Ski searches are sliding, so how do you make sure your sales don’t plunge?
With online searches for ski holidays down 10% year on year, Google director of travel Becky Power gives brands tips on how they can make more sales.
"In the three months before a planned trip, there are three times more searches for experiences than there are for hotels and eight times more searches than for air travel; location and accommodation are the nuts and bolts of the ski trip, but for the daydreaming to really begin, experience is where it’s at.
Brands need to push activities such as parapenting and apres-ski, not just the hotel’s range of en-suites and its handy boot room.
How search advertising can deliver that experience is also vital. Google’s research shows that large numbers of skiers are researching via mobile and this figure is growing every year. On those smartphones, travellers are increasingly using video to whet their winter sports appetites. In 2015, a third of travellers had watched a video while researching their trip, and 23% in 2014 had done it on a smartphone. Between 2014 and 2015, views of skiing videos had grown 61%, but views of skiing videos on mobile had gone up 167%.
This is not to say the logistics of a ski trip aren’t important, but by engaging travellers in the 360-degree experience of their holiday, there is potential to increase revenues.
Google’s research has found that travellers who book experiences before arriving in resort spend 47% more on their accommodation and 81% more on transport than those who wait.
That doesn’t mean an end to spontaneity. Almost half of experience bookings (48%) are happening once travellers are on the ground in resort. Ensuring the brand’s search strategy taps into location-based requests, timely searches and makes the best use of map-based and mobile search will be critical to capturing this audience.
However, searches in the UK for ‘Ski holidays’ are down 10% year on year from 2018 – which we could speculate is a reaction to Brexit uncertainty. Ski brands would do well to address any potential concerns in their search strategy, highlighting lower prices, all-inclusive packages or Brexit-related information that might boost traveller confidence.
All types of travel, not just aspirational ski trips, involve planning and dreaming. Tailoring search strategies to go beyond logistics into delivering on the full experience is proven to deliver higher revenues and stronger customer engagement. Brands who put themselves in front of travellers in the right place, at the right time will ensure that sales go uphill while the only thing sliding is on the piste."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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