Google's Three Best Practices To Capture Travel Demand

The search giant says there has been a surge in queries globally related to travel in the last year. For example, searches for “cheapest countries to visit” were up 7000% between February 22 and April 22 of this year compared to the same period in 2021. Between December 28, 2021, and February 25, 2022, searches for “entry requirements” were up 600%, and searches for “book a flight” were up 70% compared to the same period a year earlier.

In last week’s Q2 earnings report from parent company Alphabet, Google senior vice president and chief business officer Philipp Schindler said searches for places to visit in the summer were up in the second quarter 2X globally year-over-year and searches for last-minute hotel deals were up 50%.

For Google that increased search activity translates to revenue, which was up 14% in Q2 to $40.7 billion “driven by both travel and retail,” according to Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat.

For partners, such as airlines and hotels, the uptick in search activity is a positive sign, but one that still requires strategy to determine how to convert that consumer interest into bookings.

“What we’ve learned over the last couple of years is it’s been really hard to predict where travel will be happening, how many people will be traveling and what restrictions may prevent or empower them,” says Susie Vowinkel, a managing director of global travel for Google.

“What we are really trying to do is help our partners be able to capture that demand without having to know exactly what those things are that they need to anticipate and just to be prepared to capture it naturally as it returns.”