For French, Germans & Brits, Most Important Reason for Choosing a Destination is …

Delegates to NAJ’s recent RTO Summit in Orlando received a school semester’s worth of information during the first day of the Summit, which was named International Digital Day because of the latter’s emphasis on program content designed to equip international sales professionals with more digital tools and techniques for selling their product.

Carol Johnson, TripAdvisor’s destination marketing manager, Latin America, head of destination marketing and Latin America discussed “Key Travel Trends from UK, Germany and France,” based on findings from the company’s 2016 Trip Barometer, a work that was conducted using 34,026 participants worldwide.

The five main overall findings from the Barometer were:

—The path to purchase journeys differ by demographic. Most travelers start by deciding on their destination. Research and booking take place rapidly once travelers have committed to a trop, but female travelers tend to spend longer researching before booking.

—Culture is the most important reason for selecting a destination. However, motivations for choosing destinations differ markedly among different groups.

—While TripAdvisor is predominantly used for researching accommodation and destination information, other information sources tend to be heavily used by travelers to research either accommodation or destination information.

—Needs-based typologies demonstrate a diverse set of traveler characteristics—understanding travelers’ emotions and hoe they influence travel patterns reveals a diverse set of behaviors.

—Different types of trips lead to a different emphasis on booking behavior. On shorter breaks, accommodation is more important and tends to be researched and booked first, but on longer trips, transport is prioritized.

Johnson led delegates through various country-specific charts, graphs and tables, which used Barometer findings and other source materials. A selection of some of the illustrated material follows:

Most trips are destination led.