Following
more than six months of testing in Asia Pacific and Europe,
Google
is now expanding its “Travel
Insights with Google” tools to the United States, in partnership with Destinations
International and the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International
(HSMAI).
The three organizations will also work together to provide the tools
and training to destination organizations and hospitality professionals around
the world, with localized versions already available in Spain,
Greece, Croatia, India, Korea, Thailand and more.
Google
says the Travel Insights tools provide insights into real-time travel demand
based on global Google Search data, as travel picks up and searches for “where
to travel,” “can I travel” and “COVID travel restrictions” are near all-time
highs.
The portal has two tools: Destination Insights provides data
on top sources of demand for a given destination to help businesses,
governments and tourism boards understand where travelers are coming from.
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Based on feedback during the pilot, Google says it is adding new
features within Destination Insights. The new “Focusing Facts” section provides
three snapshots based on data from the most recent 84 days: the country with
the fastest growing interest worldwide as a travel destination, the country
with the most inbound interest to the user’s country and the most searched
destination city in the user’s country.
The second new feature is a “Demand Sizing Tool” that enables
users to filter data to compare both inbound and outbound interest between one
primary country and up to ten comparison countries for both flights and accommodations.
The second tool in the portal is Hotel
Insights, which is intended to help hoteliers analyze search trends such as year-over-year
data and source markets and to provide tips on how they can enhance their
property’s digital presence.
Google is also working with the United Nations
World Tourism Organization to support the recovery of the travel industry, with
a
strategy
announced in May
that provides data and training to destinations.