5 Trends You Need to Know About Destination Selection

How and where travelers research vacation options is vital information to destination marketing organizations (DMOs). This is the greatest opportunity for influence – especially for those who do not yet have a destination in mind. Phocuswright's Destination Unknown: How U.S. and European Travelers Decide Where to Go 2016 delves into the leisure travel destination selection process and provides insight into motivating factors and preferences regarding information sources used by travelers in the U.S., France, Germany and the U.K.

Here are five trends DMOs should know about devices and sources used to shop for travel:

1. Even with the omnipresence of mobile, PCs still dominate online destination research. But this number is steadily declining as more travelers turn to handheld devices.
   
   
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2. American travelers are much more likely to consider themselves early adopters of new technology. Therefore, smartphone usage for selecting destinations is the highest – and growing the fastest – among U.S. travelers, who are nearly twice as likely as Europeans to refer to websites on their smartphones.
   
   
3. American and British travelers have the highest penchant for tablets, though tablet usage is growing fastest among French travelers. Overall, tablets are still making headway in Europe and outnumber smartphone usage in the three markets.
   
   
4. Regardless of device used for planning travel, nearly eight in 10 travelers in each country always check multiple websites to ensure they're getting a good deal. When making final destination selections, top website preferences vary by country.
   
   
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5. European travelers, especially from Germany, have historically had a high penchant for gathering destination information offline. However, these offline sources have been quickly declining in recent years.
   
   
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Purchase Phocuswright's Destination Unknown: How U.S. and European Travelers Decide Where to Go 2016 for information on market nuances and how to influence the destination selection process.