Asia to Pass North America in Travel Sales – Digital Marketing News This Week

This week, we’re talking about the Asian travel market.

The year 2017 will be an important milestone for the online travel industry, with new evidence suggesting Asia-Pacific will overtake North America as the world’s largest region for digital travel spending next year. The shift has important implications for any travel marketer thinking about which travel segments to target and where to focus their investments in the years to come. Are enough travel marketers prioritizing the Asia-Pacific region? What digital strategies will be most successful reaching travelers in the region? Read on for more details, plus the rest of this week’s news.

Asia Set to Overtake North America’s Digital Travel Market in 2017
With so many travel companies and travel news outlets based in the U.S. and Europe, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how big the market opportunity is outside these borders. Today, we have proof. According to new forecasts, Asia’s digital travel market will overtake North America’s as the world’s largest in 2017. Anyone looking for data proving they should be investing in reaching travelers in Asia need look no further. Read more

Marketers Try to Target Travelers Looking to Get ‘Off the Grid’
“Do you have Wi-Fi?” might seem like the most common question received by travel businesses these days, but not all travelers want to stay connected on the road. In fact, a growing segment of consumers is looking for just the opposite, seeking out destinations and businesses that let them escape the daily crush of social media notifications and news stories. Here’s how hospitality companies like Club Med and Lake Placid Lodge are trying to reach them. Read more

How Independent Hotels Can Take Advantage of Snapchat’s Geofilters
Want to start reaching younger travelers on Snapchat, but don’t have $50,000 to spend on an ad campaign? According to some digital marketers, you might try using a Snapchat tool called geofilters. The tool, which allows individuals and brands to tag content to specific real-world locations, can be a powerful, but targeted, way to reach potential customers and guests. Read more

Barry Diller Discusses Expedia and the Future of Online Travel
Media executive Barry Diller is well-known for his longstanding role as Chairman of online travel agency Expedia, helping guide the once-fledging company from a position of tentative upstart in 2001 to today’s travel industry titan. This week, the businessman shared some interesting thoughts in a new interview on the state of travel industry and the future of the online booking. Read more

Airbnb Tests Ways to Integrate Travel Services With the ‘Smart Home’
A growing range of “smart” devices like the Amazon Echo are changing the way many of us shop, get online and control our homes. The success of such devices has attracted the attention of travel firms like Kayak and now Airbnb, both of which are trying to make sure consumers continue to use their services even as new interfaces like voice search, chat bots and artificial intelligence evolve. Read more

Google Unveils New Travel Tools for Search Users
Search marketing giant just announced a range of new hotel and flight search tools to help travel shoppers to better narrow results. The new tools allow searchers to more quickly identify hotels offering deals, find properties offering the most “bang for your buck” and keep tabs on flight price changes. As with many new Google tools, if they are successful with users, the company often rolls out a corresponding ad product. Read more