Whitepaper_Destination Analysis Q3 2011
Transcript of Whitepaper_Destination Analysis Q3 2011
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UK Travel WhitepaperQ3 2011: Destination Analysis
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ........................................................... 2
Introduction ................................................................... 3
Summary & Recommendations ...................................... 4
Hotel Destination Analysis .............................................. 5
Domestic Hotel Destination Trends .......................... 5
Foreign Hotel Destination Trends ............................. 6
Full list of Hotel Destination Analysis ........................ 7
Air Travel Destination Analysis ....................................... 8
Foreign Air Travel Destination Trends ....................... 8
City Break Air Travel Destination Trends................... 9
IATA Airport Code Trends .......................................... 9
Full list of Air Travel Destinations .............................. 10
Holiday Destination Analysis .......................................... 11
Top 10 Holiday Destinations ..................................... 11
Seasonality profiles of top growing destinations ...... 12
Biggest moving Holiday Destinations ........................ 12
Country names as Holiday Destinations .................... 13
Full list of Holiday Destinations ................................. 14
Car Hire Destination Analysis .......................................... 15
Top Domestic Car Hire Destinations ......................... 15
Foreign Car Hire Destination trends .......................... 16
Car Hire Query composition and growth .................. 16
Full list of Car Hire Destinations ................................ 17
Methodology ................................................................. 18
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Introduction
Global Recession, political unrest, a lot of snow, two ash
clouds, and a rather big weddingwhere to start?
The past 24 months have been difficult for the UK Travel industry. After the initial low when the
recession first hit, 2010 was expected to be a better year. But between the snow and ash cloud
we never saw fruition of the peak season. By the time the snow storms of late 2010 arrived, we
were ready for a break and looked forward to a robust 2011.
January 2011 looked great, with a stellar few weeks and excellent query volumes and the
bookings that followed. Alas, that was short lived as sales ended and bookings dropped. Wil
and Kate had their wedding, Easter followed and everyone was offline as Google saw query
volumes dip. Some early good weather following Easter kept query volumes subdued and
before you know it, 2011 was half gone. The world experienced various political uprisings,
which played havoc in the holiday market, another Ash Cloud and a lates market that was
shorter than anyone ever expected. Here we are in October with our heads still spinning. With
all of that in mind, it can be difficult to know where to start to try and understand the behaviou
of British tourists.
This Whitepaper is an attempt to go beyond the usual trends and graphs that show the top leve
seasonality of the different travel products, and delve a bit deeper to try to help you understand
your customers and align your strategy to those trends.
Using Googles internal query data, we have compiled the top searched destinations per
product, and where possible, we have tried to understand the trends in light of other research
and publications available.
We have provided some details on the methodology used, and referenced any other material so
that you can look at both our data, and also the data that influenced our conclusions.
We hope you find the information insightful and useful, and of course, please share your
thoughts and feedback it is as welcome as always.
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Summary & Recommendations
Suggested actions resulting from this paper to help you
achieve your goals in 2012
Sub Vertical Key Destinations & Recommended Actions
Hotels
London: Expect 2012 to be a big year for London due to the Olympics. Wealready seen a surge in interest and January 2012 is likely to be a huge per
for this destination. Ensure budgets are uncapped for this busy period
Ad Texts are optimised with Olympic-specific call-to-actions to reflect u
intent towards domestic tourism.
Sharm El Sheikh: As stability returns to Egypt it is likely that interest will areturn to pre 2011 levels. Ensure that budgets will be adjusted for
traditionally popular holiday destination.
Air Travel
City Breaks: As the late summer season has truly ended, focus on city brdestinations such as New York, Copenhagen, Berlin and Edinburgh. Incre
CPCs on these destinations to ensure top positions during the Autum
Winter period when City Breaks are more popular.
Egypt/Sharm el Sheikh: Just as in the Hotels sector, interest in SharmSheikh in 2012 is likely to return. Allow for additional traffic thro
increased budgets.
IATA Codes: Search queries on Airport codes have increased five fold. Ensfull coverage of these terms and optimise Ad Texts to capture
opportunity going forward.
Holidays
Short Haul Destinations: Our analysis indicates that 2011 has seen a clshift towards short haul holiday destinations. Reduced disposable inco
and a weaker pound have made British travellers more likely to reseashort haul holidays than in 2010.
Sharm el Sheikh: Just as for Air Travel and Hotels, Sharm el Sheikh and Egare seeing renewed interest in late 2011, so allow for additional budgets
these destinations in 2012.
France: 2011 was a big year for Holiday queries related to France adestination. Allow for additional budget in January on this destination
direct traffic to high quality landing pages for French destinations.
Car Hire
Domestic Airports: Car hire queries related to domestic airport locatihave seen the greatest increase in query volumes YoY. Search te
containing destination names have not seen similar levels of growth.
Miami/Florida: Similar to trends in the other Sub-Verticals, Miami Florida have seen large increases in both queries and rankings YoY
destination should continue to perform in 2012.
Brand Queries Driving Growth: Branded queries have been driving majority of the 2011 Car Hire query growth, growing 19% YoY. Ensure
coverage of generic, top level queries which cover the upper levels of
search funnel in order to drive brand awareness further along the funnel
closer to the point of purchase.
