Social surpasses search in travel advertising for first time

Social surpasses search in travel advertising for first time

Social media has overtaken search as the most popular method of paid advertising by travel companies, according to new research. Advert management platform Marin Software found that 90% of respondents to questions for its State of Digital Advertising report for … Continue reading

Social media has overtaken search as the most popular method of paid advertising by travel companies, according to new research.

Advert management platform Marin Software found that 90% of respondents to questions for its State of Digital Advertising report for the travel sector invest in social, while 79% paid for search advertising.

This has swung when compared to the previous year, when 74% invested in social advertising while 73% paid for search advertising.

Marin Software, which manages $7.8 billion worth of global digital ad spend, predicts that the global online travel market will be worth $1,091 billion by 2022.

It also found that 31% of UK holidaymakers plan to spend more in 2018, compared to 24% who stated the same ahead of 2017.

“Given the advanced audience targeting capabilities and reach of Facebook, it doesn’t come as a surprise that UK travel advertisers anticipate spending the vast majority of their 2018 paid social budget within their network,” said Marin Software’s marketing director for the EMEA region, Irisini Davis.

“Although Facebook and Google are set to continue to dominate the travel sector’s online advertising space, advertisers also expect voice search and ad blocking to become key digital trends impacting their business in 2018.”

The research also found that 36% of UK holidaymakers are confused about how Brexit will affect their holiday plans, with 19% feeling well-informed about Brexit implications.

In more broad questions, the survey found that 50% European travel bookings were transacted online in 2017 and that 72% of UK holidaymakers took a UK break in 2017.