Google Adwords for the Travel Industry

Today's Travel consumers are growing more technology savvy and sophisticated. Throughout the travel research and buying process they turn to the Internet and search engines like Google to help them make informed decisions, decisions on holiday destinations, flights, accommodation, car rentals, cruises and more.

Google AdWords helps travel providers reach consumers at all stages of the buying cycle: while they’re doing initial research, comparing options or getting ready to purchase. The result is highly-qualified traffic, with increased sales and Return on Investment to match.

Here’s why Google can help you drive traffic and sales for your travel business:

Travel Consumers Rely on Search Engines

  • Almost three out of every four (74%) consumers use a search engine when researching and purchasing travel products or services online
  • In 14 out of 18 countries surveyed, online searches have surpassed “referrals from friends and family” and “visits to a travel agent” as the #1 source for deciding where to go on holiday. Consumers world-wide from the US to Australia to China are turning to the internet to obtain information about travel.
  • Of the ever-growing number of consumers who use search engines for travel, 82% named Google as their preferred source for researching travel products and services.
  • In a recent consumer survey, 88% of respondents planning to take a holiday this year have used or intend to use the internet to research and purchase their holiday arrangements.

 

 

Travel Industry Case Study:

The Client: Italy-Accom

Italy-Accom.com are a specialist short-term accommodation agency based in Rome, offering over 500 apartments and villas for rent across Italy to holiday makers and business travellers. They offer a popular alternative to booking a hotel for visitors to Italy's many popular tourist destinations.

The Challenge:

With over 5 years operating experience in the tough Italian accommodation market, Italy-Accom approached Clue Design requesting help in managing their large spend Google AdWords PPC campaign, looking to increase the quality of bookings/sales enquiries and reduce cost-per-conversion.

The Results:

So far, we have reduced Italy-Accom's AdWords cost/per conversion by 26% (in an ever-increasing competitive market), while increased the quality of booking enquiries. We were able to reduce the number of fake or non paying bookings made on their websites significantly with changes to page design, thereby saving operational time for staff.

Looking Forward:

While Google AdWords is a great tool for Italy-Accom and brings in a significant number of new clients every day, we are working closely with them to broaden their marketing channels so as to not have all their eggs in onebasket. This includes significant SEO efforts to increase their organic (aka natural) search rankings in all the major search engines (a process that has just begun with new content and code in 2008), as well as testing and trialling other online advertising options.

Nevertheless, all of these efforts are being squarely driven by the awesome data from Google AdWords. Since we have more than 12 months of real-world search data, we know exactly which keyword phrases and ad copy perform to best convert to sales. We are now primed and ready to tackle one of the most competitive markets in the world today!