The summer holidays are just around the corner and tourism campaigns are already in full swing to attract the largest possible audience. So we ask ourselves: how do travellers choose their holiday destination, and do social media and AI really have as much influence as is being talked about in marketing and advertising forums? The answer is yes.
That social networks are booming is a reality and it is becoming increasingly clear how important they are for companies and brands, which is why they also play a key role in the tourism sector. These platforms allow access to shared experiences, recommendations and opinions that are mostly real, which gives a greater veracity to the message.
Nowadays it is as simple as entering the name of a destination in the search engine of Instagram, TikTok or Youtube to find thousands of tips, advice and opinions about it. Photos of idyllic paradises in the most unexpected corners are one of the biggest tourism campaigns we can find today.
According to Tiktok’s latest Travel Playbook, this platform inspires more than 74% of unplanned purchases of travel-related products or experiences. The reality is that tourism is booming but increasingly, the destinations of choice are those that are more photographable, Instagrammable or have gone viral on the internet.
Even so, all these benefits are mainly in what we could call the discovery phase, the final purchase is still made by airlines, hotels or official travel management companies.
But what about Artificial Intelligence and how do users use it to find their holiday destination?
– Destination discovery. One of the main functions of AI is to suggest destinations. Based on the user’s priorities, this tool can instantly display different destinations that meet these characteristics.
– Optimise the itinerary. Once the destination has been chosen, the most important thing is to organise the trip. For this, AI is also a great advance as it allows us to obtain a complete and planned itinerary day by day of everything we want to do during our trip.
– Searching for and booking transport. Not only with the destination or the organisation of the trip, the mode of transport can also be solved with this tool, as it can solve all the doubts about how to get to our destination.
As we can see, both social networks and Artificial Intelligence have become fundamental tools for the tourism sector, which is why they should be included in any media and advertising strategy as a fundamental part of it, taking into account the user’s journey from the search to the purchase of the trip.
