for travel marketers to increase their digital advertising efforts to
reach consumers where they’re spending time and completing the vast majority
50% of their dreaming, shopping, and booking. And, 2019 looks to be the year of
Airline bigger investment in digital for all travel marketers, regardless of vertical, with
Cruise (77%), Airline (74%), and DMO (73%) verticals representing the highest
40% Hotel
percent of marketers who plan to spend more on digital this year.
DMO
30% Attraction Airline 74%
Car Rental
Hotel 64%
20% Cruise
Percentage who Plan DMO 73%
10% on Increasing Digital Ad
Attraction 71%
Spend in 2019, by Vertical
0%
Digital Print TV Out of Home Radio Other Car Rental 70%
Cruise 77%
Approximately what percentage of your or your travel client’s advertising dollars was spent across the following How do you anticipate your ad dollars will be allocated in 2019 across the following media?
media channels in 2018? (Plan on spending more)
Source: Sojern, 2019 Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 12Size of Advertising Budget, Breakdown of Ad Spend
2018 Share of 64% 44% 43%
Overall Spend Small Mid-Size Large
Allocated to Digital Advertisers Advertisers Advertizers
Small Advertisers 43%
Percent Who Plan on
Increasing Digital Ad Mid-Size Advertisers 67%
Spend in 2019
Large Advertisers 82%
State of the Travel Industry 13How Travel Marketers Spend Across Digital
Globally, marketers allocate nearly
half of their ad budgets to digital. 2018 Digital Ad Spend, By Digital Channel
However, digital comes in many
forms, across a vast number of
channels—requiring extensive
planning, knowledge, and expertise Facebook and
5% Mobile
6% Instagram
to evaluate and get the most out of 23%
all the options. 7% Paid Search Other Social
Private
9% Marketplace OTA
Travel marketers across the globe
Programmatic
allocated the largest amount of spend Display
Metasearch
9% 19%
towards all social, followed by paid
Video
search in 2018. For 2019, many of the 10%
12%
marketers surveyed report they will
spend more on social. And while
video is only nine percent of ad spend
Approximately what percentage of your digital or your travel client’s digital advertising spend was spent across
for 2018, 46 percent report they plan the following types of advertising in 2018?
Source: Sojern, 2019
to allocate more to video ads in 2019.
Top channels global 55% 46% 45% 45%
marketers intend to Facebook and Video Paid Mobile
increase spend for 2019 Instagram Search
State of the Travel Industry 14Regional Breakdown of Ad Spend, by Digital Channel
2018 Digital Channel Ad Spend, By Region
MEA spent the least on
all social (22%) and the
25%
NA
most on programmatic
display (14%) in 2018.
EU
20%
LATAM
15% MEA
APAC
10%
5%
0%
Facebook and Paid Private Programmatic Video Mobile OTA Other Social Metasearch
Instagram Search Marketplace Display
Approximately what percentage of your or your travel client’s advertising dollars was spent across the following media channels in 2018?
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 15The State of Travel Advertising Spend
2019 Percentage Who Plan on Increasing Digital Ad Spend, By Region
Over half (53%) of
APAC marketers plan
70%
NA
to spend more on
60% programmatic display
EU
and 56 percent of
50% LATAM
LATAM marketers
40%
MEA
plan to spend more on
30%
APAC
mobile in 2019.
20%
10%
0%
Facebook and Video Paid Search Mobile Other Programmatic Metasearch Private OTA
Instagram Social Display Marketplace
How do you anticipate your ad dollars will be allocated in 2019 across the following types of advertising? (Plan on spending more)
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 16Vertical Breakdown of Ad Spend, by Digital Channel
2018 Digital Channel Ad Spend, By Vertical
Video is key for flying
the friendly skies—
25%
Airline
airlines allocated the
Hotel
most amount of spend
20%
DMO
(12%) towards video.
Attraction
15%
Car Rental
Cruise
10%
5%
0%
Facebook and Paid Search Private Programmatic Video Mobile Other Social OTA Metasearch
Instagram Marketplace Display
Approximately what percentage of your digital or your travel client’s digital advertising spend was spent across the following types of advertising in 2018?
