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Q3 Traveler Insights: Traveler enthusiasm steadies

Drawing on our first party data from Q2 2024, we examine the latest traveler behaviors based on their search patterns. 

author
Richard Kocher

August 9, 2024

Each quarter, we share our traveler insights, which provide a comprehensive analysis of Expedia Group’s exclusive first-party data to show shifting demand patterns and evolving traveler behaviors. 

 

Our Q2 2024 data shows that travel enthusiasm continues to hold steady, and travelers are mostly planning for trips in the short-term while also looking ahead towards the fall and holiday season. Paris is driving vacation rental interest across all regions, travelers are planning trips around sports and music events, and adventure activities are rising in popularity. 

 

Read on for additional Q3 2024 travel trends and actionable takeaways.

Searches remain steady globally

Travel continues to be a priority for many, as indicated by steady quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) global search volumes in Q2.¹ In Q2, we saw several jumps in travel searches around holidays as travelers planned for last minute trips.

 

  • At the start of Q2, there was a nearly 10% increase in travel searches week-over-week (WoW) in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and North America (NORAM), likely due to travelers planning for summer trips while on break for Easter. 

  • There was a 110% day-over-day (DoD) increase in travel on May 24, the Friday before Memorial Day, as well as a 95% DoD increase in searches the day before the 4th of July as U.S. travelers headed out on quick trips to celebrate both holiday weekends.

NORAM travelers are also planning their end of summer travels for Labor Day weekend. Several U.S. cities are seeing strong WoW search increases for the long weekend, including Chicago, Illinois (50%), Seattle, Washington (35%), San Diego, California (30%), and Kissimmee, Florida (25%).

 

TAKEAWAY

Stand out to travelers

As travel searches steady it’s even more important to stand out to travelers. For hotels, consider using TravelAds Sponsored Listings to help your property shine and drive bookings. The pay-per-click solution allows you to create customizable ads via premium placements in search results and includes highly precise targeting capabilities so you can attract the guests you want.

Travelers shift to short-term searches

Travelers shifted away from planning trips further ahead as travel searches in 0-30-day search window increased 15% QoQ while search share for the 180+ day search window decreased. This is consistent with year-over-year (YoY) trends, as search share in the 180+ day search window remained steady from Q2 2023.  

Takeaway

Offer deals and promotions

With travelers planning trips in the short term, adjust your strategies to connect with travelers looking for and booking impromptu getaways. Hotels and vacation rental hosts should offer last-minute deals and promotions to incentivize travelers to book. 

 

Additionally, with upcoming holidays such as Labor Day in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in Asia Pacific (APAC), including in China and Korea, hosts in these countries should set competitive seasonal rates to help fill your calendar during these busy travel periods and earn more revenue. 

Preparing for the fall and holiday seasons

While travelers were planning for the short term in Q2, seasonal trends suggest they will begin planning for fall and end of year holidays soon, so it’s time to prepare to attract travelers ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

 

We’re already seeing an uptick in travel searches for Q4 travel dates from NORAM to Japan, up by nearly 25% YoY, and to Canada, up by nearly 5% YoY, indicating that travelers are planning early for end of year trips. 

 

In Q4 2023, travel searches increased during the week of Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday, led by a nearly 15% increase in NORAM.² 

TAKEAWAY

Join our Black Friday Cyber Monday campaign

One benefit of preparing your marketing strategies ahead of the busy holiday travel season is capturing increased demand.  As travelers ramp up their end-of-year holiday planning, it’s important to start marketing now to ensure your brand stays top of mind. Offering special early holiday promotions and deals can help you build awareness, generate excitement, and secure early bookings before the market becomes saturated with last-minute offers.  

 

As part of your holiday marketing efforts, consider joining our Black Friday, Cyber Monday campaign to increase your hotel’s visibility and maximize opportunities for driving bookings. Joining this campaign can help increase your property’s net-room-nights by over 30% and booking value by over 25%³, making it an effective piece to your overall strategy for boosting bookings and revenue during the holiday season.  

Türkiye drives strong traveler interest

Looking at traveler search trends from Q2 2024, Türkiye emerged as a popular destination, with several towns and cities within the country seeing strong search growth both during the quarter and YoY. Globally, search volume for Manavgat increased 50% YoY, along with Çeşme (40% YoY), Fethiye, and Ayvalik (both 20%).