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1. www.statistics.gov.uk2. http://www.hotel-
industry.co.uk/2011/04/mice-industry-
2011/
Hotel Destination Analysis
Domestic hotel destinations drive growth as overseas
travel numbers decline
Analysis of the top destinations searched for by users in the UK reveals seven of the top ten
destinations are domestic, three of which have seen double digit growth in queries.
Table 1: Top 10 Hotel Destinations
In August 2011, The Office for National Statistics reported a drop in the numbers of visitors
abroad for the fourth consecutive year since 2006.1The weak Pound (1 = 1.46 in 2009, but
only 1.17 in 2010), coupled with repeated disruption to Air Travel and political unrest in the
Middle East and Africa contributed greatly to an increase in domestic tourism. This is reflected
in the analysis above, with double digit growth in all but one of the top domestic Hote
destinations.
With the decline in visits abroad, we can see that London continues to be the most searched fo
Hotel destination, with queries growing by 51% YoY and accounting for almost 15% of Hotedestination queries. This growing interest in London is likely to be due to the onset of research
for accommodation for the 2012 Olympics. Edinburgh has managed to maintain its position, and
even grow its share of queries - this can likely be attributed to the citys focus on hosting
corporate events.2
Other notable movements in Domestic Destinations include Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow
Newcastle and Gatwick Airport all with double digit growth in queries and additional query
share YoY.
Table 2: Top 5 Domestic Movers
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
London +51% 1 1 0 100 14.82% 11.04%
Brighton +2% 2 2 0 24 3.58% 3.94%
Edinburgh +3% 3 3 0 23 3.34% 3.65%
Blackpool +1% 4 4 0 22 3.26% 3.65%
Paris +14% 5 5 0 21 3.11% 3.07%
Manchester +20% 6 6 0 21 3.10% 2.91%
Amsterdam +18% 7 8 +1 17 2.46% 2.34%
Liverpool +19% 8 10 +2 15 2.19% 2.07%
Bath +8% 9 9 0 15 2.16% 2.26%
New York -9% 10 7 -3 13 1.96% 2.42%
Top 10 Hotel Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
Destinat ion Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Liverpool +19% 8 10 +2 15 2.19% 2.07%Cardiff +26% 11 16 +5 13 1.90% 1.69%
Glasgow +21% 14 17 +3 12 1.80% 1.68%
Newcastle +22% 17 19 +2 10 1.55% 1.42%
Gatwick +29% 24 27 +3 7 1.05% 0.92%
Top 5 Domestic Movers Based on YTD Query Volumes
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3. Published in September 2011 by HotelNews Resource
, a leading onlineinformation and knowledge base for
the hospitality & travel industries
http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/ar
ticle57895.html
4. http://www.hitwise.com/uk/registration-pages/quarterly-travel-review
5. http://www.failteireland.ie/Information-Centre/Press-Releases/2011/Dublin-
Set-to-Benefit-from-Growth-in-
Tourism-in-20
Hotel Destination Analysis
Amsterdam leads growth in foreign destinations, but New
York and Dubai fall behind
Looking at the trends in the top ten foreign destinations, we can see that Paris remains the fifth
most searched destination in the Hotel category for UK users and has seen a 14% YoY query
increase. Amsterdam is the second most popular foreign destination, ranked 7th
overall and has
seen 18% YoY query volume growth. The Hotel Rate Parity Trends Study 2011, identified
Amsterdam as the city with the lowest parity in Hotel prices when comparing offers on a Hote
brands website and an online aggregator. According to the research, for 80% of bookings it is
cheaper to book an Amsterdam Hotel via an online aggregator than via the Hotel brand
directly.3
Table 3: Top 10 Foreign Hotel Destinations
The decline in New York queries is surprising as Air Travel related queries for New York have
seen 70% growth YoY. It seems that while users are searching for New York flights, the same
cannot be said for Hotel queries.4 The strong query growth in Dublin is a likely result of theonline and offline efforts of Filte Ireland, an organization to promote tourism in Ireland. Even
though Dublins overall query share has remained roughly the same, it could retain its position
within the competitive environment of short-haul destinations.
Las Vegas has seen very healthy growth, which would be expected given the growth it has
experienced in terms of Air Travel queries, again discussed later on. Las Vegas is ranked 19th
on
both the Hotel and Air Travel Destination Analyses, and has seen double digit growth in both
areas, although a slight decline in rank in Hotels. Although not listed here, Sharm el Sheikh has
dropped by over 50 places to 103rd
in our rankings. We can attribute this to the political unrest
in Egypt earlier this year. Although the drop in hotel queries is quite dramatic (-45% YoY), this is
not quite as severe across other areas such as flights and holidays, which are covered in thenext section.
In Table 4 on the next page we see the entire list of the top 50 hotel destinations. When looking
past the top ranking destinations discussed above, the analysis shows a proportionally stronger
query growth for destinations with smaller market share. The data suggest that users are
becoming more and more specific when researching their destination and therefore driving
stronger query growth to smaller UK as well as international destinations. Advertisers should
ensure to meet this expanded query behaviour and cover a conclusive keyword universe fo
their underlying inventory.
