From advancing technologies to new trends, this year has already seen some exciting headlines in the world of Travel marketing. Here is your monthly Travel Digital Digest:

The rise of social

Data-driven marketing company Sojern has completed its first global survey of travel markets. The results have found that travel brands are targeting their increased budgets towards social media marketing.

Surveying more than 600 people from 46 countries, it explored the latest strategies, challenges and opportunities within travel marketing. The new focus on social platforms comes as no surprise as according to market research company Statista, social media users are set to grow to more than 3 billion by 2021.

Vice president of marketing at Sojern, Jackie Lamping, said: ‘The travel marketers’ survey found firms of all sizes and advertising budgets are looking to Facebook and Instagram as they look to dial down their reliance on Google.’

Package holidays on the up

The latest political headlines may have caused brands to prepare for a drop in holiday sales, but a survey of 1,600 people has revealed that more than half are likely to opt for an all-inclusive holiday. Online travel company Travelzoo found that 86% of those surveyed are looking to get more for their money when heading abroad.

James Clarke, general manager of Travelzoo UK, said: ‘While Brexit continues to cause uncertainty, it’s encouraging to see that Brits are still looking to travel in 2019. Although many holidaymakers are looking for better-value deals by booking earlier, or sacrificing convenience for cost, they are still willing to spend abroad to make the most of their time.’

A virtual world

Global IT provider for the travel and tourism industry Amadeus has joined forces with Barclaycard’s Precisionpay to bring virtual cards to B2B payments.

The wallet payment solution is said to help businesses better monitor spending through generating single-use credit cards. As each card is linked to a specific payment, any transaction can be automatically settled. For brands working with suppliers, the technology allows upfront payments without affecting cashflow.

Barclaycard have said that brands can now save time and effort when it comes to accounting and finance through using the technology.

Google Text Ads show on YouTube

If you’ve been looking for ways to increase your reach when it comes to Google Text Ads, a YouTube announcement at SMX West in San Jose could be just the ticket. The popular video platform announced that is has developed its search advertisement by partnering with Google Text Ads.

When users head to the site and enter relevant keywords in their search, text ads will be shown in the results. Available on mobile search feed only, brands will be able to advertise to YouTube’s 1.9 billion users. Brands are being advised to monitor their advertising stats and impressions as there is likely to be a significant increase.

What’s coming up?  

Want some marketing predictions? Gauging opinion from 14 worldwide digital marketers, LinkedIn revealed that businesses should be looking towards incorporating chatbots, voice search and more.

With global research company Gartner revealing that by 2020, natural-language generation and artificial intelligence will be a standard feature in 90% of modern BI platforms, brands are expected to see a huge rise in the use of this technology this year.

When talking about the advancing voice search technology Neil Patel, founder of Neil Patel Digital, said: ‘By 2020, Comscore estimates that half the searches on Google will be through voice search. If you want to do well in 2019, you need to be leveraging voice search.’

The first couple of months have already seen big changes, developments and interesting statistics in travel digital marketing. With the year set to bring many more, it can be challenging to keep on top of the updates. To stay up-to-date on the latest trends in travel, get in touch with Ad-Rank Media today.

The post Travel Digital Digest: Jan/Feb 2019 appeared first on Ad-Rank Media.