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Whatsonwhen: Travel marketeers plan to increase online SEO and content
creation
(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
RDATE:30102008
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 Whatsonwhen, 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 Whatsonwhen 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 (66%), half planned to
increase destination content and 47% 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 41% 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 (34.8%) is the next priority for travel
companies to add to their sites followed by video (28.3%), 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 we are now in a position to provide
both services in an integrated way."
About Whatsonwhen
Whatsonwhen Limited, a John Wiley & Sons, Inc. company based in Brick
Lane London, is a leading provider of travel and entertainment content
and interactive services to the travel industry. The company was
founded in 1999 to provide information about the best events happening
around the world through its Website. Since then the company has
evolved to offer a wide range of travel and entertainment solutions to
third parties, including global events listings, destination guides,
natural search, hotel property descriptions, and video and mapping
services. Clients choose Whatsonwhen for its travel industry knowledge,
technical and editorial expertise, a flexible approach and speedy
delivery of quality content. Whatsonwhen supplies, hosts and maintains
destination and event information for many of the world's most
successful travel sites, including British Airways, Hilton Hotels,
Expedia, Travelocity, Lastminute, Eurostar and many others. For more
information, visit www.whatsonwhen.biz.
CONTACT: Whatsonwhen
WWW: http://www.whatsonwhen.biz
Debbie Hindle, bgb communications
Tel: +44 (0)20 7902 2990
e-mail: dhindle@bgb.co.uk
Lucy Pennington, bgb communications
e-mail: lpennington@bgb.co.uk
((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information
provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties.
Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at
http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to
info@m2.com)).
Copyright ? 2008 M2 Communications Ltd.
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