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Paris +14% 5 5 0 21 3.11% 3.07%
Amsterdam +18% 7 8 +1 17 2.46% 2.34%New York -9% 10 7 -3 13 1.96% 2.42%
Dublin +8% 13 13 0 12 1.81% 1.88%
Barcelona -1% 15 12 -3 11 1.67% 1.89%
Dubai -3% 18 15 -3 10 1.48% 1.71%
Las Vegas +14% 19 18 -1 10 1.47% 1.45%
Rome +5% 22 21 -1 9 1.27% 1.35%
Benidorm +22% 25 30 +5 7 0.97% 0.89%
Ibiza +18% 26 26 0 7 0.96% 0.92%
Top 10 Foreign Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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Source: Google Internal Data based on
a bucket of Hotel related search queries
combined with individual destination
names
Hotel Destination Analysis
Full list of top 50 Destinations
Table 4: Full List of Top 50 Hotel Destinations
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
London +51% 1 1 0 100 14.82% 11.04%Brighton +2% 2 2 0 24 3.58% 3.94%
Edinburgh +3% 3 3 0 23 3.34% 3.65%
Blackpool +1% 4 4 0 22 3.26% 3.65%
Paris +14% 5 5 0 21 3.11% 3.07%
Manchester +20% 6 6 0 21 3.10% 2.91%
Amsterdam +18% 7 8 +1 17 2.46% 2.34%
Liverpool +19% 8 10 +2 15 2.19% 2.07%
Bath +8% 9 9 0 15 2.16% 2.26%
New York -9% 10 7 -3 13 1.96% 2.42%
Cardiff +26% 11 16 +5 13 1.90% 1.69%
Bournemouth +4% 12 11 -1 13 1.90% 2.06%
Dublin +8% 13 13 0 12 1.81% 1.88%
Glasgow +21% 14 17 +3 12 1.80% 1.68%
Barcelona -1% 15 12 -3 11 1.67% 1.89%
Birmingham +3% 16 14 -2 11 1.59% 1.74%Newcastle +22% 17 19 +2 10 1.55% 1.42%
Dubai -3% 18 15 -3 10 1.48% 1.71%
Las Vegas +14% 19 18 -1 10 1.47% 1.45%
Bristol +16% 20 20 0 10 1.43% 1.38%
Leeds +13% 21 22 +1 9 1.33% 1.33%
Rome +5% 22 21 -1 9 1.27% 1.35%
Oxford +19% 23 23 0 8 1.25% 1.18%
Gatwick +29% 24 27 +3 7 1.05% 0.92%
Benidorm +22% 25 30 +5 7 0.97% 0.89%
Ibiza +18% 26 26 0 7 0.96% 0.92%
Cambridge +16% 27 28 +1 6 0.94% 0.91%
Scarborough +11% 28 24 -4 6 0.93% 0.95%
Nottingham +17% 29 31 +2 6 0.91% 0.87%
Venice +10% 30 29 -1 6 0.89% 0.91%
Heathrow +6% 31 33 +2 5 0.80% 0.85%Belfast +5% 32 32 0 5 0.79% 0.85%
Southampton +21% 33 38 +5 5 0.78% 0.72%
Jersey +7% 34 35 +1 5 0.72% 0.76%
Inverness +6% 35 37 +2 5 0.70% 0.74%
Tenerife +14% 36 40 +4 5 0.70% 0.69%
Newquay -16% 37 25 -12 5 0.70% 0.94%
Harrogate +5% 38 36 -2 5 0.70% 0.75%
Llandudno +8% 39 39 0 5 0.69% 0.72%
Sheffield +21% 40 43 +3 5 0.68% 0.63%
Portsmouth +12% 41 41 0 4 0.66% 0.67%
Aberdeen +17% 42 44 +2 4 0.65% 0.63%
Windsor +16% 43 46 +3 4 0.61% 0.59%
Windermere +4% 44 42 -2 4 0.60% 0.65%
Majorca +23% 45 50 +5 4 0.55% 0.50%
Prague -23% 46 34 -12 4 0.54% 0.79%
Berlin -4% 47 45 -2 3 0.51% 0.61%
Madrid +13% 48 49 +1 3 0.51% 0.51%
Singapore +2% 49 47 -2 3 0.50% 0.55%
Malta +11% 50 48 -2 3 0.50% 0.51%
Top 50 Hotel Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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6. http://www.hitwise.com/uk/registration-pages/quarterly-travel-review
7. http://www2.postoffice.co.uk/travel/travel-extras/travellers-checklist/travel-
tips
Air Travel Destination Analysis
Foreign destinations continue to drive Air Travel growth
Examination of the top destinations related to Air Travel shows that foreign destinations are
driving YoY growth, with New York, Malaga, Florida and Paris driving growth in queries.
Table 5: Top 10 Air Travel Destinations
The growth in queries for New York is most interesting, growing more than 70% YoY, and
growth in share of queries increased by almost 4.5 percentage points. According to Hitwises
latest Travel Quarterly Review, British Airways have grown market share in 2011, the majority o
which is down to increased traffic on New York and Las Vegas routes. Queries for Las Vegas are
up 32% YoY and share of queries has grown by 0.2 of a percentage point. 6
As discussed in the Hotel analysis, Dublin is performing well due to high visibility from
destination marketing organisations and has grown share of queries by 0.1 of a percentage
point. Although Hotel queries for Amsterdam have grown by 19% YoY, Air Travel queries for
Amsterdam have declined by 3% YoY, and share of queries has decreased by 7%.
City break destinations have widely seen strong growth YoY, and the Post Offices annual survey
of holiday costs indicates that costs have decreased in Dublin, Rome, Berlin, Paris, New York and
Copenhagen all of these destinations have shown strong growth in queries YoY.
