The Travel Researcher

Explore the synergy between classic marketing wisdom and artificial intelligence innovations, shaping the next frontier

of travel experiences

Travel Content

Why Isn't My Travel Advertising Generating Bookings?

April 03, 20242 min read

Are you spending lots of money on advertising campaigns and wondering why you are not getting any bookings?

It is more than likely your call to action is sending them somewhere that doesn't match the expectations driven by your ad campaign. It could be:

👉There is no call to action

👉Your 'visit our website' CTA sends your ideal traveller to a generic home page with nothing referencing the ad they have just seen

👉You are sending your ideal traveller to a standard itinerary page that doesn't have much information

👉You 'gate' your brochures which means you want an email address to give them access to your brochures - this is madness. They just want to browse.

👉You have a time sensitive offer but don't offer immediate real time availability

👉Your website is scant with information

I have seen all of these scenarios recently.

I'm talking millions of dollars being spenton ads down to $100 spent on 'a' ad.

Either way, what you spend on ads is precious.

Brands are wondering why bounce rates are so high - that is, an ideal traveller is triggered to visit your website by an ad, then promptly leaves.

Recent Google travel research tells us that more than half (52%) half of travellers change their mind on what brand they choose, once they start researching.

This means, there is a 52% chance that your ideal traveller will switch to another brand than originally intended.

And once they leave your website, they head down that Google rabbit hole for hours on end never to be seen again.

Potentially your ad has assisted in growing the category but maybe not a booking for your brand.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨?

As a travel researcher, I have spoken to thousands of travellers over the years.

High yielding, repeat travellers spend hundreds of hours a years, researching, talking and thinking about trips and travel. It is a hobby.

So, you need to have plenty of good, useful, relevant and helpful content on your site or your CTA.

You need to keep them on your site to lower the bounce rates.

You have dedicated landing pages if you can to talk to the ad they have just seen.

If you can't do that, just have lots of useful content on there.

Don't provide fluffy content that tells them nothing (beware of ChatGPT here).

There has never been a better time to be in the travel and tourism industry.

The next 5 years are going to be huge!

This is thanks to +50s with lots of time and money to travel.

If you want help with traveller research inspired content, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or, book a call on my calendar here:  https://travelmarketingmachine.com/calendar-bookingbronwynwhite30minutes

blog author image

Bronwyn White

I'm Bronwyn White, founder of the Travel Marketing Machine™. I have been researching travellers for over 25 years and have helped hundreds of businesses increase sales and bookings via evidence-based marketing and sales strategies. I have seen lots of change in how we market, sell and take bookings in travel.

Back to Blog

© 2024 TRAVEL MARKETING MACHINE™