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 17The State of Travel Advertising Spend
2019 Percentage Who Plan on Increasing Digital Ad Spend, By Vertical
In 2019, more than
half of all travel
60%
Airline
marketers report they
plan to spend more on
50% Hotel
DMO
Facebook, with airlines
40%
Attraction
and cruise verticals
Car Rental
(60%) representing
30%
Cruise
the highest percent of
20% marketers who plan to
spend more on digital
10%
this year.
0%
Facebook and Video Other Social Mobile Paid Search Programmatic Private Metasearch OTA
Instagram Display Marketplace
How do you anticipate your ad dollars will be allocated in 2019 across the following types of advertising? (Plan on spending more)
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 182018 Digital Ad Spend, by Size of Advertising Budget
Small Advertisers 31% 21% 12% 10% 7% 6% 5% 5% 4%
Mid-Size Advertisers 22% 19% 11% 6% 7% 11% 9% 5% 9%
Large Advertisers 18% 17% 13% 5% 7% 12% 11% 5% 11%
Facebook and Private Mobile
Other Social Video
Instagram Marketplace
Programmatic
Paid Search OTA Metasearch
Display
Approximately what percentage of your digital or your travel client’s digital advertising spend was spent across the following types of advertising in 2018?
Source: Sojern, 2019
2019 Percentage Who Plan on Increasing Digital Ad Spend,
by Size of Advertising Budget
Facebook and Private Programmatic
Instagram Paid Search Marketplace OTA Other Social Display Video Metasearch Mobile
Small Advertisers 44% 34% 26% 23% 24% 37% 37% 31% 44%
Mid-Size Advertisers 54% 47% 31% 24% 42% 36% 44% 28% 42%
Large Advertisers 64% 50% 46% 29% 52% 51% 52% 37% 54%
How do you anticipate your ad dollars will be allocated in 2019 across the following types of advertising? (Plan on spending more)
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 19The State of Travel Advertising Spend
“One of the most beautiful things about digital media
is obviously how measurable it is and how optimizable
it is and so we don’t do anything without having some
expectation of performance, and the ultimate expectation
is obviously to get people to the site, get them back to the
site, re-target them, and continue to do
that until they actually book.”
Peter Giorgi
Chief Marketing Officer, Celebrity Cruises
State of the Travel Industry 20Chapter 3
Successful Digital
Advertising Tactics
and Channels
State of the Travel Industry 21Successful Digital Advertising Tactics and Channels
How Channels are Used to Reach Objectives
Consumers are using a variety of ways to search and book travel, making it essential for
marketers to use a multi-channel, multi-device strategy to reach them and achieve their digital
marketing objectives. With marketers increasing spend across the majority of channels, we
wanted to uncover how each is best used. Based on our survey, gone are the days when channels are perceived as only
useful for branding or direct response. The results indicate that all channels are now used for both. Notably, Facebook
and Instagram pulled far ahead of paid search for both branding and direct response.
We saw similar trends across regions and verticals, with a few nuances by size of advertising budget. Small
advertisers, for example, still cite Facebook and Instagram and paid search as their top two. However, they are more
likely to rely upon online travel agencies (OTAs) for branding (15%) than on video (11%). This also held true for direct
response, with 13 percent relying on OTAs and only six percent on video.
State of the Travel Industry 22“Facebook is important because of the size and scale—you
just can’t beat their audience. And because consumers are
on the platform to think about and aspire to travel, you
have to be there. Our team is testing every aspect of our
Facebook campaigns, from photos to call to action, to see
where our audiences are interacting with us.”
Brent Bouldin
Vice President of Marketing,
Media and Customer Acquisition,
Choice Hotels International
State of the Travel Industry 23Successful Digital Advertising Tactics and Channels
What’s Best for Branding or Direct Response Travel marketers
report that Facebook
80%
and Instagram are
70% Best for Branding
Best for
best channels for
60%
Direct Response
both brand building
50%
(69%) and direct
response (58%).