 

EMEA travelers expressed strong interest for the destination, driving an almost 20% YoY increase in searches to Türkiye for the summer months (July – August), suggesting that they’re planning seasonal trips to the region. 

Growing EMEA interest in Türkiye

Several Turkish cities saw increased search volume YoY from EMEA during Q2 2024.

95%

increase in search volume for Ula

70%

increase in search volume for Ortaca

60%

increase in search volume for Manavgat

TAKEAWAY

Target travelers through advertising

With Türkiye gaining traction as a popular destination, travel brands within the region should ensure they are targeting visitors from different countries to inspire and influence their travel decisions. Partner with Expedia Group Media Solutions and leverage our suite of full-funnel advertising solutions to strategically target and connect with hundreds of millions of travelers around the world shopping on our sites and capture demand.

Travelers flock to beach towns

As temperatures warmed up in the Northern Hemisphere, travelers flocked to beach towns and destinations by the water in Q2.

 

Among the top destinations by region, Palma de Mallorca, Spain jumped from no. 10 to no. 5 on the list for EMEA and resort city Antalya, Türkiye joined the list at no. 4. Cancun, Mexico moved to the top of the list for Latin America (LATAM), and San Diego, California joined the rankings for NORAM.  

Top searched destinations by region

*New top 10 destinations

For APAC travelers 
  1. Tokyo, Japan   
  2. Sydney, Australia  
  3. Seoul, South Korea  
  4. Melbourne, Australia  
  5. Osaka, Japan  
  6. Singapore 
  7. Fukuoka, Japan   
  8. Gold Coast, Australia  
  9. Incheon, South Korea  
  10. Bangkok, Thailand
For EMEA travelers 
  1. London, England
  2. Istanbul, Türkiye
  3. Paris, France
  4. Antalya, Türkiye*
  5. Palma de Mallorca, Spain
  6. Rome, Italy
  7. Barcelona, Spain
  8. New York, New York 
  9. Dubai, UAE 
  10. Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

For LATAM travelers 
  1. Cancun, Mexico    
  2. Mexico City, Mexico   
  3. Sao Paulo, Brazil   
  4. Mazatlán, Mexico   
  5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   
  6. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico   
  7. Playa del Carmen, Mexico   
  8. Madrid, Spain  
  9. New York, New York   
  10. Paris, France
For NORAM travelers
  1. Cancun, Mexico    
  2. Las Vegas, Nevada   
  3. Orlando, Florida    
  4. Los Angeles, California    
  5. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic   
  6. Chicago, Illinois   
  7. Miami, Florida   
  8. New York, New York    
  9. Boston, Massachusetts  
  10. San Diego, California* 

 

We also saw this uptick in interest for beach destinations in our trending city data. During Q2, several cities across the U.S. East Coast saw increases in searches globally, driven by demand from NORAM. Ocean City, Maryland and Virginia Beach, Virginia saw triple-digit increases from April to June while Atlantic City, New Jersey and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, saw double-digit increases in that same period. 

TAKEAWAY

Engage travelers on social

Destinations located by the water should boost marketing efforts with social media to help broaden your reach. Promoting your beach destination on your social platforms can help entice travelers browsing on those channels and encourage them to book a trip. You can also incorporate influencer marketing to your social strategy to help bring your destination to life and further engage with travelers.

Paris gains vacation rental traction

Travel data from Global Web Index (GWI) found that travelers are 17% more likely to be planning for a city break trip in 2024 than they were in 2023. Looking at Expedia Group travelers specifically, they are 25% more likely to be planning city break trips than the general population. 4 Our Vrbo search data supports this, as several major cities including Paris, France drove strong searches for vacation rentals in all four regions. Other cities appearing on the rankings included London, England, New York, New York, and Madrid, Spain.

