In October, Italy saw a 101 percent increase in flight bookings and a 103 percent increase in hotel bookings, but looking at 2019 tells us a different story
LONDON – 22 September 2021 – Sojern, a leading provider of digital marketing solutions for travel, shares travel trends and insights for the autumn season in Italy. Travel brands, big and small are keen to know precise travel demands to help support travel recovery.
Travel trends and insights for Italy
When looking at Europe, it wasn’t a bad summer and Southern Europe played a starring role. In June, Greece saw growth spikes of 3.7 to 11.7 percent above 2019 levels. Italy also performed well. Travel to Southern Europe grew by 367.6 percent from April to August, and by 421.4 percent in Italy specifically. While these numbers indeed look impressive, they are still generally down by 2019 levels. Flight bookings in Italy are up 101 percent in October, while hotel bookings are up 103 percent in 2021 (year-over-year). While this is a substantial growth compared to 2020, it is important to remember that last year was a volatile period for travel.
For the autumn period, 70 percent of flight bookings are from the domestic, and regional markets like Spain and France. It should be noted, however, that one of our most important long-haul markets, such as the United States, are now also showing bookings to Italy (5.7 percent of those seeking travel to Italy are from the U.S.) Germany takes third place among those countries searching for flights to Italy this autumn.
However, to understand this picture even better, it is good to compare the data of 2019 (pre-pandemic) with that of 2021: flight searches to Italy are up 16 percent even if the actual bookings continue to mark a decline of -45 percent (both, year-over-year).When comparing 2021 with 2019 data, searches for Italian hotels were down 76 percent, and bookings were down 64 percent. A positive sign that we are returning to normality is when you compare it to April which recorded a tragic -92 percent. This is what the latest analysis of Sojern's travel intentions and bookings for Italy tells us.
Encouraging prospects for travel recovery
With a presence in Italy since 2017, Sojern works with 10,000 hotels, attractions, airlines and destinations annually in Italy and abroad. With its proprietary artificial intelligence technology, Sojern analyses real-time travel intent data and allows its clients to target the right traveller at the right time. Sojern uses multi-channel marketing solutions to drive direct demand. Sojern operates optimised campaigns with the application of artificial intelligence and real-time data and is a marketing partner of Facebook, Google and Bing. Sojern is a pioneer in innovation and markets its services to companies of all sizes, from boutique hotels to more complex tourism destinations (here the case study on Athens). In fact, Sojern’s portfolio includes large international groups such as Best Western, Accor, Luxury Hotels of the World, as well as many boutique hotels (here you can find the case study of the Hotel Miramonti in the province of Bergamo). Sometimes travel companies join forces in promotions, in fact the Sojern platform allows for joint marketing or Co-Op Marketing Programmes, this was the case for Aegean Airlines and The Greek National Tourism Organisation.
“Some Destination Marketing Organisations or hotel chains might not be able to leverage actionable insights from strong growth rates or big downturns and it is essential to have a data driven company culture and tools to analyse historic and real-time demand,” says Luca Romozzi, Commercial Director of Tourism, Europe at Sojern. "It becomes increasingly essential in an unstable economic context—to avoid wasting marketing investment on generic demand and ultimately lose customers to the competition.”In a still-fragile travel environment, Sojern is in an excellent position to support the recovery of the tourism sector and help the travel industry implement effective campaigns to stimulate direct bookings across hotels, attractions, airlines, and destinations.
About Sojern
Sojern is a leading digital marketing platform built for travel marketers. Powered by artificial intelligence and traveller intent data, Sojern provides multichannel marketing solutions to drive direct demand. 10,000 hotels, attractions, tourism boards and travel marketers rely on Sojern annually to engage and convert travellers around the world.