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Facebook Paid Video Mobile Private Programmatic Other OTA Metasearch
and Instagram Search Marketplace Display Social
Which of the following digital channels work best for branding or direct response? (select 3)
Source: Sojern 2019
State of the Travel Industry 24Travel Marketers Embrace Social Platforms
With an estimated three billion social
media users this year alone—and the How Travel Marketers Are Using and Anticipating Using Social Ads
ability for travel marketers to offer
visually engaging ads—it’s fair to say
that social channels offer a massive
80%
opportunity for travel marketers Used in 2018
to reach and influence their target 70%
audiences.1 Plan on using
in 2019
60%
Don’t currently
But which ones are they using most use or plan
and why? 50% on using
Not familiar
Facebook and Instagram are cited as 40%
the most popular social platforms.
The largest year over year change is 30%
Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel and
Facebook Stories with more than half 20%
intending to use these advertising
solutions in 2019. 10%
0%
While Snapchat ads and Pinterest ads Facebook Ads Facebook Facebook Instagram Ads Instagram Snapchat Ads Pinterest Ads Twitter Ads
Dynamic Ads Stories Stories
may not currently be as popular (one for Travel
in four travel marketers used them Which types of social advertising are you currently using in 2018 and/or considering using in 2019?
Source: Sojern, 2019
in 2018), marketers still see them as
valuable additions, and one in three
intend to leverage these highly visual
social ad platforms in 2019.
1 Statista, 2019: Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021
State of the Travel Industry 25Successful Digital Advertising Tactics and Channels
We saw similar trends across regions, verticals, and size of
advertising budget with a few notable exceptions:
• Travel marketers in the Middle East reported that they plan
to use Instagram Ads (70%) and Instagram Stories (73%)
more than any other region.
• Airlines are the top vertical planning to use Facebook
Dynamic Ads for Travel in 2019, at 68%. DMOs are close
behind at 67%
• Small advertisers are not as willing to experiment with
social—of those who planned to use social ads in 2019,
only 26% plan to use Twitter Ads, 20% Pinterest Ads, and
17% Snapchat Ads
Worth noting, all respondents were asked the same questions, regardless of
region. We did not ask questions about specific social platforms, channels,
and apps that may have higher regional relevance and adoption, like WeChat
or Weibo in the Chinese market.
State of the Travel Industry 26Why are Travel Marketers Gravitating Toward Facebook and Instagram?
While most, if not all, social platforms
continue to adapt their advertising Where Facebook and Instagram are Most Effective for Travel Marketers
solutions to fit the needs of travel
marketers, Facebook and Instagram
have launched several new advertising 30%
Facebook Ads
opportunities in the past year alone.
Today, travel marketers have the ability
25%
to advertise on Facebook Stories, as well Instagram Ads
as new audience targeting options within
destinations, hotels, and flights. 20%
plan to spend 15%
55%
more on Facebook
and Instagram
10%
in 2019
5%
When it comes to Facebook and
Instagram advertising, both platforms
are seen as most effective for targeting 0%
new audiences, with Facebook seen as Targeting Driving Reach Personalizing Driving Showcasing my Retargeting Engaging
New Audiences and Brand Messages and Direct Property or Travel Users From Loyalty Members
slightly better for driving reach, brand Awareness Promotional Offers Bookings Experience My Site
awareness, and personalization. Due to
Where is Facebook or Instagram advertising most effective in your marketing strategy?
its visual nature, Instagram is perceived Source: Sojern, 2019
as better for showcasing a property or
travel experience.
State of the Travel Industry 27Successful Digital Advertising Tactics and Channels
When asked to elaborate on the successes and challenges of using Many travel marketers are now turning to Facebook
these platforms, one survey respondent commented that “Facebook Marketing Partners (FMP) to help them leverage Facebook
and Instagram are good at helping research new consumer targets.” more effectively. FMPs offer a variety of capabilities from
Another stated that “dynamic ads are performing the best. However some
campaign management and optimization, to measurement
challenges with the platforms include proving ROI, difficulty in matching
and creative services. As the Facebook ecosystem becomes
display and social results due to lack of cross-platform tracking, and the
challenges linked to fluctuating CPMs and costs overall.”
more competitive with an increasing number of advertisers,
engaging target users becomes a bigger feat. The best
How Airlines Leverage Social FMPs develop additional tools to help marketers face these
challenges head-on.
