With the travel industry desperate for good news, talk of China opening up again brings hope to many.
Nothing can be taken as certain, however, with talk in the next breath of concerns around secondary infections of the virus or contamination from travelers or citizens arriving in the country from other areas.
Trying to make sense out of all this is challenging but organizations tracking travel search activity are well-placed to discern any trends.
Travel marketing specialist Sojern says in mainland China it sees a huge uptick in flight searches, an increase in hotel searches and has heard anecdotally that consumers are now calling hotels with queries.
However, there are “always more layers to the story," the company cautions, saying that often the flight searches are for smaller cities and believes it could be residents returning home as restrictions are lifted.
There have also been positive signs in Singapore, in terms of the volume of hotel searches, but it is for domestic bookings.
Referring to the city-state, Amber Kuo, director of travel insights at Sojern, says: "We saw a lot of people doing staycations. They still want somewhere to go, they still want to have a life. People were looking for stays in March, April and May which is a good sign of how positive they feel.”
The company also expects self-drive weekends and vacations will be popular in North America, once travel restrictions are lifted.
Sojern says that although travel searches hit "rock bottom" when the restrictions came into force, state-by-state, search trends still show consumer interest for trips in August and September, as well as for drive markets.
European markets are more challenging to call, Sojern believes, with social restrictions coming into place across countries at a more more rapid pace, impacting travel immediately.
Noreen Henry, chief revenue officer for Sojern, says there are questions being raised as to whether travel marketing as a discipline will ever be the same, adding that the technology helping hotels to drive direct business is more sophisticated than during previous periods of global instability, such as the global financial crisis and the SARS outbreak.
The sentiment supports reports from Italian hoteliers, who say they will want to start from "point zero" in their relationship with intermediaries, once the industry emerges from the current crisis.
Sojern believes brands should be cautious around the chances of a "v-shaped recovery."
Although there will be strong demand, the state of the global economy and the impact on discretionary spend could mean the travel industry takes longer to recovery.
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March 30, 2020 at 07:22PM
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Search data reveals some positive trends but industry should remain cautious - PhocusWire
"search" - Google News
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