Table 6: City Break Destinations with Decreased Travel Costs
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
New York +71% 1 1 0 100 13.67% 9.25%
Amsterdam -3% 2 2 0 29 3.91% 4.65%
Malaga +11% 3 4 +1 28 3.78% 3.92%
Florida +10% 4 3 -1 25 3.48% 3.66%
Paris +17% 5 5 0 23 3.14% 3.09%
Dublin +20% 6 6 0 22 3.04% 2.92%
London +15% 7 8 +1 21 2.90% 2.90%
Dubai +8% 8 10 +2 20 2.78% 2.98%
Barcelona +5% 9 9 0 19 2.62% 2.87%
Alicante +11% 10 11 +1 18 2.40% 2.50%
Top 10 Air Travel Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
New York +71% 1 1 0 100 13.67% 9.25%
Paris +17% 5 5 0 23 3.14% 3.09%
Dublin +20% 6 6 0 22 3.04% 2.92%
Rome +16% 13 14 +1 16 2.13% 2.12%
Berlin +18% 21 23 +2 8 1.13% 1.11%
Copenhagen +23% 64 73 +9 3 0.45% 0.45%
City Break Destinations wiht Decreased Costs7City Break Destinations with Decreased Costs7
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8. http://www.hitwise.com/uk/registration-pages/quarterly-travel-review
Air Travel Destination Analysis
City break destinations on the rise for the Autumn/Winter
Market 2011
We looked at the seasonality profiles of some key city break destinations in Autumn/Winte
2010 and saw that peak queries peaked in October around half-term. In the graph below, we
can see that last year, New Yorks autumn peak occurred at the end of September, Edinburgh
shortly after that, followed by Manchester and Berlin. Copenhagen saw its peak in November,
making it the latest peaking city break destination.
A final note on Airport IATA Codes
The Hitwise Quarterly Travel Report made an interesting observation on the emergence of
Airport Codes being searched on more and quotes a fivefold increase year on year 8. We have
compared Hitwises findings and confirm that this is a trend being seen in Googles data , as
illustrated below.
As can be seen in figure 2 on
the left, queries related to
airport codes have grown
almost 5x over the past 12
months, with a significan
jump in May of this year.
this trend is to continue
ensure full coverage of Airpor
Code terms to capture this
opportunity
2011
City
Break
Peaks
Figure 1: City Break Destinations Seasonality Profiles
Figure 2: Airport Code Query Trends
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Source: Google Internal Data based on
a bucket of Flight related search queries
combined with individual destination
names
Air Travel Destination Analysis
Full list of top 50 Destinations
Table 7: Full List of Top 50 Air Travel Destinations
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
New York +71% 1 1 0 100 13.54% 9.17%
Amsterdam -3% 2 2 0 29 3.87% 4.61%
Malaga +11% 3 3 0 28 3.75% 3.88%
Florida +10% 4 4 0 25 3.45% 3.63%
Paris +17% 5 5 0 23 3.11% 3.06%
Dublin +20% 6 7 +1 22 3.01% 2.89%
London +15% 7 8 +1 21 2.87% 2.87%
Dubai +8% 8 6 -2 20 2.75% 2.95%
Barcelona +5% 9 9 0 19 2.60% 2.85%
Alicante +11% 10 10 0 18 2.37% 2.48%
Orlando +20% 11 13 +2 16 2.20% 2.11%
Ibiza +17% 12 12 0 16 2.16% 2.14%
Rome +16% 13 14 +1 16 2.11% 2.10%
Sydney +8% 14 11 -3 15 2.08% 2.23%Las Vegas +19% 15 15 0 15 1.99% 1.93%
Edinburgh +32% 16 17 +1 14 1.92% 1.68%
Faro +16% 17 18 +1 12 1.59% 1.58%
Dalaman -8% 18 16 -2 11 1.53% 1.91%
Prague +2% 19 19 0 10 1.31% 1.49%
Belfast +29% 20 24 +4 10 1.30% 1.17%
Manchester -6% 21 20 -1 9 1.15% 1.42%
Berlin +28% 22 27 +5 8 1.13% 1.02%
Miami +18% 23 25 +2 8 1.12% 1.10%
Murcia +7% 24 23 -1 8 1.10% 1.19%
Venice +23% 25 26 +1 8 1.09% 1.03%
Nice -15% 26 22 -4 7 0.99% 1.20%
Glasgow +23% 27 31 +4 7 0.98% 0.93%
Bodrum -8% 28 21 -7 7 0.97% 1.23%
Toronto +15% 29 30 +1 7 0.94% 0.95%
San Francisco +23% 30 36 +6 7 0.92% 0.87%
Jamaica +17% 31 33 +2 7 0.92% 0.91%
Majorca +11% 32 32 0 6 0.88% 0.92%
Istanbul +12% 33 35 +2 6 0.85% 0.88%
Geneva -6% 34 28 -6 6 0.81% 1.00%
Lagos +9% 35 37 +2 6 0.81% 0.86%
Athens +9% 36 38 +2 6 0.78% 0.82%
Madrid -8% 37 29 -8 6 0.77% 0.96%
Manila +41% 38 54 +16 5 0.71% 0.58%
Lisbon +8% 39 39 0 5 0.70% 0.75%
Johannesburg +11% 40 43 +3 5 0.69% 0.71%
Los Angeles +7% 41 42 +1 5 0.68% 0.74%
Budapest +25% 42 51 +9 5 0.68% 0.63%
Marrakech +19% 43 46 +3 5 0.67% 0.65%
Cape Town -14% 44 34 -10 5 0.67% 0.90%
Perth +32% 45 53 +8 5 0.67% 0.58%
Vancouver -0% 46 40 -6 5 0.64% 0.75%
Newquay -4% 47 41 -6 5 0.62% 0.75%
Boston +7% 48 47 -1 4 0.60% 0.65%
Pisa +53% 49 66 +17 4 0.60% 0.45%
Munich +4% 50 48 -2 4 0.57% 0.63%
Top 50 Air Travel Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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11. http://www.thomascook.com/holiday-destinations-infographic/
Holiday Destination Analysis
Malta outperforming Ibiza in 2011, while Hawaii has
several peaks throughout the year
Figure 3: Top Growing Holiday Destinations Seasonality Profiles
Sharm el Sheikh suffering after unrest in Egypt, while
Santorini, Gibraltar and Los Angeles are biggest gainers
In terms of larger destinations, the decrease in query volume for Sharm el Sheikh is most
alarming, but it has only fallen 3 positions in the holiday rankings from 15th
to 18th
, despite a
35% decrease in queries YoY and drop in share of queries from 2.31 to 1.46%. But while Sharm
el Sheikh is falling, Santorini is showing impressive growth of 53% YoY, moving up 9 positions to
19th
, and increasing share from 0.96 to 1.42%. Indeed, Google is not the only organization to see
this trend, with Thomas Cook citing Santorini in its top 11 Holiday Destinations for 2011. 11 No
included here but worthy of noting Gibraltar has moved 16 places to make it into the top 50,
ranked 49th
and showing 85% query growth, YoY.