Compared to the average of all verticals who use Facebook (39%) and
Instagram (33%), airline marketers are more likely to use Facebook (30%) “As a vertical FMP, we build a platform that works only
and Instagram (28%) to target new audiences.
for travel brands because travel has very different
“We have definitely put more resources and funds into problems. They are dealing with seasonality. They are
social media—Facebook and Instagram specifically, dealing with expiring rates and availability. It is
and we intend to use it even more in 2019. People a very different path to purchase when you compare
travel because they want to have experiences. It is to eCommerce, for example. We build products
a social, visual, experiential undertaking, and social that address these particular challenges, and our
media really fits that.” AI-powered Marketing Assistant, Marvin, helps
clients test and learn what works for their brand.”
Marina Suberlyak
Head of Marketing, North America,
Norwegian Airlines Volkan Çağsal
CEO and Founder, Adphorus
State of the Travel Industry 28Bringing the Travel Experience to Life with Videos
Video allows travel marketers to showcase their properties and experiences in
a more engaging manner—creating excitement among prospective and booked One in two marketers plan to use YouTube ads
travelers. And travelers increasingly consume information through watching
in 2019.
online videos.
After Google2, YouTube is the second most used search engine, with Facebook
coming in at number three. How Travel Marketers Are Using and Anticipate
Using YouTube
Because videos easily help tell the story of travel, it’s no surprise that Facebook
and YouTube are the most utilized ad video platforms globally. However, with
the rise of Instagram and IGTV, more than half of the travel marketers surveyed
Used in 2018 53%
plan to use Instagram videos in 2019.
“We are running multi-platform campaigns to increase Plan on using in 2019 54%
the relevancy with our audience. And we are investing
in digital video campaigns mainly under an integrated 22%
Don't currently use or
communication strategy that conveys powerful, authentic plan on using this
stories and intrigues our audience to find out more about
Not familiar 3%
our destination.”
Lilian Moschidou Which types of digital video advertising are you currently using in 2018 and/or considering using in 2019?
Marketing Director, Source: Sojern, 2019
This is Athens & Partners
2 SearchEngine Journal, Meet the 7 Most Popular Search Engines in the World
State of the Travel Industry 29Successful Digital Advertising Tactics and Channels
As consumers increasingly cut the cord on linear television and
opt to view shows through over-the-top (OTT) options, the ability to How Travel Marketers Are Using and Anticipate
programmatically target television advertising is an exciting space for Using Digital Video Ads
marketers. Thus the next big thing in the digital video space is
Connected Television (CTV) advertising. While 20 percent used CTV in
2018, about one in three plan on using CTV in 2019, which would
Used in 2018
represent a 70 percent increase year over year. 60%
Plan on using
in 2019
50% Don't currently
“Where it gets really interesting is when connected use or plan
on using
televisions becomes widely available through 40%
Not familiar
programmatic. We’re just starting to see this happen
and believe it will be a game changer. It will allow 30%
marketers to use the same audience targeting
20%
capabilities that they have applied to digital display
on television.” 10%
Kurt Weinsheimer 0%
Facebook YouTube Instagram Mobile Other Sites/ CTV
Chief Solutions Officer, Sojern Video Ads Networks
Which types of digital video advertising are you currently using in 2018 and/or considering using in 2019?
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 30Chapter 4
Campaign
Measurement
Tactics
State of the Travel Industry 31Campaign Measurement Tactics
Metrics That Matter for Success
Travel marketers rely on multiple metrics to optimize and measure campaign impact—helping
them maximize their investment to get the best possible results.
Marketers cited traffic to website, cost per booking, and click-through rate (CTR) as the top three metrics used to
measure the effectiveness of their marketing investments. Fewer than one in five travel marketers are measuring brand
lift (changes in awareness, consideration, or brand perception), while incrementality (measuring the lift that advertising
spend provides to a booking) comes in last. However, incrementality appears to be increasingly more important the
larger the advertising budget, with 19 percent of large advertisers measuring incrementality.
“It’s really essential that every dollar is doing the most that it can possibly do for us. That
it’s measurable, that it’s optimizable, and that we’re experimenting with technologies and
partners that we haven’t used before.”
Peter Giorgi
Chief Marketing Officer, Celebrity Cruises
State of the Travel Industry 32Social Mentions Matter for Smaller Advertisers
All marketers report their top metrics for measurement include
traffic to their website and cost per booking. However, the third
most important metric differs by size of advertising budget.
