When I read the title of this post, I feel the weight of this topic. Everyone’s success is at stake here. If people don’t find you when they search, no matter how great your experience is, they won’t book with you. So let’s walk into this humbly—acknowledging what we don’t know yet, while keeping an eye on the data and the nuances we’re seeing there to pull out some actionable next steps for your business.
The Future of Search Is Windy
My 3rd grader recently studied Biosphere 2. This was a 40-acre, $150M+ project that attempted to rebuild Earth’s ecosystems in a way that could be replicated somewhere other than Earth. The project ultimately failed, but one interesting observation was that the trees bent out of shape due to a lack of wind in the artificial environment. This may seem counterintuitive, but trees—and plants in general—need wind to survive and thrive. As the wind bends and cracks the trunk and branches, cellulose builds up, strengthening the tree over time.
Well, I’m here to tell you, at least in part, that the future of search is windy. My hope in this series is to show you where the wind is blowing the hardest and give you some tools and ideas that will hopefully enable you to lean into the changes and come away stronger than ever.
So, what does the future of search look like?
- The future of search is social
- The future of search is zero click
- The future of search is longtail
- The future of search is paid
We’ll spend the rest of this article unpacking #1.
Table of Contents:
How Search Is Changing
People Prefer To Discover As They Travel
In their 2024 travel predictions report, booking.com found that the majority of travelers start travel without set plans, and 2/3rds opt for loose itineraries allowing them to adapt as they go.
Because of all the talk of AI travel planners, and the numerous studies showing just how much time people spend searching for experiences, this stat surprised me. My mind immediately went back to a 2018 study conducted by Google where they found in the 12 weeks leading up to a trip there were 3x more experience searches than hotel searches and 8x more experience searches than air searches.
But even with all this research happening, people still seem to have a preference for discovering at least a portion of their activities once they’re in destination.
A trend we’ve noticed in recent years that tracks with the booking.com report finding is that in spite of the amount of research happening before people arrive in destination, people are booking closer and closer to their tour time. This screenshot shows one of the more extreme examples where people tend to book just hours in advance. Of course, this can change radically depending on the type of experience (attraction, tour, group experience, etc), but the fact stands—people don’t mind booking last minute.
When I see results like this my head spins a little—partly because I’m stressed out by all these last-minute planners! And partly because of the challenge this presents to marketers.
“Things To Do Near Me” Searches Are On The Decline
Another interesting trend we’ve noticed since the pandemic is that despite the relative popularity of the search term “Things to do” remaining fairly steady since the pandemic, the popularity of the term “Things to do near me” is on the decline.
This brings up an interesting question: If more people are booking last minute (in destination), but searches for “Things to do near me” are declining, how (or where) are they doing their last-minute research?
One theory is that they could be searching Google for more specific things to do “near them” once in destination. But when you explore that, you typically see declining search interest, not increasing.
Terms like “zipline near me”, “rafting near me”, and “tours near me” have all seen significant decreases in search interest over the past 5 years. There are of course exceptions to this, for example, demand for “Waterparks near me” has slowly increased over the past 3 years. I’d encourage you to jump over to trends.google.com to see what this looks like for your business.
In order to book a last-minute experience, you need to discover that experience somewhere. But if experiences discovered through “near me” searches on Google are declining, how (or where) are people finding their activities?
The answer, like everything in marketing and business, is nuanced. There are lots of ways people make last-minute booking decisions. Including, but not limited to…
- Word of mouth
- Billboards
- Concierge desks
- Rack cards
- Searching directly in their OTA app of choice (rather than starting on Google)
- Etc.
But let’s explore another trend: People using social media to supplement their traditional searching habits.
Social Search Is On the Rise
A key finding from Phocuswright’s 2024 Social Media Usage Approach in Travel study said that 57% of people use social media for travel-related tasks (including finding ideas, general travel information, shopping, making a booking, or sharing content). The study goes on to show that nearly two-thirds of those who use social media for trip planning choose a decision based on the content they encounter on the social platforms.
This means that 35% of all travelers in 2024 (based on the Phocuswright study) used social media to make a travel-related decision. I’d say that’s enough people to make you sit up and pay attention.
Social Search on TikTok
In a recent study, Arival found that young (18-34-year-old) travelers are almost as likely to open up TikTok as they conduct their travel research as they are to search Google. Interestingly, TikTok was last on the list of marketing channels operators use to market their experiences.
