MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

The travel industry has had a major revamp in recent years, and it’s no secret that holiday-goers are increasingly using the internet to research and book their holidays, with so many people admitting to not having visited a travel agent in two years. People are using the internet because it’s easier and quicker; they can find better prices and an online travel agent is open at all hours.

Therefore, with so many people already using the internet to plan their holidays, and as the market becomes far more competitive, it’s important to focus on the future. The question revolves around how online marketing is changing the face of travel.

A study by YouGov into Online travel trends shows how online holidaymakers place far greater trust in friends, family (70 per cent) and fellow travellers through online reviews (47 per cent) than they do in travel agents (22 per cent) or newspapers (25 per cent) when seeking travel advice.

“However, the need for travel agents should not be underestimated as 46 per cent of online holidaying respondents still visit travel agents to collect destination brochures which will impact on online travel decisions.

By placing greater trust in friends, family and online reviews from fellow travellers, people are removing control from travel operators when obtaining advice; travel agents and operators need to invest in websites that make the planning and booking process as quick and simple as possible and use customer generated content to build trust.”

The future of the travel agent is tightly bundled with Search. For example, niche search engines such as CheapFlights , Travel supermarket and Dohop are companies that are undertaking the search and suggest function on behalf of customers – and not the travel agents. In other words, they’re cutting out the function of the travel agents’ “search and suggest” function altogether.

As most people use the internet to research their holidays, there are still those people that may go to the travel agents to book and pay for them. It’s critical to combine the functions and get all the offline agents to invest online. Sales rates could be improved at a colossal rate if websites enhance their design and navigation to become more user-friendly and start looking at how Search Optimisation can benefit them and their websites.

It’s the guys at the top of the organic search results that attain the most clicks, specifically; those companies that have invested in a Search Marketing strategy are able to get themselves into these positions.

You will notice that it is not necessarily the bigger and better-known online travel agents that are at the top of the search results. You will find that a lot of these sites are not converting as many people as they would if they had focused a bit more attention on Search. By investing more money and time on SEO they could completely dominate the online travel industry.

By saying that however, this is good news for the smaller online travel sites that are breaking into the online market. Offline agencies need to get online if they plan to compete in this increasingly competitive market.