Passport Online, which helps more than 7,500 travel agencies with digital marketing efforts, has seen a spike in engagement for travel agency websites and social media channels last month despite a chill in travel bookings due to the coronavirus.
“In the last two weeks of March, following the ceasing of travel opportunities for consumers, Facebook activity for travel agency business Facebook pages spiked,” according to the company.
The most active posts of the month were published between March 15 and March 31. The company’s data reveals that more than a dozen unique posts shared on agency Facebook pages garnered more than 35,000 organic views.
If there is a bright light in the current darkness for our industry, it is that our travel agency customers have developed strong digital relationships with their consumers.
As a result, Passport Online believes that consumers are currently more engaged on social media and looking for hopeful messaging, making it a good time for advisors to be active on social channels.
“Consumers were on their agency’s websites searching travel options for the future, and they were liking, commenting and sharing their agency’s Facebook posts,” said Jeanne Colombo, vice president, strategic partnerships for Passport Online. “If there is a bright light in the current darkness for our industry, it is that our travel agency customers have developed strong digital relationships with their consumers. Consumers were engaged more than usual on their agency’s digital pages clicking, researching, dreaming and sharing with others."
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Passport data suggests this could be a good time to share supplier offers. Click-through rates to supplier offers spiked to 16%, compared to 11.6% this time last year.
Passport Online’s data on the booking space, collected through agencies using its Tandem online booking tool, shows that while bookings came to a halt for April and May, future bookings continue to be steady. Eighty percent of bookings made since the start of the pandemic include rebookings for canceled cruise sailings and brand-new bookings for sailings taking place in the next nine months.
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Passport Online Inc.
www.passportonlineinc.com
Read more from TravelAge West about the COVID-19 outbreak.
