Typically, travel providers plan and market their offerings (especially in search) before any major holiday season, festivals or other special event.
Metasearch engine Wego says this marketing activity should also happen right after major cultural occasions or events.
Wego studied the flight and hotel search patterns performed by travellers in key markets such as Middle East, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and India. Interestingly, across all of these markets, the search traffic went high following major holidays.
Joachim Holte, chief marketing officer of Wego, says:
“While the inclination may be to target travellers prior to major holiday periods it’s essential that marketers are aware that travellers also seek more travel opportunities immediately after returning from holiday."
Following the major Middle East holiday of Eid in August, flight searches increased by 42%, higher than the average during the eight weeks prior. Same pattern was noticed in Indonesia after Lebaran, and in Australia after last year's Christmas and New Year.
In Singapore, flight searches went up by 19% after Chinese New Year, and in Hong Kong it went up by 59% after the Golden Week celebration in China.
In India, where the hotels market is seemingly booming, hotel search queries increased by over 100% after the country's major festival of Diwali.
Here is an infographic:
NB:Holiday image via Shutterstock.