The third metric for small adverisers is social media mentions
(32%); whereas mid-sized (40%) and large advertisers (46%)
look at click-through rates.
State of the Travel Industry 33Campaign Measurement Tactics
Metrics Travel Marketers Use to
50%+ measure ad effectiveness
Measure Their Ad Effectiveness
through traffic to their website and cost
per booking.
Traffic to My Website 54%
Cost per Booking 50%
“We’ve been working for the past three years to reposition
Click-Through Rate (CTR) 38%
Athens as a year-round destination. Our main objective is
Social Media Mentions 35%
to build awareness and enhance the city’s position in the
Loyalty Program Opt-Ins
or Email Collection 31% city-trip destinations bucket lists. We have different key
ROAS/ROI 30% performance indicators for each campaign, but overall, we
Customer Lifetime
25% measure on viewers reach and completion rates and, of
Value (LTV)
course, on how the number of visitors increases
Cost per App Install 25%
year-over-year in the off season.”
Brand Lift 19%
Incrementality 7%
Lilian Moschidou
Marketing Director, This is Athens & Partners
Which of the following metrics are you currently using to measure the effectiveness of your marketing
investments? (Select all that apply)
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 34Types of Attribution Models Used by Travel Marketers
For brands with significant marketing investments across a complex suite
of integrated tactics, establishing an attribution model is worth the research, How can marketers gain a complete view of a
analysis, and time. By accurately assigning credit to specific initiatives across
traveler’s path?
their media portfolio, marketers can understand what tactics work best.
With the right attribution model in place, travel marketers can better understand
Types of Attribution Models Travel Marketers Use
which combinations of touch points drive the most influence along a traveler’s
path to purchase.
The majority of travel marketers utilize at least one type of attribution model, Click-through 57%
with the most common types including click-through, view-through, and View-through 40%
multi-touch. This held true across all regions, verticals, and size of advertising Multi-touch 35%
budgets. Globally, fewer than one in five are using last-touch attribution (which
Custom 27%
credits the last advertising interaction before an intended action like website
visitation or booking). Last-touch 23%
Incrementality 15%
“It’s becoming more and more important to prove the Not sure 7%
We don't use any 6%
value of all the various channels. We are partnering
closely on a multi-touch attribution model, but this is an
ongoing project. Last-touch makes it too difficult for us to Which of the following types of attribution models do you currently use? (select all that apply)
Source: Sojern, 2019
understand what is working best.”
Jef Eckart
Vice President of Digital, Carat USA
State of the Travel Industry 35Campaign Measurement Tactics
“This is the biggest challenge for all of us right now, how
to measure multi-channel marketing. One approach we
are experimenting with is to set up rules about what
each channel is meant to represent for each market. For
example, if it is out of home it might be for branding, and if
it is social media, it may be about conversions. Within that
we set up attribution rules.”
Marina Suberlyak
Head of Marketing, North America,
Norwegian Airlines
State of the Travel Industry 36Chapter 5
What’s Next for
Travel Marketers
State of the Travel Industry 37What’s Next for Travel Marketers
Data Solutions to the Rescue
The majority of travel research and booking is done entirely online—jumping across websites,
devices, and search engines at a rapid rate. To add an additional layer of intricacy, the same
traveler is often planning multiple trips at once, such as weekend getaways with family,
domestic and international business travel, or skiing with friends at the end of the year, and have distinct motivations,
preferences, and purchase behaviors for each type of trip. Thus, travel marketers increasingly look at both internal
and external data to help them better run their businesses—from adjusting media spend based on campaign goals, to
better understanding their customers, determining key metrics, optimizing spend, and improving ROI.
Data limitations across loyalty programs, site visits, and app users make it difficult to see the complete view of a
traveler’s research and purchase behavior. With the variety of tactics used to measure campaign effectiveness, only 20
percent of travel marketers surveyed report that they are very satisfied with their current measurement methods.
“The most successful travel brands today are grounding their digital marketing
strategy in the world of data, technology, and data-driven insights. Taking this approach
has a wide variety of benefits, including a deeper understanding of their customers,
smarter media allocation, better campaign targeting, retargeting, and optimization,
better overall performance on campaigns, and more efficient use of digital
advertising budgets.”
