Despite the fact that the year 2021 begins with the "local New Year", the enthusiasm of friends for traveling has not been suppressed. According to data from the China Tourism Research Institute, in the past Qingming, the number of domestic travelers has reached 102 million, 94.5% of the same period before the epidemic. And in the Baidu platform, the user's travel demand is also concentrated in the pre-Ching Ming outbreak. 2021 March, Baidu travel industry pendant retrieval has been restored to 83% of the same period before the epidemic. Data from a number of OTAs show that this year's May Day airfare, hotel, and ticket bookings have significantly exceeded the same period in 2019. It is foreseeable that travel demand will continue to grow strongly in the next few months.
What are the characteristics of consumers in the three major segments of travel, lodging and vacation fun under the recovery boom? How can advertisers capitalize on the recovery? Let's take a look~
Consumer Behavior Insights - Travel
Travel traffic recovered steadily in 2020, with peaks in the summer and across the New Year's nodes. 21 was guided by policy, and the growth rate of the Spring Festival did not meet expectations, but demand for travel began to explode in a concentrated manner in late March. Compared to train and bus tickets, airfare and car rentals recovered more quickly, reaching 80% and 78% of the same period in FY19 in March '21, respectively.
- Airfare.
Beijing's top spot replaced by Shanghai on destination list, Chengdu, Sanya new favorites
In terms of brand selection, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Air China remain in the top three, while Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, and Shandong Airlines have improved their attention ranking
- Train Tickets.
Strong hub city status
Beijing-Shanghai line is less hot, and new railroad lines (such as Shanghai-Nantong train, Xi'an-Yinchuan high-speed railroad, etc.) have attracted wide attention
Long-haul destinations are concentrated in the southwest (e.g. Kunming, Chengdu, Lhasa, etc.)
- Bus tickets.
BUS TICKETS ARE MAINLY FOR SHORT ROUND TRIPS WITHIN OR TO NEIGHBORING PROVINCES (E.G. JINAN-DONGYING, HUAI'AN-NANJING, SHANGHAI-YANCHENG, ETC.); ZHENGZHOU AND NANJING ARE HOTTER, AND HEFEI AND JINAN ARE IN THE TOP5 DESTINATIONS
TICKETING CHANNELS FOR TRAIN AND BUS TICKETS ARE DOMINATED BY 12306/12308 OFFICIAL CHANNELS, FOLLOWED BY OTAS SUCH AS CTRIP, ETC. IN ADDITION, THERE ARE STILL USERS INQUIRING ABOUT OFFLINE TICKETING OUTLETS.
- Car Rental.
Demand for rental cars is concentrated in first-tier and new first-tier cities, with the share of local rental cars rising significantly
Different travel modes have different decision times, which also brings different traffic fluctuation trends. The decision-making chain of airplane travel is longer, and the trend of heat growth will also appear earlier, while the decision-making chain of train and car is shorter, and the heat is closer to the week of the festival. In addition, the first day of pre-holiday train ticket sales is a traffic peak worth capitalizing on.
Consumer Behavior Insights - Accommodation
As of March 20 21, lodging sector searches have recovered to 79% of the same period in 20 19. Among them, hotels recovered faster than B&Bs, peaking in the summer of 2020. Stimulated by both quality services and affordable prices, more and more travelers are choosing Netflix luxury hotels to hit this emerging vacation mode. In addition to the neat environment, additional value-added services, such as food and beverage, have become a powerful tool to attract consumers.
On the distribution of lodging destinations, hotel destinations are concentrated in first-tier business cities and popular tourist cities, while B&B destinations are more leisure-oriented. Sanya was ranked among the TOP3 in both the hotel and B&B lists. from the analysis of the search source, the demand for B&B has a stronger attribute of peripheral travel, and the proportion of users from the TOP6 B&B sources who search for B&B in their own or neighboring destinations is the highest.
Consumer Behavior Insights - Vacation
Demand for domestic travel has been picking up gradually since March last year, peaking during the summer months, and by March 21, retrieval volume had recovered to 90% of the same period in FY19. Among them, thanks to the first recovery of local and peripheral tours, scenic spots have seen the most rapid growth, and retrieval volume has now slightly surpassed the same period in FY19. And with the opening up of policies and the recovery of long-haul travel, growth can be expected for destinations on May 1 and beyond.
Yunnan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Hainan, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shandong, Guizhou and Guangxi are the most popular destination provinces in 2020. Different types of destinations show different rhythms of recovery.
The first category is short-haul destinations represented by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong. These provinces were the first to see a peak in retrieval volume at Qingming Festival, with steady growth during the summer, followed by explosive growth in November. From the 21-year retrieval volume trend, a rapid rise has already begun in early March. It is suggested that this year, in addition to the small holidays, we can also continue to focus on the heat of weekday weekends.
The second category is long-haul destinations represented by Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi. 2020 saw growth from May, culminating in the summer and tapering off from September. Whereas in 21 years retrieval has risen to last year's May 1 level from Apriland is expected to continue to grow after the holiday season as well.
The third category is the "shopping" destination represented by Hainan. The new policy on duty-free shopping in Hainan was introduced in July last year, and Hainan's retrieval volume rose rapidly. In addition to a short-term decline in November, has been stabilized at the same level as the summer, and continued to rise in January this year. Compared with the obvious seasonal fluctuations in previous years, it can be expected that the retrieval volume of Hainan this year will remain stable and rising.
Scenic area, in the dark moment brought about by the epidemic, there are still many scenic spots reverse growth, become unexpected "dark horse". Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai short-distance travel to become the first choice for Qingming and eleven travel, Putuo Mountain, Jixing Temple, Qiandao Lake and so on in various holidays have a place. A number of attractions have become the new "net red" - Laojunshan due to the success of short video marketing, become a hot spot in the second half of 2020; Xinjiang Koktohai Scenic Spot is also with a song "Koktohai shepherds" and fire throughout the country.
In 2021, as the recovery of the travel industry accelerates, consumer preferences for destinations and scenic spots are showing new trends that are different from those of last year.
