Booking.com CMO on brand's pivot to local sights, and what comes next

A year ago, Booking.com, the Amsterdam-based travel and leisure portal, faced a Covid-led wipeout of its business. As the pandemic swept across the globe, the brand faced an unprecedented maelstrom. To survive, it cut its staff by a quarter and slashed its marketing budget to keep the business afloat while it rode out the storm.

Cut to April 2021 and the platform, long reliant on the boom in global travel fueled by the internet and the rise of low-cost airlines, has scrambled back to the drawing board to seek fresh ideas to keep itself relevant. From a time when it was among the go-to destinations for global travelers, Booking has attempted to pivot into a platform for local holidays and experiences. From catering to wide-eyed travelers finding their way around the globe, its emphasis has now shifted to keeping an eagle's eye on each of its local markets and providing safe travel options to them.

"Like any company in the travel industry, we were hugely impacted," Arjan Dijk, Booking.com's CMO tells Campaign Asia-Pacific, adding that the job cuts, though difficult, were necessary. "It's the right thing to do, because we need to be ready for the future. We need to be able to to survive and be able to serve our customers and partners in the best way possible." Despite spending most of the year keeping the business alive, he believes that thanks to growing vaccination numbers, "there is light at the end of the tunnel." In his opinion, the travel industry—and the world at large—won't slingshot out of the pandemic, but will endure some "bendy curves" before things return to normal.