Kurt Weinsheimer
Chief Solutions Officer, Sojern
State of the Travel Industry 38How can travel marketers effectively reach the right
audience with a highly personalized message in the
moments that matter?
With the right data.
Harnessing the power of data gives travel marketers the ability to advertise with quality over
quantity—more precisely targeting travelers based on their preferences, trip motivation, and
where they are on their path to purchase, instead of general demographic data. Marketers
can also use technology and data to automate and optimize campaigns in real-time, thus
improving campaign performance. And an increasing number of tools and insights allows
travel brands to report on the effectiveness of their campaigns beyond traffic to the website or
if a customer booked directly—measuring items such as the economic impact a traveler has
on a destination or if a traveler converted from the competition.
Very Satisfied with 11% 17% 36%
Current Methods Small Mid-Size Large
of Measurement Advertisers Advertisers Advertizers
State of the Travel Industry 39What’s Next for Travel Marketers
What the Experts Are Saying
“We can’t be satisfied with the way we’ve always done things, and especially
in digital media, things evolve so quickly, we’ve always got to be looking for an
edge and trying to stay ahead of the competition.”
Peter Giorgi
Chief Marketing Officer, Celebrity Cruises
“By leveraging a combination of first and third party data, we aim to make
the data more actionable. The opportunities to overlay this
data will unlock new ways to speak to people.”
Jef Eckart
Vice President of Digital, Carat USA
“We invest in tools and data to supplement our own. When someone is
browsing for travel, we don’t always have good first party data—they browse
but don’t sign-in, and we can’t personalize if we don’t know who you are. We
target on behavioral, but we need to partner with the right people who have
good data to supplement what we have to help us get better at this.”
Brent Bouldin
Vice President of Marketing,
Media and Customer Acquisition,
Choice Hotels International
State of the Travel Industry 40Technology can do this at scale across multiple customer touch points. The top three reasons travel marketers leverage and
With better visibility into a traveler’s behavior, marketers can deliver the
activate data include:
right message at the right time regardless of channel or device—ultimately
optimizing their advertising efforts, delivering better customer experiences,
and increasing ROI.
n
ote the ability to target travelers
Personalization represents the largest challenge 61% based on intent and/or where they are
in the path to purchase
and biggest opportunity.
“In the hospitality industry, collecting data of the whole
w
ant better visibility into traveler
60%
customer journey is always a challenge because
when someone stays at the hotel, there is no digital behavior across websites and apps
footprint. Personalizing the stay would require a lot of
data, and getting more data outside of what we currently
get is a challenge. But personalization is the current big
thing and will become more important than ever in the n
eed to understand where they’re
years to come.” 59% winning or losing customers across
the path to purchase
Anonymous Hotel Survey Respondent
State of the Travel Industry 41What’s Next for Travel Marketers
“Major brands, who invest in the right tools and partners,
can now combine demographic data with psychographic
data, along with their customer relationship and loyalty
data, as well as begin to look at real-time behavioral
and trip intent indicators like search and booking
data—all to power systematically tailored marketing
programs that deliver timely offers and
great customer experiences.”
Kurt Weinsheimer
Chief Solutions Officer, Sojern
State of the Travel Industry 42Early Adopters of Emerging Tech
As travel marketers look for new ways to engage with consumers, we see
higher investments in emerging technologies in 2019. One in three intend to
use streaming audio, CTV, chatbots, and voice search. And while augmented
41% of marketers plan on using SMS
reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) appeal to travel marketers, one in four do not or messaging apps, 39% plan on using real-time
anticipate investing in these until 2020 or beyond, telling us that the technology
needs to further advance before marketers are willing to invest.
audience travel data, and 38% plan on using real-
time supply and demand data.
As consumers continue to try new ways of searching and sharing their travel
experiences, marketers will need to stay on top of emerging technology trends
to reach travelers where they are online. “Consumers are increasingly adopting instant messaging
platforms—everything from WhatsApp while traveling
“We are thinking about how to better use the time our to Slack at work. For a new mobile-first generation,
customers are standing in line, waiting to ride one of conducting commerce with a chatbot from their favorite
our attractions—how can we further enhance and excite brand, airline, or hotel makes sense. It takes time for
our customer? Geo-filtered snapchats or using a chatbot brands to catch up, but expect their early experiments
or text-based tech to create curated experiences could with chatbots to start to gain traction
provide some exciting opportunities.” with consumers.”