A 2024 Adobe report found that 2 in 5 Americans have reportedly used TikTok as a search engine. And 1 in 5 of the respondents were using the platform to find travel and experiences content.
And a study that TikTok conducted on its users found that TikTok played a role in 74% of unplanned purchases of travel-related products or activities.
Social Search on Instagram
A recent survey found that Instagram is the leading social media platform for trip planning among both Millennials and Gen Z travelers. And 67% of people who use travel-oriented hashtags use Instagram to find inspiration for where to go next.
Social Search on Pinterest
Pinterest as a travel planning app has quietly gained traction over the past few years. According to The Pinterest 2024 Travel Report, 8 in 10 weekly Pinterest users (about 275 million people use Pinterest on a weekly basis) use the app when planning their summer travel plans.
Check out these YoY changes (2024 vs 2023) in search volume around some interesting travel-related search terms:
- Adventure activities +45%
- Water park rides +170%
- Solo travel +35%
- Glamping aesthetic +260%
- Cabin in the mountains +180%
- Places on earth that do not feel real +240%
- Calming nature +340%
- Exploring abandoned places +230%
- Beautiful places in the world +150%
- National park +250%
- Caving +40%
- Canoeing +35%
- Train journey +90%
You can play with any search term you like using the Pinterest trends tool. As long as there’s enough search volume around the term, you’ll get some interesting results.
Making the Most of Social Search
Unlike traditional search where keywords and rankings rule, social search is driven by discovery, engagement, and storytelling. It’s less about being the best answer to a query and more about becoming part of the conversation travelers are already having.
When people go to Google to search for something, their mentality is similar to my mindset when I walk into a grocery store with my three kids—I know what I’m looking for. I have a list. I want answers. Sure, I’m happy to discover some things along the way, but my original intent is clear.
When people “search” on social, the intent is a little more ambiguous. It’s more like when I hand my 9-year-old $5 to spend on anything she wants in the grocery store. Suddenly the store turns into a newsfeed of excitement and endless opportunities to gratify her expectant appetite. Just as this is a little maddening for me as a parent, the unpredictability of social search can be maddening for travel operators.
When people open up social media, they want to be inspired and entertained while they discover answers to their “what should we do today?” question. Thankfully as a tour, activity, or attraction operator, you’re perfectly positioned to do exactly this—inspire and entertain as you work to convince people to book with you.
Here are some practical steps you can take.
Conduct a Newbie Audit
One of my favorite marketing exercises is something Brian, Partner at Blend, calls a newbie audit. It’s pretty simple:
- Create a prioritized list of the things that you view as your main selling points.
- Then, type terms you care about into platforms your customers use (social media and search engines alike) and assess how well your selling points come through when your brand is surfaced.
Try this on platforms you’re investing in vs ones you’re not and see if your investment is paying off.
A couple example queries could be things like “things to do + destination” or “activity + destination”. Type these in on TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram. How do you feel about the results? Do you think you could improve on the content being surfaced? You likely have a very real opportunity to shape the results you see.
How? The simple first step is to post organically. Someone on your team should have ownership of your social profiles. Re-post what your customers, other local businesses, or your CVB shares. Highlight the heart of your brand—your people. Capture your guides sharing a story, record yourself talking about the upcoming season, etc.
That said, one thing you probably noticed during the newbie audit was that the vast majority of posts being surfaced on these platforms are not directly from businesses, but rather are from content creators.
Find Compelling Storytellers With Influence
With that in mind, one of the core ways you’ll increase your brand’s visibility on social is by getting the right people to post about their experiences. Having talented storytellers (whose reach has a high degree of overlap with your target audience) share their experience on your tour, at your attraction, or doing your activity, can be really powerful.
It’s not uncommon for us to see traffic and revenue bumps following partnerships with influencers who fit this framework (good storytellers with relevant audiences). Here’s a real result from one of our clients that represents a fairly common traffic/revenue pattern from these kinds of partnerships. We see traffic to the website spike, followed by a more gradual increase in revenue which tapers off over time.
Tips For Assessing Influencers
Other than making sure they’re capable (have the ability to share your brand’s story in a compelling way in their authentic voice), and that they have the right audience (their following/network overlaps with your target audience), here are a few quick tips for working with influencers:
- Try and get some level of ownership over the content. Whether that’s through a SPARK ad agreement on TikTok or just getting access to the original files, you want to have the option to use the footage in advertising.