Table 9: Ten Biggest Moving Holiday Destinations
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Jan 10 Mar 10 May 10 Jul 10 Sep 10 Nov 10 Jan 11 Mar 11 May 11 Jul 11 Sep 11
RelativeQueryVolumes
Malta
Ibiza
Majorca
Benidorm
Hawaii
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Sharm el Sheikh -35% 18 15 -3 18 1.46% 2.31%
Santorini +53% 19 28 +9 17 1.42% 0.96%
Rome +20% 20 24 +4 17 1.41% 1.22%
Madeira +24% 21 26 +5 17 1.39% 1.16%
Jamaica -15% 23 20 -3 16 1.32% 1.60%
Amsterdam -17% 24 19 -5 16 1.29% 1.60%
Orlando -6% 25 22 -3 15 1.26% 1.38%
Barcelona -2% 27 23 -4 14 1.16% 1.22%
Rhodes -13% 29 25 -4 12 0.98% 1.16%
St Lucia +64% 32 36 +4 10 0.83% 0.52%
10 Biggest Moving Holiday Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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Holiday Destination Analysis
Country names as important as resort names for holiday
search queries
When we include country names the Destination Analysis, we see some interesting trends
Instead of Florida as the top destination, Turkey is by far the most searched for when with
more than double the search volume of Florida. Spain is second largest, with 20% more
searches. In keeping with the trends discussed on page 11, we can see that Spain has grown
YoY, albeit slightly. Given the strong growth in queries for Spanish resorts, it appears that users
are more savvy about where they would like to go. Table 10 below, shows the top 30 Holiday
Destinations and the impact of country names as destinations.
Table 10: 30 Top Holiday Destinations Including Countries
It is difficult to draw a solid conclusion regarding country terms. As with resort terms, some
country terms are growing and some are declining. Its worth noting the growth of France, Cubaand Australia; however, France has moved 6 places year on year, and has grown share of
queries by almost 0.7 of a percentage point a huge jump from a relatively small base. There
have been smaller but significant jumps of 2 and 3 places respectively for Cuba and Australia.
In Table 11 on the next page we see the entire list of the top 50 holiday destination. Similar to
the Hotel destination analysis, Holiday specific data suggest that the majority of growth is
triggered by smaller, more specific destinations. The data suggest that users become more and
more specific when researching their holiday destination; making it increasingly important to
cover a conclusive keyword universe.
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Turkey -13% 1 1 0 100 10.69% 12.44%
Spain +1% 2 2 0 55 5.90% 5.89%
Florida -5% 3 3 0 43 4.59% 4.88%
Greece -2% 4 6 +2 37 3.92% 4.06%
Cyprus -7% 5 4 -1 36 3.90% 4.24%
Dubai -7% 6 5 -1 36 3.85% 4.20%
Tenerife +6% 7 7 0 35 3.73% 3.57%
New York -8% 9 9 0 30 3.16% 3.47%
Cuba +19% 10 12 +2 29 3.05% 2.59%
Las Vegas -3% 11 10 -1 27 2.88% 3.01%
Malta +28% 12 14 +2 27 2.87% 2.27%
Mexico +9% 13 13 0 26 2.75% 2.55%
Maldives -0% 14 11 -3 25 2.70% 2.74%
Ibiza +14% 15 15 0 23 2.49% 2.20%
Majorca +22% 16 16 0 20 2.17% 1.79%
France +52% 17 23 +6 20 2.14% 1.42%
Benidorm +31% 18 19 +1 19 2.07% 1.60%
Hawaii +22% 19 22 +3 17 1.77% 1.47%
Barbados +1% 20 17 -3 16 1.66% 1.66%
Lanzarote +3% 21 20 -1 14 1.55% 1.53%
Goa -5% 22 21 -1 13 1.41% 1.50%
Jersey +4% 23 24 +1 13 1.38% 1.35%
Mauritius -22% 24 18 -6 12 1.24% 1.61%
Gran Canaria +3% 25 26 +1 11 1.23% 1.20%
Zante +14% 26 27 +1 10 1.10% 0.98%
Bali +13% 27 28 +1 9 0.99% 0.88%
Australia +6% 28 31 +3 8 0.85% 0.81%
Sharm el Sheikh -35% 29 25 -4 8 0.81% 1.26%
Santorini +53% 30 44 +14 7 0.79% 0.52%
30 Top Holiday Destinations Including Countries Based on YTD Query Volumes
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UK Destination Analysis
Source: Google Internal Data based on
a bucket of Holiday related search
queries combined with individual
destination names. These queries
consist of holidays to florida,
package holidays to florida, florida
all inclusive holidays etc....
