Google Launches Free Search Analysis Tools For Travel Marketers

Google is launching free tools designed to help travel marketers make more informed decisions based on destination and hotel search data.

Global searches for “where to travel”, “can I travel” and “covid travel restrictions” are near all-time highs, Google reports.

To ensure that travel companies and tourism officials have the information they need to recover from the pandemic, Google has created a set of tools that provide real-time insight into travel demand.

Google began testing these travel analytics tools last December in the Asia-Pacific region. Now, Travel information with Google is being launched in the United States.

“Today, we are launching Travel Insights with Google in the United States, in partnership with Destinations International and Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI). Together, we will bring these tools to the travel industry in the United States and around the world with personalized training materials specifically for destination organizations and hotel marketing professionals.

Travel Insights with Google includes four tools in total: the following tools:

• Destination information
• Hotel information
• Focus on the facts
• Sizing on demand

Here’s more information on each of these tools and what they can do for marketers.

Destination Information

Destination Insights provides a clear picture of the top sources of demand by destination.

The tool allows you to enter a country of origin, a country of destination and a date range, and display the travel request data for that destination.

For example, if you set the country of origin to “Worldwide” and the destination country to “United States”, you can find out where the demand is coming from and which cities they are looking to visit.

In this case, the greatest demand for travel to the United States comes from researchers in North America, and the most popular cities are Las Vegas, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

This data can help marketers understand where potential travelers may come from and adapt.
campaigns accordingly.

Focus on the facts

Focusing Facts is a nested tool within the Destination Insights tool that displays a quick set of information such as “World’s fastest growing destination”, “Country with the most incoming interest” and “Best city in demand. “.

Focusing Facts are based on the last 84 days of data, which provides a well-rounded perspective.

This data appears at the top of the Destination Insights tool. Here’s an example of what that looks like at the time of publication:

Demand sizing tool

The demand sizing tool can also be found in Destination Insights. It allows you to apply separate filters to compare inbound and outbound interest between a primary country and up to ten comparator countries.

Hotel information

Hotel Insights analyzes research trends to help travel marketers understand where interest is coming from and attract new customers by creating a stronger digital presence.

Simply enter a destination and get an overview of recent search trends. Here is an example of the information provided for Nevada, USA:

Since Google started piloting these tools last year, they have helped government tourism officials in places like Singapore and Indonesia answer critical questions when making decisions about reopening borders.

As part of Google’s continued global expansion, Google recently launched localized versions of Travel Insights with Google in countries in Asia and Europe, including Spain, Greece, France, Italy, Croatia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Sources: Travel Insights with Google, Google Ads & Commerce Blog