Expedia Group study, travellers spend on average more than 5 hours searching for trips

27-07-23

Expedia Group's "Path to Purchase" study reveals travellers' content consumption habits to find ideas and plan their trips. On average, people spend 303 minutes or more than 5 hours exploring travel content in the 45 days prior to booking. The research, conducted by Expedia Group and Luth Research, shows travellers' preferences and behaviours throughout the online booking experience. It also illustrates where and how users plan and book their trips, from the typical number of travel website visits and page views to the destinations they consider, travel resources and the factors that influence each stage.

The growing role of travel content in the buying process

The study revealed the significant volume of content travellers consume to make an informed decision, as they seek to personalise their choices in the 45 days prior to booking a trip online. On average, across the seven countries surveyed, it was found that:

• Travellers view 141 travel-related pages in the 45 days prior to booking a trip. In the case of the United States, this number rises to 277 pages. These page views occur throughout the users' search process, up to the point of booking.

• In the early planning stages, search is less comprehensive, averaging 2.5 pages per day, with an exponential increase in the days leading up to the booking. On the day of booking, the average is as high as 25 page views.

The study also highlights the main resources travellers use in the 45 days prior to booking:

Online travel agencies (80%), search engines (61%), social media (58%), airline websites (54%) and travel metasites (51%) are the top five resources most travellers use.

• And four out of five travellers visit an online travel agency (OTA) at some point before making a travel booking, indicating that they probably went to an OTA for ideas, research or to make plans, even if they booked on another website.

• Travellers seek destination inspiration

Most travellers revealed that they were not clear about where they wanted to go before they started planning their trip. The following data was obtained:

• Nearly three out of five travellers surveyed said they did not have a specific destination in mind, or considered several destinations when making the decision to travel (59%).

• And more than 80% of Mexicans and 62% of Brits were undecided about their travel destination, indicating that travellers from these countries may be even more open to being inspired by travel destinations.

A significant number also reported being influenced by social media and advertising. It was found that:

• Of those who use social media in the search process, 77% use it for inspiration.

• Almost one in five travellers (19%) said that advertising influenced their decision to book a trip. This number was highest among Mexicans at 40%.

• Vacation rental guests (26%) and hotel guests (22%) are also more likely to be influenced by advertising.