Holiday Destination Analysis
Full list of top 50 Destinations
Table 11: Full List of Top 50 Hotel Destinations
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Florida -5% 1 1 0 100 8.24% 8.94%Dubai -7% 2 2 0 84 6.91% 7.70%
Tenerife +6% 3 3 0 81 6.70% 6.55%
New York -8% 4 4 0 69 5.68% 6.35%
Las Vegas -3% 5 5 0 63 5.16% 5.52%
Malta +28% 6 6 0 63 5.15% 4.16%
Ibiza +14% 7 7 0 54 4.46% 4.03%
Majorca +22% 8 8 0 47 3.89% 3.28%
Benidorm +31% 9 10 +1 45 3.72% 2.92%
Hawaii +22% 10 13 +3 39 3.18% 2.70%
Barbados +1% 11 9 -2 36 2.98% 3.04%
Lanzarote +3% 12 11 -1 34 2.78% 2.80%
Goa -5% 13 12 -1 31 2.52% 2.75%
Jersey +4% 14 14 0 30 2.48% 2.47%
Gran Canaria +3% 15 16 +1 27 2.20% 2.20%
Zante +14% 16 17 +1 24 1.97% 1.79%Bali +13% 17 18 +1 22 1.78% 1.62%
Sharm el Sheikh -35% 18 15 -3 18 1.46% 2.31%
Santorini +53% 19 28 +9 17 1.42% 0.96%
Rome +20% 20 24 +4 17 1.41% 1.22%
Madeira +24% 21 26 +5 17 1.39% 1.16%
Corfu -3% 22 21 -1 16 1.32% 1.41%
Jamaica -15% 23 20 -3 16 1.32% 1.60%
Amsterdam -17% 24 19 -5 16 1.29% 1.60%
Orlando -6% 25 22 -3 15 1.26% 1.38%
Paris +29% 26 27 +1 15 1.23% 0.98%
Barcelona -2% 27 23 -4 14 1.16% 1.22%
Cancun +10% 28 29 +1 12 1.00% 0.94%
Miami +5% 30 30 0 12 0.95% 0.93%
St Lucia +64% 32 36 +4 10 0.83% 0.52%
Rhodes -13% 29 25 -4 12 0.98% 1.16%Venice -5% 33 32 -1 9 0.77% 0.84%
Marbella +2% 31 31 0 11 0.88% 0.89%
Marrakech +2% 34 33 -1 9 0.76% 0.77%
Antigua -26% 36 34 -2 5 0.45% 0.62%
California +26% 37 40 +3 5 0.44% 0.36%
Guernsey -10% 38 38 0 4 0.37% 0.42%
Canaries +12% 41 47 +6 4 0.35% 0.32%
Dubrovnik +8% 35 35 0 8 0.63% 0.60%
Phuket -21% 40 37 -3 4 0.35% 0.46%
Hong Kong +17% 48 54 +6 3 0.26% 0.22%
Prague +14% 44 51 +7 4 0.30% 0.27%
Singapore +2% 39 41 +2 4 0.36% 0.36%
Newquay +8% 42 46 +4 4 0.34% 0.32%
Blackpool +12% 43 50 +7 4 0.30% 0.28%
London -16% 47 48 +1 3 0.26% 0.32%Florence -9% 53 52 -1 3 0.22% 0.25%
Grenada +66% 60 68 +8 2 0.18% 0.11%
Abu Dhabi +21% 51 60 +9 3 0.24% 0.20%
Gibraltar +85% 45 61 +16 4 0.29% 0.16%
Phoenix -27% 50 45 -5 3 0.24% 0.34%
Top 50 Holiday Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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UK Destination Analysis
Source: Google Internal Data based on
a bucket of Car Hire related search
queries combined with individual
destination names
Car Hire Destination Analysis
Domestic destinations showing largest growth in Car Hire
Queries
The decline in foreign trips in 2011 is very evident in the Car Hire analysis, which reveals that of
the top 50 Car Hire destinations, 14 are domestic and 9 of those 14 are growing YoY. Of the
remaining 34 foreign destinations, only 9 have seen YoY increases in query volumes.
Table 12: Top 10 Car Hire Destinations
The apparent overall decrease in destination queries YoY is concerning, and at first glance it
may indicate that Car Hire queries have declined as a whole, but we know this to be untrue and
have reported between 12 and 17% YoY growth in Car Hire queries in 2011, depending on the
periods compared. On the next page we have discussed the composition of Car Hire queries
and have determined the growth rates of the different types of queries, but for the purposes of
this section of the Whitepaper, we will focus on understanding the movements in destination
rankings.