Jef Eckart Stephen Taylor
Vice President of Digital, Carat USA Chief Revenue Officer, Sojern
State of the Travel Industry 43What’s Next for Travel Marketers
Travel Marketers’ Current and Intended Use of Emerging Tech
50%
Used in 2018
40%
Plan on using
in 2019
30%
Will be a part of
our strategy - but
20% not until 2020
or beyond
10% No plans to use
at this time
0%
Audio Chatbots Augmented Connected or Messaging Real-Time Real-Time Smart
Advertising Reality or Streaming TV Apps or SMS Supply and Travel Speakers or
Virtual Reality Demand Data Audience Data Voice Search
Which of the following ad platforms or marketing technologies are you using or plan to utilize in your marketing efforts?
Source: Sojern, 2019
“We are trying to stay ahead of this curve—but there are financial realities and we need to
be smart. For example, we were one of the first to allow to book via voice with the Google
Assistant, and we’re gathering early learnings on what works. If voice takes off we’ll be able to
scale quickly, but if it doesn’t we haven’t invested significant time and resources.”
Brent Bouldin
Vice President of Marketing,
Media and Customer Acquisition,
Choice Hotels International
State of the Travel Industry 44Challenging the Status Quo of the Travel Industry
The term “disruption” has become a popular word in nearly
every industry. However, true disruption occurs only when Who Will Disrupt the Travel Market?
new technology or businesses emerge to dramatically
change the status quo.
Facebook and
Looking beyond what is currently available, we asked 49%
Instagram
marketers what they felt had the biggest chance to disrupt
the travel marketing industry over the next five years.
Amazon 46%
It came as no surprise that the three big tech players were
seen as the most likely candidates. Facebook and Instagram,
Amazon, and Google Ads were each cited by four in 10 global
travel marketers as the top platforms to likely disrupt the Google Ads 41%
industry in the next five years—with Facebook narrowly
leading the pack.
Which of the following ad platforms or marketing technologies do you think have the biggest potential to
disrupt travel marketing over the next five years?
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 45What’s Next for Travel Marketers
When it comes to emerging technology, AR and VR and the ability to
leverage real-time travel audience data are viewed as the top two What Will Disrupt Travel Marketing?
technologies most likely to disrupt travel marketing. As new technology
becomes available, the travel industry will innovate new ways to meet the
preferences of their audiences. Augmented Reality or
20%
Virtual Reality
Real-Time Travel 17%
Audience Data
Last year, Amazon placed Echo devices in hotel rooms across
Smart Speakers
the country, starting with Marriott Hotels—enhancing the hotel or Voice Search
13%
guests’ experience through the power of voice commands.
Messaging Apps 10%
or SMS
“Amazon is not thinking about launching into
Connected or 10%
the travel industry—Amazon is already in the Streaming TV
travel industry.” Real-Time Supply 9%
and Demand Data
Mat Harris Chatbots 8%
Vice President of Product, Sojern
Audio Advertising 6%
Which of the following ad platforms or marketing technologies do you think have the biggest potential to disrupt
travel marketing over the next five years?
Source: Sojern, 2019
State of the Travel Industry 46Executive Travel Marketing Tailwinds and Headwinds
Digital was almost half of all advertising spend in 2018,
Summary
and that number will rise, with two in three travel
marketers planning to spend more this year. And along
with increasing digital ad budgets, the number of available advertising
channels, platforms, and tools continues to grow—creating both massive
opportunity but increased complexity for marketing practitioners. Layer on
top expiring inventory, managing multiple distribution channels, and travelers
demanding tailored messaging and experiences based on their trip intent, and
the task of marketing effectively to travelers seems insurmountable.
Thus, 46 percent of travel marketers chose “personalized ads and offers in real-
time” as their top challenge, followed closely by “achieving ROI and profitability
targets for advertising investments,” “targeting travelers during a specific point
along their path to purchase,” and “keeping up with the fast-paced advertising
and technology landscape” (all at 45%).
