Uncovering Tourism Insights using Google Search Trends

Qing Wu, Senior Economist September, 2014

Uncovering Tourism Insights using Google Search Trends

Google  Trends:  Vodka  and  Hangover  

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Google  trends  mirror  human  behavior  

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Search  Trend  for  Hotels  at  Caribbean  Des=na=ons  

normalized  search  trend   seasonality  

Vaca=on  Loca=ons  by  Seasonality  

•  Summer  •  Winter  •  Both  

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Vaca=on  Des=na=ons  based  on  Distance  

Hotels  for  Caribbean  des=na=ons   Hotels  for  Hawaii  des=na=ons  

Honeymoon  Trends  to  Caribbean  Des=na=ons  

US  virgin  islands  

St  Lucia  

Bahamas  

Jamaica  

Puerto  Rico  An=gua  

Bermuda  Cayman  

Barbados  

US  Honeymoon  Trends  to  Other  Foreign  Des=na=ons  

Caribbean  

Bora  Bora  

Fiji   Maldives  

Bali  Cancun  

Belize  

Tahi=   Costa  Rica  

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Weather’s  Impact  on  Searches  for  Beaches  and  Islands  

March,  if  weather  is  colder   August,  if  weather  is  colder  

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Impact  of  Economy:  US  Air  Traffic  

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Impact  of  Events:  French  Cruises  and  Charters  

Cruise  accident  Costa  Concodia  

Searches  dropped  in  2013    

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Impact  of  Events:  Kenya  safari  

Mall  aXack  in  Nairobi  

Ebola  outbreak  

Takeaway: Use big data and Google trends to get consumer insights!

THANK YOU

Google Confidential & Proprietary 12