Google launches free travel dashboard offering insights ‘gold dust’

Google has today launched a ‘travel dashboard’ which shares consumer search trends publicly for the first time. The tool – which went live this morning – shows information based on Google search queries in the travel category across 26 Europe, Middle East and Africa travel countries, updated every quarter. It allows travel companies to research … Continue reading Google launches free travel dashboard offering insights ‘gold dust’

Google has today launched a ‘travel dashboard’ which shares consumer search trends publicly for the first time.

The tool – which went live this morning – shows information based on Google search queries in the travel category across 26 Europe, Middle East and Africa travel countries, updated every quarter.

It allows travel companies to research new travel trends, react to changes in demand, work out upselling opportunities, and see the popularity of individual travel brands, according to UK sales director Bernd Fauser,

Revealing details of the new tool at Travel Weekly’s Business Breakfast on mergers and acquisitions, he described the tool as “gold dust” for travel companies.

He said: “There is so much interest in this [type of] data; it’s what travel companies have been asking for. They pay market research companies for data based on 2,000 people a month ago.

“The consumer market is shifting more rapidly than in the past and travel companies are struggling to adjust to the changes. These are general trends for anyone in the travel industry on inbound or outbound tourism, destinations, how much they are growing in demand. It can give a good indicator of what consumers are thinking and opportunities.

“We share a lot of information with our clients but we have never shared that publically on an accessible dashboard; anyone can now access this.”

The data will be broken down into seven subcategories: air; bus and rail; car rental; holiday rental; hotel; package last minute; package vacation.

It will provide search volumes; countries consumers are travelling to; countries people are travelling from; most popular itineraries; and top brands searched for. It will also show whether travel searches are being made on mobile devices or personal computers, for example, which could help companies decide where to direct their marketing spend.

No log in is needed to access and dashboard which can be customised but will not be able to track results on specific travel search terms, Fauser added.

More details can be found at emeatravel.thinkwithgoogle.com