For The Drum’s travel & tourism focus week, Emily Green of agency Search Laboratory looks into post-pandemic shifts in travelers’ behavior and attitudes.
Holidaymakers used to navigate airports and airplanes on autopilot, viewing them as mere means to an end rather than part of the holiday experience. But post-Covid media coverage has heightened both the scrutiny of and expectations around air travel from travelers.
As airplanes returned to the skies, the eagerness to make up for lost air miles grew. This eagerness was accompanied by a desire for tailored, stress-free experiences and a refusal to compromise on quality.
Over the last few years, in other words, the shift in airport and airline operations has mirrored the evolving habits of frequent flyers.
The persistent increase in airline ticket prices, driven by heightened demand, shows no sign of easing. Consequently, travelers have become more meticulous and savvier, seeking personalized and seamless travel experiences.
This is where effective use of data to inform reactive marketing campaigns is essential for resonating with detail-oriented travelers.
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From destination-focused to detail-oriented
Before the pandemic, many travelers had a nonchalant attitude towards flying. We holidaymakers looked past the suggested departure times and prices for booking plane tickets, instead often fixating on dream destinations. We seldom criticized the plane journey itself.
But four years on from the pandemic, with travel demand set to break records in 2024, holidaymakers now approach airplane travel with much greater mindfulness and attention to detail than ever before.
The upshot is that travelers are now more careful about selecting the best suitcases, packing efficiently to save on luggage weight, identifying optimal days to purchase plane tickets, and choosing airlines that offer the best value for money.
The demands of the modern airline traveler
According to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority, holidaymakers have indeed become more discerning about their airport experiences. Despite general satisfaction, 33% of UK air travelers expressed dissatisfaction due to delays and 21% because of poor customer service. Other reported issues include problems with security checks, facilities, costs, and overcrowding.
Alongside these concerns, though, this summer, travelers are increasingly seeking ‘affordable luxury’, hoping to get the best value for money due to the rising cost of living. This is evident on Google Trends, where searches for “best” outnumber those for “cheap” in the travel category. Provided they are affordable, 47% are willing to invest in flight upgrades and 54% of travelers would pay for accommodation upgrades.
These new habits and trends have prompted strategic changes among travel businesses. And as holidaymakers can now share their travel tips and tricks more openly with each other, there’s never been a better time for travel businesses to meet the evolving demands of the modern airline traveler.
How have travel businesses responded to these changes?
Since the global shutdown in 2020, travel companies have encountered numerous ongoing challenges including the escalation of macroeconomic, geopolitical, and environmental risks. It has been difficult for travel organizations to keep up with these developments while ensuring that increasingly critical airline travelers remain happy.
In the past, travel businesses typically centered their marketing strategies around larger digital PR campaigns, but these are less effective in today’s landscape. Many travel businesses have transitioned to smaller, more responsive campaigns, such as weekly travel trends.
Providing tips and advice to holidaymakers about the best day to fly for a cheaper flight or how to avoid additional charges are particularly effective, especially during the summer when flight prices, like temperatures, begin to soar.
These reactive campaigns have proven highly successful, allowing travel companies to grow brand awareness that resonates with their target audience and achieves high-quality backlinks to their website.
Reactive campaigns also create significant opportunities for other brands to inform and engage travelers about air travel trends and meet their expectations surrounding flights.
However, none of these reactive campaigns can be successful if travel companies don’t leverage the best possible data to build their marketing strategies around.
Data is the fuel that drives campaigns (not just planes)
All of this makes robust data strategy more essential than ever – to predict audience behavior, allowing travel organizations to make more informed decisions about where to invest resource, which channels to prioritize, and how to tailor messaging to resonate with airline travelers more successfully.
Using data effectively is essential to navigating the turbulent challenges faced by travel companies and ensuring that airline marketing campaigns successfully resonate with airline travelers and their rapidly evolving habits.
For more on travel, tourism and the auto industry, head over to The Drum’s dedicated focus week hub.