Table 13: Domestic Car Hire Destinations
Looking at the movement in destination rankings, we can see that airport destinations in the UK
have seen the largest increases in both rankings and queries YoY. The only airport specific
destination to decrease YoY is Heathrow, but it has still gained 2 places in the rankings YoY.
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Spain -17% 1 1 0 100 9.81% 10.70%
London -15% 2 2 0 57 5.64% 5.98%
Malaga -9% 3 3 0 54 5.27% 5.25%
France -16% 4 4 0 40 3.92% 4.22%
Cyprus -15% 5 5 0 34 3.30% 3.50%
Florida -9% 6 6 0 34 3.30% 3.27%
Alicante -9% 7 7 0 30 2.98% 2.96%
Orlando -8% 8 10 +2 22 2.18% 2.15%Faro -11% 9 8 -1 22 2.17% 2.21%
Edinburgh +7% 10 11 +1 22 2.16% 1.83%
Top 10 Car Hire Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
London -15% 2 2 0 57 5.64% 5.98%
Edinburgh +7% 10 11 +1 22 2.16% 1.83%
Glasgow +6% 12 12 0 20 2.00% 1.71%
Aberdeen +24% 17 21 +4 16 1.59% 1.16%
Brighton +38% 20 29 +9 15 1.42% 0.93%
Manchester -11% 23 20 -3 12 1.17% 1.19%
Inverness +23% 26 35 +9 11 1.11% 0.81%
Heathrow -4% 28 30 +2 10 0.97% 0.91%
Belfast +3% 29 34 +5 10 0.94% 0.82%
Liverpool +10% 35 43 +8 8 0.82% 0.67%
Gatwick +22% 37 52 +15 8 0.79% 0.58%
Dundee +54% 43 61 +18 7 0.70% 0.41%Leeds -11% 46 40 -6 7 0.68% 0.69%
Bristol -12% 47 41 -6 7 0.66% 0.68%
Domestic Car Hire Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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UK Destination Analysis
Source: Google Internal Data based on
a bucket of Car Hire related search
queries combined with individual
destination names
Car Hire Destination Analysis
Despite general decline in foreign destinations for Car
Hire, some clear trends still emerge
Orlando and Miami have gained in rankings (Miami by 12 places) while Florida, although
unchanged in rank, is placed 6th
overall. This is strong performance for Miami and Florida overal
when we consider the Hotel, Air Travel and Holiday Destination Analysis Miami has grown in
all areas with increases of 11 places in Hotels, 2 places in Air, and holding 30th
place in Holidays.
Table 14: Top Foreign Gainers in Car Hire
A clear change in search query trends
Table 15: Car Hire Query Composition and Growth
Looking at query composition, we see that Branded queries not only make up the largest
proportion of queries in the UK, but are also driving YoY growth. Destination specific queries
make up a significant portion at 17% of all queries, but these have only grown by 1.5% YoY. This
suggests users have started to go direct to Car Hire websites more than searching on generics or
longer tail destination terms. When we look deeper at the composition of Brand queries, we see
that Aggregator searches are consistently up more than 50% YoY, while Supplier searches are
only up 20-30%, depending on the period examined.
This change in query trends implies the obvious opportunity to align your strategy to userbehaviour: if you havent seen significant growth in your brand traffic, direct competitors have
and this is through ensuring full coverage of generics at the upper end of the search funnel
Generic queries drive brand awareness early in the path to purchase, and brand queries drive
conversions closer to the time of purchase. You can then utilise brand building platforms such
as the Google Display Network and YouTube to further grow your brand.
Another opportunity arising from this analysis is the clear growth in van related queries i
van rentals are part of your business, ensure this is being addressed in your ad creative.
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Orlando -8% 8 10 +2 22 2.18% 2.15%
Ibiza +0% 18 19 +1 15 1.48% 1.33%
Dublin +4% 22 23 +1 13 1.32% 1.15%
Mallorca -0% 24 25 +1 12 1.16% 1.06%
Las Vegas +2% 25 26 +1 12 1.13% 1.01%
Miami +12% 34 46 +12 8 0.82% 0.66%
Birmingham -6% 36 38 +2 8 0.80% 0.76%
Dubai +7% 39 49 +10 8 0.76% 0.64%
Los Angeles -0% 40 45 +5 7 0.73% 0.66%
San Francisco +0% 41 47 +6 7 0.73% 0.66%
Fuerteventura -5% 42 44 +2 7 0.71% 0.67%
Corfu +2% 45 50 +5 7 0.69% 0.61%
Top Foreign Gainers in Car Hire Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
Query Type Offer Brand Airport Destination Van
Relative Size 5.34% 49.63% 5.37% 17.26% 22.39%
YoY Growth 1.36% 19.05% 5.71% 1.47% 7.72%
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UK Destination Analysis
Source: Google Internal Data based on
a bucket of Car Hire related search
queries combined with individual
destination names
Car Hire Destination Analysis
Full list of top 50 Destinations
Table 16: Full List of Top 50 Car Hire Destinations
Destination Queries YoY Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Change Size Share 2011 Share 2010
Spain -17% 1 1 0 100 9.81% 10.70%London -15% 2 2 0 57 5.64% 5.98%
