Travellers claim they get most of their inspiration for where to go on a trip from watching television and sites such as Facebook and Instagram.
YouGov surveyed 10,000 travellers in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) in a bid to discover the influencing factors for travel discovery, as well as where emerging technologies such as virtual reality might fit in.
Interestingly, long-held triggers for a destination such as friends and family offline did not feature in the list of leading factors.
Still, 75% said television shows and content on Facebook were the most common channels for inspiration.
These were followed by 72% for Instagram, 65% for SnapChat, 63% from Twitter and 60% from Pinterest.
Films were cited by 62% of travellers. But, surprisingly, YouTube didn't feature at all.
The web-hungry folk of MENASA also appear to be giving a warm-ish welcome to virtual reality in the search food-chain.
For example, 51% said they found the idea very appealing of tasting a destination on a VR headset before booking.
In fact (sound the klaxon to agencies), almost two-thirds (64%) said they would visit a retail store to use the headsets.
Perhaps most surprisingly was the lukewarm reaction to newbies such as Uber and Airbnb - both of which are supposedly taking many other parts of the world by storm.
Just 27% and 17% respectively said they found the idea of such services appealing.
The YouGov report says:
"Despite obvious concerns about data security related to predictive planning services, it’s clear their value isn’t being ignored with a significant proportion of respondents willing to pay for such services.
"Perhaps the region isn’t ready quite yet to fully embrace peer-to-peer services, which are relatively well-known but unused.
"Nevertheless, the very nature of their existence on technology-based platforms which link seamlessly to popular inspiration sources such as social media and endless possibilities with predictive technology may prove advantageous for future development and adoption in the region."
NB:Travel search image via Shutterstock.