Google has published figures revealing how desperate consumers are to travel again.
The company says search demand for travel in May was up 270% compared to May 2020 and that the figure is likely to rise.
Unsurprisingly searches for the term flights to Portugal spiked towards the end of May and as restrictions in the country lifted, searches for places to stay in the U.K. were up more than 75% year-on-year.
More recent figures from Skyscanner reveal massive increases in search volumes for destinations placed on the U.K's green list this week.
Searches to Palma, Majorca were up 690% in 24 hours, Ibiza searches increased 845% while searches to Madeira increased 1749% in the same period.
Google points to research revealing changing needs and concerns from consumers.
Skyscanner, for example, has said travel companies are seeing an increase in advance bookings for later in the year.
In addition, searches for the term "beach holiday" have been steadily rising in 2020 but "city breaks" are not yet recovering compared to 2019 levels.
Activities also seem to be on consumers’ minds, with the term “rentals near” seeing global growth of 100% year-on-year.
Top searches in this category include kayak rentals near me, bike rentals near me and boat rentals near me.
As U.K. consumers figure out where to go safely and within restrictions, Google says searches for terms such as “where to travel to” have risen alongside views of travel-related content on YouTube.
Google’s tips to help marketers in these turbulent times include monitoring trends to discern what is pandemic-related and what will remain and implementing different strategies for difference audiences.