Social Media has made a huge impact on essentially every major industry across the world, and the business of travel and hospitality has reaped the great rewards.
Some Facts:
- 84% Tourism professionals reply on Facebook to promote their business
- 45% of marketers in the travel industry use Twitter for lead generation card.
- 30% have used mobile apps to find hotel deals
- 29% of travelers have used mobile apps to find flight deals.
- 92% prefers recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.
- 75% of travelers use social networks to find some type of shopping related deals
- 30% specifically seek out travel-related deals
- 52% of Facebook users said their travel plans were affected by seeing friends pictures of trips
- 48% stuck with their original plan after checking out what was being said on social media channels is different than the reality.
- 33% went onto change their hotel
- 7% altered their entire trip by changing destinations
- 74% of travelers write reviews because they want to share the travelling experience
- 98% find Trip Advisor reviews to be the most accurate
- 53% of travelers, will not book a hotel that doesn’t have any review.
- 70% of global consumers say that online reviews are the most trusted form of advertising.
Conclusion: Approximately, 1/5th of leisure travelers worldwide turn to social media platforms for travel planning and that is followed by Restaurants 17%, Hotels 23%, Attractions 21% and Vacation Activities 22%.
Original Post: http://visual.ly/how-social-media-affecting-travel-industry