Skift Take
Travel companies slashed marketing budgets last year as travel in the majority of the world became an unknown future. Now that the recovery has begun, they need to double down on marketing investment to drive recovery and growth.
Haixia Wang, Skift Research
When the pandemic started and travel was immediately put on pause last year, marketing budgets were among the first to undergo drastic reduction in travel companies around the world. Skift Research conducted a survey in late April last year to gauge the damage to the marketing team. Out of the 756 companies participating in the survey, 90 percent had already cut marketing spending.
Now that we are on the fast track of recovery, what marketing leaders have in front of them are tough jobs of recalibrating still-limited resources and helping steer their companies in the right direction through their knowledge of consumers and actions to reach consumers. Where do marketing teams stand now in terms of budget allocation and marketing priorities? What has changed in the media mix and what should be the new balance and media objectives?
Skift Research’s new Digital Advertising in Travel 2021 report tackles these key questions. We conducted a survey of marketing professionals across major travel sectors and interviewed four senior executives, representing hospitality, metasearch and destinations. This report presents key findings from the survey and insights from these executives, and discusses focal areas in using media and marketing to drive recovery and long-term growth.
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What You’ll Learn From This Report
- Travel company marketing budget allocation and changes in focus on paid media, marketing technology, third-party services, and in-house staffing in 2019-2021
- Travel company advertising budget allocation and changes in major media channels and formats in 2019-2021
- Travel marketers’ digital maturity level as measured by adoption rates of advanced measurement and campaign management tools
- Top media priorities and challenges for 2022
- Skift’s recommendations on strategic and tactical focuses to optimize ad performance and drive growth
Subscribe to Skift Research ReportsThis is the latest in a series of reports and data products that Skift Research puts out to help you analyze the impact of the coronavirus on the travel industry. Tap into the opinions and insights of our seasoned network of staffers and contributors. Over 200 hours of desk research, data collection, and/or analysis goes into each report.
After you subscribe, you will gain access to our entire vault of reports conducted on topics ranging from technology to marketing strategy to deep dives on key travel brands. You will also be able to access our proprietary Skift Recovery Index and Skift Health Score data and reports.