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- Watchable content
- Authentic perspectives
- Narrative-driven structure
- Designed for attention
- Enhanced with AI
- Representative and relatable
Partner with us to create content that resonates with travelers.
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Crack the code on travel content: The Science of Wanderlust
With AI content increasing, new research from Expedia Group Advertising reveals which creative elements and ad formats resonate with travelers.
Travel marketers work hard to craft compelling stories, but they're fighting for attention throughout a long and complex trip-planning journey, and their message or format could fail to land. With campaigns requiring heavy planning, budget, and time, there isn't room for campaigns to fail to inspire travelers to book flights, purchase activities, or reserve rooms.
So what really drives travelers to book? Particularly in a media environment that is saturated with content and increasingly crowded with AI-generated images, video, and text?
By conducting industry-leading research this summer, Expedia Group Advertising cracked the code on what truly captures the hearts and minds of travelers to reveal the science of wanderlust. The findings reveal a formula for identifying different traveler archetypes, their unique content preferences, and how to build the perfect travel content to reach them, redefining travel marketing in an AI-driven world.
The research combined emotion-reading and eye-tracking technology from Expedia Group’s lab with an in-depth global survey of more than 7,000 respondents. Conducted in July and August, it revealed six key elements that create the most effective travel content.
“In today's saturated travel marketing landscape, brands face the challenge of capturing attention, inspiring visually, and driving bookings. Our new research is a blueprint for content that resonates emotionally and creates action.”
The anatomy of the perfect ad
Every choice, and every dollar, matters as AI changes brands' searchability. The findings revealed six critical elements that make content resonate with travelers:
1. Video reigns supreme
Watchable content
71% are influenced by video versus 24% by static images; 59% said content they saw on YouTube positively impacted their decision-making.
2. Authenticity builds trust
Authentic
When asked which messaging elements build trust, travelers selected transparency (52%), followed by clarity and confidence (46%), and authenticity (45%).
3. Clear narratives drive engagement
Narrative-driven structure
Content with an impactful beginning, a compelling middle, and clear call to action at the end captures attention and drives comprehension. Even beautiful visuals failed to deliver when the messaging was not clear.
4. Optimal pacing matters
Designed for attention
When it comes to video, scenes lasting 2-9 seconds provide optimum balance for understanding and recall. Fast cuts and rapid scene changes prevented participants from understanding the narrative and the destination.
5. AI enhancement, not replacement
Enhanced with AI
While 64% of travelers have noticed AI-generated content, 41% say they prefer it with human input. Less than half are comfortable with AI-generated influencers or fully AI-generated visuals and travel articles.
6. Representation resonates
Representative and relatable
Content where people saw themselves represented was more relatable and memorable, with 34% saying inclusive messaging made them trust a travel brand.
The framework for creating effective travel content
Bringing these insights together, we’ve developed the WANDER framework, a roadmap for travel marketers to create content that truly resonates with today’s diverse and discerning travelers.
Expedia Group Advertising
WANDER framework
Destination traveler archetypes
The study gave us insights into different traveler archetypes preferences, with respondents selecting their typical type of trip. The results showed insights into each archetype’s preferences in travel content – including format, imagery, and tone.
Beach travelers
Images of pools and spas
Relaxing tones
Amusement park travelers
Short-form video
Social media
Adventure travelers
AI-wary
YouTube
City escapists
Long-form video
Food content
Cultural connectors
Content that amazes
Online travel sites
Luxury travelers
AI content
Influencers
Variation by market and generation
The research also broke down inspiration preferences by nationality and generation.
Younger generations prefer influencers
Gen Z (66%) and Millennials (65%) turn to social influencers and platforms for inspiration, contrasting with Gen X and Baby Boomers, who rely heavily on online travel sites for inspiring travel content.
Younger generations feel the most emotive
both positively and negatively towards travel content compared to calmer Gen X and Baby Boomers.
Natural wonders inspire most
when it comes to imagery across all generations and above any other image type.
Navigating the future of travel marketing
For brands trying to reach travelers, the stakes have never been higher. Creating content that truly inspires wanderlust is critical, at a time when attention is the most valuable currency. And with Expedia Group Advertising’s enhanced targeting capabilities like demographic and behavioral signals, you can pinpoint your audience and ensure your ads reach the archetypes you’re appealing to.
Expedia Group Advertising is partnering with destination marketing organizations like GoTürkiye, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation, Jamaica Tourist Board, and VisitPanama, to bring these campaign insights to life. By leveraging Expedia Group Advertising’s travel media network, these partners are creating visually compelling, end-to-end campaigns, designed to reach travelers at every stage of their journey.
“Through the power of our travel media network, partners can build scalable, beautiful content that is measurable and impactful. This study shows how important it is to tailor content to reach your ideal traveler, and with our industry-leading targeting tools, in-house creative team, and in-depth measurement capabilities, that's never been easier.”
Act on these insights with Expedia Group Advertising
Watchable content
- Tap into Expedia Group Advertising’s travel media network to extend your content through our offsite capabilities on channels like YouTube, CTV, and OTT.
- Work with our in-house creative team, E Studio, to create compelling short and long-form videos.
- Use homepage video ads to capture traveler attention on our sites and apps.
Authentic perspectives
- Use Travel Shops to create shoppable storefronts promoting your brand or destination and collaborate with select travel influencers to sponsor collections.
- Create social-media friendly video packages through our creative partner, Beautiful Destinations.
- Partner with a rich network of high-performing content creators to showcase your brand to widespread traveler audiences through Expedia Group's Ambassador program.
Narrative-driven structure
- Work with our team of data and travel marketing experts to understand your target audience and their unique behaviors.
- Leverage our in-house creative experts to build engaging content that resonates with them, with a compelling narrative and clear call to action.
Create compelling videos with E Studio.
Reach travelers early in their journey with a personalized Travel Shop storefront.
Designed for attention
- Get real-time insights from our Ad Client Success team to ensure your campaign is getting maximum attention, plus detailed post-campaign reporting to guide future strategy.
- Lodging partners can use our visibility boosting tools like TravelAds Sponsored Listings and Accelerator to show up prominently in search results.
Enhancing with AI
- Lodging partners can use our new AI-powered features on TravelAds to boost performance:
- Automated bidding tool: maximizes visibility while keeping costs efficient.
- Hero Image Selection: AI picks the most engaging visuals to boost clicks. Partners who use this feature have seen an average 7% increase in engagement.*
- Guided Recommendations: now with predictive Budget Insights to help hotels plan smarter and perform better.
Representative and relatable
- Tap into the strategic expertise of our advertising teams to identify, plan, and target selected traveler demographics and build inclusive messaging.
- Lean into our 70+ petabytes of first-party data and 175+ targeting parameters to reach these travelers in the most effective and efficient way.**
Ready to elevate your travel advertising game?
Speak to us today and let's create content that doesn't just sell trips — it ignites wanderlust.
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*Expedia Group internal data, 2024
**Expedia Group, internal data, 2023