Malaga -9% 3 3 0 54 5.27% 5.25%
France -16% 4 4 0 40 3.92% 4.22%
Cyprus -15% 5 5 0 34 3.30% 3.50%
Florida -9% 6 6 0 34 3.30% 3.27%
Alicante -9% 7 7 0 30 2.98% 2.96%
Orlando -8% 8 10 +2 22 2.18% 2.15%
Faro -11% 9 8 -1 22 2.17% 2.21%
Edinburgh +7% 10 11 +1 22 2.16% 1.83%
Ireland -11% 11 9 -2 22 2.12% 2.15%
Glasgow +6% 12 12 0 20 2.00% 1.71%
Tenerife +0% 13 13 0 19 1.88% 1.69%
Lanzarote -0% 14 14 0 19 1.84% 1.67%
Majorca +0% 15 15 0 19 1.82% 1.65%
Menorca -3% 16 16 0 18 1.73% 1.61%
Aberdeen +24% 17 21 +4 16 1.59% 1.16%
Ibiza +0% 18 19 +1 15 1.48% 1.33%
Malta -3% 19 18 -1 15 1.47% 1.37%
Brighton +38% 20 29 +9 15 1.42% 0.93%
Australia -17% 21 17 -4 14 1.40% 1.52%
Dublin +4% 22 23 +1 13 1.32% 1.15%
Manchester -11% 23 20 -3 12 1.17% 1.19%
Mallorca -0% 24 25 +1 12 1.16% 1.06%
Las Vegas +2% 25 26 +1 12 1.13% 1.01%
Inverness +23% 26 35 +9 11 1.11% 0.81%
Crete -13% 27 24 -3 11 1.09% 1.13%
Heathrow -4% 28 30 +2 10 0.97% 0.91%
Belfast +3% 29 34 +5 10 0.94% 0.82%
Geneva -17% 30 28 -2 9 0.90% 0.98%
Jersey -11% 31 31 0 9 0.89% 0.90%
Paphos -14% 32 32 0 9 0.85% 0.89%
Nice -34% 33 22 -11 9 0.85% 1.15%
Miami +12% 34 46 +12 8 0.82% 0.66%
Liverpool +10% 35 43 +8 8 0.82% 0.67%
Birmingham -6% 36 38 +2 8 0.80% 0.76%
Gatwick +22% 37 52 +15 8 0.79% 0.58%
Murcia -28% 38 27 -11 8 0.78% 0.99%
Dubai +7% 39 49 +10 8 0.76% 0.64%
Los Angeles -0% 40 45 +5 7 0.73% 0.66%
San Francisco +0% 41 47 +6 7 0.73% 0.66%
Fuerteventura -5% 42 44 +2 7 0.71% 0.67%
Dundee +54% 43 61 +18 7 0.70% 0.41%
Cape Town -16% 44 39 -5 7 0.70% 0.76%
Corfu +2% 45 50 +5 7 0.69% 0.61%Leeds -11% 46 40 -6 7 0.68% 0.69%
Bristol -12% 47 41 -6 7 0.66% 0.68%
Turkey -28% 48 36 -12 7 0.65% 0.81%
Barcelona -35% 49 33 -16 6 0.63% 0.88%
Pisa -34% 50 37 0 6 0.57% 0.78%
Top 50 Car Hire Destinations Based on YTD Query Volumes
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UK Destination Analysis
Methodology
Discussion of how we analyse destinations to help you
understand this paper
Destination analysis has proven time and again to be difficult to conduct for a myriad of
reasons. To begin with, we need a list of destinations to analyse, and coming up with these can
be very tricky. Then theres the decision regarding what qualifies as a destination. Do resort
names, provinces, cities, counties, countries or all of the above count as destinations? Then
theres query matching for products. Long tail queries are very important, but where do we
draw the line? In additiion to head and long tail queries, we also have branded queries. But
which brands to include? All of these questions mean that there are differing approaches to
destination analysis, and most will give different results. Below we have detailed our
methodology so you can compare any efforts of your own, or of others, to our data and make
the most informed decision.
Unfortunately it is too difficult to classify every destination related query that is searched for onGoogle, so instead of this mammoth task, we have chosen to use a bucket of queries for each
product and insert destination names into the queries. The benefit of this method is that it
standardises the approach across each destination and ensures that the same queries are being
benchmarked against each other. The drawback is that some of the more long tail queries are
absent from the list, but this drawback is generally negated as all head terms are covered in the
bucket, and we find that usually, the trend of the head terms dominates the overall destination
trend.
In each table presented in this paper, the following metrics are used:
Queries YoY (Sum of Queries from Jan 1st
2011:September 5th
2011 Sum o
Queries from Jan 1st
2010:September 5th
2010)-1
Rank 2010 and 2011 Rank of the destination based on sum of queries for Jan 1st
to
September 5th
of that year.
Rank Change Rank 2010 Rank 2011 (Positive movement is seen as a decrease in
the numerical value of rank, i.e. from 5th
to 3rd
)
Size The most popular destination is that with the highest rank and largest
number of queries for year to date 2011. This is set to 100 and every
other destination is sized based on that top destination. For example
if London is sized 100 and Brighton is sized 24, then for every 100search queries related to London, there are 24 for Brighton.
Share 2010 and 2011 This is a variation of the size metric which is sometimes seen in other
reports, so has been included here. This metric is the share of al
queries on the batch of 115 destinations which we have measured
For example, if there are 1.5m queries for all of these destinations,
and London has 10% share of these queries, there were 150k queries
for London. As per Googles data sharing policy, we cannot share
actual numbers of queries.
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