Marketers increased their expenditure on programmatic advertising campaigns that target Australian travel audiences by 140% YOY in 2017, according to study by audience data firm Eyeota.
Eyeota's Eye on Travel report found that in 2017 half of travel campaigns use niche audience segments to target customers.
The report analysed trends for four different categories of traveller: family, budget business and luxury.
In Australia, budget and business travellers are the most targeted audiences, with budget travellers making up 79% of overall travel audience demand.
However, the demand for business travel segments grew 2.4 times year-on-year.
Travel agents spent the most targeting travel audiences, increasing their demand by 40% YOY.
The study found family travellers are 1.4 times more likely to consider ethical factors when booking a holiday and are more price conscious.
Budget travelers are 77% more likely to consider personal recommendations and online reviews and lean more towards exotic locations like beach getaways or adventurous experiences.
Business travellers are 98% more likely than average to consider frequent flyer or loyalty programs important when choosing an airline.
Luxury travellers are 40% more likely than average to be driven by ethical considerations and prefer outdoor vacations on the beach or in the mountains.
The report also looked at how different players in the travel industry target customers.
Hotel brands and travel agents target a mix of demographic and lifestyle, aiming to influence travellers early in their planning phases. They spend most in mid to late autumn to reach end of year travellers.
Airlines prefer targeting based on intent and spending power segments, ranging from budget to business travellers. Their peak spending period is last minute summer bookings.
Tourism Boards look to engage mass audiences with targeting based on general travel interest and spend all year round, subject to seasonal events.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.