- See if they’ll accept a trade rather than payment. Many times influencers are happy to share their experience on your tour, activity, or attraction if you’re willing to let them come out and experience it for free.
- If they want payment, see if they’ll try a partnership. Rather than dropping hundreds or thousands on influencer partnerships, try offering them a commission on sales they drive with a coupon code you give them to share with their audience.
Scale Your Reach With Social Advertising
While posting organically and working with influencers is an important step towards being found in social search, you have to remember that these social platforms are mostly publicly traded companies with shareholders to report to. And their strategy is clear: Get a lot of people using the app then monetize that user base through paid advertising.
This chart is depressing, but it shows the sharp reality that your ability to reach potential customers organically on social media has been declining for more than a decade. (Guess what year Facebook went public? Yep, 2012 🙂)
Even TikTok has seen a sharp decline in average organic reach per post in recent years. One study that analyzed almost 800,000 posts found that… “You can reach a much lower number of followers with your posts on TikTok today than two years ago.” In fact, organic reach on the platform has basically been cut in half over the past two years.
The solution: Advertising on social for scaled and sustained reach on the platforms.
TikTok SPARK Ads
Imagine you’re scrolling TikTok and you come across a video showing the great experience one of your customers had on your tour. As you watch you begin to think, wow, they really nailed it. I wish I could just run this as an ad! Well, good news, you can. These are called SPARK ads.
Nearly any post you come across on TikTok can become a SPARK ad. The creator of the post simply needs to give you permission. TikTok calls these “authorized posts”. Read more about how to create your first SPARK ad here.
Most of our wins on TikTok over the past year or so have been centered on SPARK ads.
Search Ads on Pinterest & TikTok
It comes as no surprise that Pinterest and TikTok (and Reddit for that matter) offer ad targeting based on search behavior—people use these platforms to search for stuff!
This works similarly to Google Search campaigns where you simply feed the platform a list of keywords you want your ads to surface around. You can also layer interests, intent, and even your custom audiences alongside search campaigns to further dial in your targeting.
In-Destination and Location Expansion on Meta
Some of you probably remember the dark day back in 2023 when Meta removed your ability to target people “traveling in” a particular area. This was a big hit to a lot of brands that relied on this audience to exclude locals from their targeting.
While there isn’t a direct fix to replace this old location targeting, Meta rolled out something called “location expansion” in late 2024. And it could be a big deal for improving your ability to show ads to travelers before they’re in destination.
Here’s how it works. When you check the “Reach more people likely to respond to your ads” box, one of the things you’re now giving Meta the permission to do is expand the geographic reach of your ads. Meta claims to expand your audience based on the following five factors:
- Recently visiting or living in that city or region
- Searching for terms and Marketplace listings related to that city or region
- Interacting with ads or Pages related to that city or region
- Having friends living in that city or region
- Living in towns or cities close to that city or region
So, for a tour, activity, or attraction company in a tourist destination, this may be an upgrade as you seek to show ads to tourists looking for things to do before they arrive.
Strong Data Signals Are Central to Success on Paid Social Search
Rather than taking up more space to talk about targeting techniques, weighing the pros and cons of each platform, and discussing best practices for balancing your ad spend, I want to zoom in on an important, but less talked about aspect of paid social advertising: Your data signals.
The algorithms behind social media advertising are really good at accomplishing your objective. If you tell the platform to drive clicks or video views, it’ll do a great job of finding people most likely to click on or watch your ad for the lowest cost possible. If you define your objective as driving purchases, the platform will attempt to do the same (drive purchases at the lowest cost possible), but the algorithm’s ability to do that effectively is limited to the accuracy of the data your booking engine feeds it.
With this in mind, it’s important to set up the Conversion API for each social platform you advertise on. Getting this in place will ensure more accurate conversion tracking, better ad optimization, and improved in-platform return on ad spend returns by sending data directly from your server to the social platforms (by-passing browser limitations and some privacy restrictions).
Meta gives you a quality score for each of the events you ask your pixel to track. Typically, you want this score to be a minimum of 6/10 for your key events (such as add to carts or purchases). If you’re scoring below a 6, you should prioritize improving that score before scaling up your ad spend.
The Reality of Social Search
As travelers supplement their traditional searching habits with social media, you have an opportunity to lean into these platforms and become a part of the conversation. By posting from your social profiles, partnering with influential storytellers, and leaning into paid social advertising, you can ensure your brand is visible where travelers are actively discovering and making decisions.
