The moment you decide to take the plunge on planning a vacation can be just as exciting as the vacation itself. Once someone chooses a travel destination, the dreaming phase starts to become a reality, setting the travel planning phase in motion.
What exactly is the planning phase?
The second stage of travel planning is the planning phase when consumers have decided on a destination and start planning the details of their trip. Google refers to the micro-moments throughout this phase as “Time-to-Make-a-Plan” moments, where consumers’ begin researching transportation, flights, hotel accommodations, and vacation activities.
According to Google, in this stage, mobile devices are playing a critical role with more than one in three travelers agreeing that when researching on their smartphones, they’ve discovered a new travel company.
Millennials are Mobile in the Planning Phase.
The statistics are even greater among millennial travelers with 50% reporting they discovered a new travel company while researching on mobile. Today, travel planning across devices is becoming second nature with leisure travelers now being just as likely to plan travel on their smartphone as they are to shop for music. This shift to mobile in the planning process means marketers need to rethink how they are delivering content and engaging with potential guests throughout this phase.
What digital touchpoints are making an impact throughout the planning phase?
By now you should have already reached potential guests throughout the dreaming phase to influence important travel planning decisions. But, if you aren’t already in the consideration set at this point in the journey, reaching travel consumers in key research and planning micro-moments is your chance to make an impact. So, what exactly do these micro-moments look like throughout the planning phase?
A study conducted by Think with Google has confirmed that the majority of time spent throughout the planning phase is:
