Expectations of Travel Due to the Pandemic

The travel industry came into 2020 performing at a high level. The U.S. hotel industry posted record-breaking levels last year for supply (1.9 billion room nights available) and demand (1.3 billion room nights sold). Demand for cruising also reached new heights, with more than 30 million guests expected to sail in 2020. The industry had committed over $22 billion in new, energy-efficient ships and technologies. Not to be outdone, U.S. airlines carried 925.5 million passengers in 2019 – more than any previous year.

And then came COVID-19.

Travel is one of the hardest-hit industries in terms of economic impact. The U.S. Travel Association by Tourism Economics estimates $505 billion in losses for the travel industry for a total of $81 billion in lost federal, state, and local taxes by the end of 2020. The travel industry is not expected to recover until 2024.

Regardless of length, the industry can and must adapt, including marketing. After speaking with several high-level executives in the cruise, hotel, destination, and airline industries, we’ve developed several strategies that travel marketers should adopt as soon as possible.

Move to Digital & Better Measurement

Unlike other sectors, travel business inventory is time-sensitive. When a ship sails or an airplane takes flight, the opportunity is gone. Because of this finite period to leverage inventory and make a profit, there must be a sense of urgency to travel industry marketing.

Many in the industry believe traditional media and marketing channels are most effective. They have a history, they’re tried and true, and they’re going to continue.

Real growth is happening in digital, but everything is not digital. Someone may start on a digital ad, and the next day they search for hotels and then call to book directly. Measurement systems must be put in place to tie everything together objectively and credibly. As technology enables brands to measure success, the investment will increase.

All brands must better understand the relative contribution of different marketing touchpoints and tie them back to revenue. Tracking the customer journey – and the impact of the various elements – has always been difficult, but today it can be the difference between going under and staying afloat.

Keep the Conversation Going

Given reduced demand, most brands should focus on staying connected. Marketers need to make sure their brand is top of mind for consumers, so when they are ready to travel again, there is an affinity for the brand. Whether it’s vacation destinations promoting the dream of travel or airlines sharing the steps they are taking to make travel safe, the key is not to be forgotten during this time.

Email and social media can keep the brand dialogue going and help sustain long-term interest in the brand. Capturing preference data based on previous travel (or aspirational travel surveys) during this lockdown period can help prepare more personalized invitations to explore in the future.

Prepare for the Next Normal

It may not be sexy, but quality data is essential because it fuels segmentation and personalization. Ensuring good data comes into the system and then is used consistently across an organization makes the consumer experience better. If that’s not in place, brands should act to remedy it now.

Quality acquisition is essential. Where are the opportunities to capture contact information to build your database? What are the chances to offer more value to get better information from consumers? How do you weed out bad information?

Understanding the journey and determining the right places to serve up value to consumers never goes out of style. Creating a revised customer journey that takes COVID into account will help travel marketers interact with consumers so they’ll willingly engage and give data in exchange for value (whether it’s a quote, a brochure, etc.).

A Resilient Industry

The travel and tourism industry has weathered prior crises before. Traveling and exploring is part of our human nature.

There has been a surge of interest in “revenge travel.” People are antsy and envision much bigger trips in 2021 to make up for being cooped up in 2020. To ensure travel marketing success post-pandemic, keep these strategies for marketing in the time of COVID in mind to better engage your audience and build a stronger direct relationship.