Top searched destinations by region

*New top 10 destinations

For APAC travelers 
  1. Melbourne, Australia    
  2. Sydney, Australia    
  3. Perth, Australia   
  4. Adelaide, Australia   
  5. London, England  
  6. Brisbane, Australia   
  7. Auckland, New Zealand   
  8. Paris, France  
  9. Rome, Italy  
  10. Waiheke Island, New Zealand  
For EMEA travelers 
  1. London, England 
  2. Paris, France     
  3. Rome, Italy  
  4. Kissimmee, Florida*   
  5. Lisbon, Portugal   
  6. Berlin, Germany   
  7. Nice, France   
  8. Marseille, France*  
  9. Hamburg, Germany   
  10. Barcelona, Spain  
For LATAM Travelers
  1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  2. São Paulo, Brazil 
  3. Kissimmee, Florida*
  4. Ipojuca, Brazil
  5. Florianópolis, Brazil
  6. Mexico City, Mexico
  7. Paris, France
  8. Camaçari, Brazil
  9. New York, New York*
  10. Madrid, Spain* 
For NORAM travelers
  1. Kissimmee, Florida
  2. Port Aransas, Texas*
  3. Nashville, Tennessee
  4. Clearwater Beach, Florida
  5. Chicago, Illinois*
  6. London, England
  7. Orlando, Florida
  8. Scottsdale, Arizona
  9. Paris, France
  10. New York, New York*

The growing interest we saw for Paris in Q1 2024 continued into last quarter. The City of Lights remained on the lists of top searched vacation rental destinations for all four regions as the city hosted a major global sporting event. 

 

Our search data also shows that this event drove tourism to the surrounding cities of Paris, and travelers are staying longer in these destinations compared to pre-event.    

Average trip length growth for French cities

  • Average trip length for Versailles increased by nearly 80% compared to pre-event timeframe and nearly 60% YoY

    •  

  • Average trip length for Serris increased by nearly 40% compared to pre-event and almost 30% YoY  

    •  

  • Average trip length for Paris increased by nearly 30% compared to pre-event and nearly 20% YoY 

TAKEAWAY

Update listings

Travelers are planning more trips to major cities and are seeking out vacation rentals for their accommodations. To capture this demand, hosts should update their listings and include details such as nearby attractions, dining recommendations, public transportation options, and other helpful information to capture travelers looking to book conveniently located accommodations.

 

Pro tip: To help travelers prepare for when plans may change, make sure your cancellation policy is updated and reflected in your property listing details, and consider offering a flexible policy to ease friction for guests.

Major events drive search increases

As highlighted in previous quarters, major events, including sports tournaments and music festivals, continue to inspire travelers to plan trips. In Q2, several popular events sparked traveler interest to various regions and cities where these events were held.

 

  • Coachella drove strong travel search increases, with searches to Indio, California increasing by triple-digits DoD for the days leading up to both festival weekends in April.

    •  

  • The EuroCup (or UEFA European Football Championship), which kicked off on June 14 in Germany, drove a nearly 45% DoD increase in travel searches for the region during the weekend before the tournament started.

 

Looking ahead to upcoming music events, we’re already seeing increases in travel searches to their host destinations.

 

  • For Lollapalooza (August 1-4) and Austin City Limits (October 4-6 and 11-13), we’ve observed a triple-digit DoD increase in travel searches to Chicago, Illinois and Austin, Texas, respectively, for the days before the start of both festivals.

    •  

  • The second leg of the Eras Tour in NORAM is driving interest for Toronto and Vancouver, with travel searches increasing by up to triple-digits DoD for the days leading up to performances in both cities.

TAKEAWAY

Expand booking windows

With events driving traveler interest, make sure you’re aware of upcoming events in your area so you can prepare your advertising and targeting strategies accordingly. Be mindful that tickets for certain events, such as concerts and music tours, are often available for purchase up to one year before the actual event. To capture this demand, ensure your availability is open and pricing is set well ahead of key dates so you can capitalize on early bookings. 

 

You can also elevate your advertising strategies by promoting your business and travel offerings in the context of the event, such as your property’s proximity to the venue, related event activities and experiences, or available transportation options. This can entice those traveling to your city for a specific event to book with you and drive incremental demand. Hotels can also leverage tools such as Accelerator to boost your property’s visibility among travelers by targeting for searches surrounding the event dates.

Looking for more traveler insights and trends to help support your 2024 strategies? Check out our Research & Insights page.

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A headshot of Richard Kocher

Richard Kocher

Senior Director, Media Insights & Planning

 

Richard is senior director of Media Insights & Planning. His team is responsible for mining Expedia Group’s exclusive first-party search and booking data and market insights to inform partners’ strategies, product selection, and audience targeting. Prior to overseeing the global Media, Insights, and Planning team, Richard led Business Development and Account Management teams in display and sponsored listings across EMEA and APAC. He has postgraduate degrees in Anthropology from the University of Sussex and Business Administration from Warwick Business School – and lives with his family in Redmond, Washington.

 

Read more posts by Richard

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