Travel Marketeers Plan To Increase Online SEO And Content Creation

Frommer's Unlimited 15 October 2008

Eight out of ten travel companies are planning to increase or maintain online spend according to a new survey from digital travel online content specialists Frommer's Unlimited, a John Wiley and Sons company.

The survey of 88 travel companies included airlines, agents, tour operators, hoteliers and shipping companies. More than half of those surveyed said they planned to increase budgets and a quarter said they expected online marketing budgets to increase by between 11% and 50%. A full copy of the report is available from business@whatsonwhen.com

Joel Brandon Bravo of Frommer's Unlimited said: "In these tough times it was encouraging to see the online channel continuing to grow in importance with more than 50% of respondents planning to increase online spend in this year. Within this there was a noticeable shift away from traditional online advertising such as banners and a much stronger emphasis placed on content and search engine optimisation. The main priority for customers was increasing conversions and the main issue clients had with their content was keeping it accurate and up to date."

Of the airlines that completed the question, 40% planned to reduce spend by up to 10% and 60% planned to increase their spend by varying degrees from 10% to more than 100%.

Ten hotel companies responded, with only two decreasing budgets by 1-10% and one keeping it level. Of the seven who plan to increase their budgets, four will do so by 1-10%, two by 11-50% and one by over 100%.

Eleven out of twenty travel agencies plan to increase spending, with nine doing so by 1-50%.

When asked what online priorities travel marketeers had, just over two thirds said they would increase spending on SEO (67%), half planned to increase destination content and 45% expected to increase spend on AdWords. But a fifth said they expected to reduce spend on banners and six out of ten expected metasearch spend to remain the same.

Unique content was a priority for 42% of the travel companies surveyed, which also reinforces the strong position of SEO as sites increasingly try to offer exclusive content to their customers and to search engines. User-generated content (33.3%) is the next priority for travel companies to add to their sites followed by video (28.9%), image galleries and marketing micro sites. Delivering content over mobile and localising for non-English markets were the lowest priorities.

"The priority allocated to SEO and increasing destination content goes hand in hand, " said Joel Brandon Bravo, "because researching destinations has been shown to be the most popular use of Google in the travel category. In addition sites are offering information about the holiday destination as a key part of their product sale. The survey clearly shows that travel companies' overall priority in adding content to their website is to increase customer conversion. This is something we've always advocated. Content should attract, engage and convert customers in the online travel space and we've increasingly tailored our services to accommodate these needs for our clients. In response to the market demand for an integrated strategy for search engine optimisation and content provision."

-ENDS-

About Frommer's Unlimited
Frommer's Unlimited is the business-to-business division of Frommer's Travel. For more than 50 years, Frommer's®, a branded imprint of Wiley, has been the trusted source of useful and engaging travel information. Frommer's Unlimited enables businesses to create high-value propositions for their customers by leveraging Frommer's travel expertise, rich content resources and technical capabilities. Products and services provided by Frommer's Unlimited include global destination and events content, private label Websites, mobile applications and custom publishing. Frommer's is a registered trademark of Arthur Frommer. For more information, visit frommers.biz

About Wiley
Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfil their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 350 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Peace. Our core businesses publish scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, encyclopaedias, books, and online products and services; professional/trade books, subscription products, training materials, and online applications and websites; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.

 

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