Without complete and real-time visibility into a traveler’s buying behavior,
brands will continually be challenged to deliver effective and personalized
advertising to efficiently increase their ROI.
State of the Travel Industry 47Facebook and Instagram Win Across Social Using Data to Close the Gaps
The growth in ad dollars flowing into Facebook’s platform is still accelerating, As we saw in the report, even the most sophisticated and well-resourced
reaching nearly $33 billion in 2018. The combination of Facebook’s massive marketers may only see when a customer interacts with their brand—giving
global scale and ability to target ads to niche segments makes it appealing to all them limited visibility into the many other interactions a traveler has along
industries. As Facebook and Instagram continue to launch advertising products their customer journey.
to help travel marketers and address their specific needs, you can expect travel
marketers to continue spending on the platform (55% said they plan to spend Today’s most successful travel brands are going beyond what data they already
more this year), reaching and influencing their audiences. know and asking about what data is left unseen: 61 percent leverage data for the
ability to target travelers based on intent and/or where they are in the path to
Marketers Embrace Visual Storytelling with Video purchase, 60 percent said data gave them better visibility into traveler behavior
across websites and apps, and 59 percent activate data to understand where
One of the key trends we see in our 2019 Report on Travel Advertising is the they’re winning or losing customers across the path to purchase.
use of visual storytelling. Travel marketers provide inspiration and a desire to
book through the use of online video, whether it be on social or YouTube. With the complete knowledge into a traveler’s cumulative path to purchase and
In 2019, 54 percent of travel marketers report that they plan on using YouTube the travel patterns of individual travelers over time, including what motivates
advertising, 50 percent plan on using Instagram Stories, and 49 percent plan on them trip to trip, brands gain a deeper understanding of who their customers
using Facebook Stories to actively engage travelers. And with the growing use are, and where they are winning and losing across the buyer’s journey to more
of live streaming videos and connected televisions, using programmatic ads on intelligently plan future campaigns and their overall digital strategy.
video will allow marketers advanced audience targeting capabilities.
State of the Travel Industry 48Digital marketing solutions
for the travel industry www.sojern.com/contact
State of the Travel Industry 49Sojern is built on more than a decade of expertise analyzing
the complete traveler path to purchase. The company drives
travelers from dream to destination by activating multi-channel
branding and performance solutions on the Sojern Traveler
About Sojern
Platform for more than 8,500 customers around the globe.
Recognized as a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company six years
in a row, Sojern is headquartered in San Francisco, with teams
based in Berlin, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London,
Mexico City, New York, Omaha, Paris, Singapore, and Sydney.
State of the Travel Industry 50Methodology
Sojern’s State of the Travel Industry survey was fielded online in fielded and hosted by Research Now and covered travel marketers
November 2018. More than 600 global travel marketers completed budget allocation, advertising planning and allocation, use of
the survey. Respondents were sourced from Sojern’s database of data to make marketing decisions, ad strategy effectiveness,
travel marketers and agencies as well as a third party sample. attribution, and return on ad spend, as well as current and future
Respondents were sent an email invitation to participate in trends. In addition, Sojern conducted one on one interviews with
the survey and were screened to ensure they were advertising select travel advertisers across sectors and regions.
decision makers for travel brands. The survey research was
Survey Respondent Profile Annual Advertising Spending
Small Advertisers Mid-Size Advertisers Large Advertisers
Travel
Suppliers 103 Annual advertising
budget of less 123
Annual advertising
budget between 150
Annual advertising
budget of more 92
than $50k $50K to $250K than $1M
Annual advertising Annual advertising
Travel
Agencies 508
budget between
$250K to $500K
111 budget of more
than $10M
31
Annual advertising
budget between
$500K to $1M
104
State of the Travel Industry 51Travel Vertical
Destination
Airline 85 Hotel, Lodging,
Homeshare 395 Car Rental,
Car Sharing 51 Marketing
Organizations
117
Attraction,
Tour, Activity 119 Cruise Line 53 Other 25
Regions of Advertising Responsibility
= 10
Europe 307
North
America 245
Asia
Pacific 65
Middle
East 37
Latin
America 150
State of the Travel Industry 52www.sojern.com
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