The year is slowly coming to an end, and you know what that means:
End-of-the year analysis!
With our travel intelligence tool Travellyze, we have investigated how destinations performed this year, which destinations showed better results, and which didn’t. We’ve also had a look at popular sources of travel inspiration, effects of the increasing inflation rates and Nordic travelers’ sustainable behaviour.
Destination Image Rank
Our Image Ranking is based on a comprehensive algorithm that compares and combines three different indexes: Awareness, Perception and Experience. The result is a global scoring for the overall image of a destination, which makes it easy to compare with previous years.
When we look at this year’s Image Rank, we notice that the first positions haven’t changed. The 3 destinations with the highest scores remain Denmark, Italy, and Spain.
But what about those that have seen the biggest change in their scores since last year? As for the destinations with the more relevant positive variation, we find Paraguay as the leader with a 46.3% change. Other destinations that performed well were Oman (39.9%) and French Guyana (37.4%). In general, we see positive changes for several, smaller destinations.
As for those that faced the most relevant negative variations, Russia leads the negative ranking with a 59.1%, a clear consequence of the invasion in Ukraine. Other destinations with relevant negative changes were Georgia (23.3%) and Azerbaijan (22%).
Travel inspiration, destination factors and holiday types
Sources of inspiration are very relevant when planning a marketing strategy for your destination. In 2022, the 3 most relevant sources were:
- Family & friends (56.6%)
- Search engines (38.5%)
- Travel company websites (airlines, hotels, etc.) (27.6%)
We also noticed a significant growth in online sources of inspiration like TikTok (122.2% change), Twitch (55.6% change), and Twitter (47.8% change).
As for destination factors, the top 3 for 2022 are cleanliness, nightlife, and safety standards. Nightlife is also the one with the biggest positive change, an astounding 253.8%, probably a consequence of diminished COVID-19 restrictions.
The 3 most popular holiday types in 2022 were:
- Sun and beach (50.8%)
- Relaxing (42.7%)
- Big city holiday (33.4%)
As for those with the biggest positive change, travelling for a special occasion, such as a birthday celebration, leads the ranking with an 28.9% variation, followed by cruise vacations with a 16% variation.
How inflation affected travel budgets in 2022
Increased inflation in the Europe has affected most industries and tourism is no exception. Our newest research show that the amount of people that will have a smaller travel budget next year compared to last year has increased by 81.8%. We also notice that travellers with signifant travel budgets of 10.000-29.000 EUR have diminished by up to 28.6%. However, research also show that inflation and cost of living will not act as a travel barrier, indicating how important travel and tourism is to the Nordic consumers.
Climate change: What happens with sustainable travel?
Sustainability is quickly becoming an important factor in purchase decisions in all industries, but what about travel? When we observe the variation in the relevance of Sustainability as a destination factor, we notice that it has diminished by 5.3%. But if we analyse actual sustainable travel behaviours, we can see that the results are different: Choosing eco-friendly accommodation has increased by 5.1%, CO2 compensation has increased by 15,2% and supporting environmental causes while travelling has increased by 7.2%. This suggests that consumers are looking more into what they specifically can do to be more sustainable when travelling. In other words: Nordic travelers are walking the walk, not only talking the talk!
Conclusion
In sum, we have learned that the destinations with the biggest growth in their image score are Guyana, Saudi Arabia, and French Guyana. Also, because of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has significantly lowered its score. We also noticed a big growth in online inspiration sources like TikTok and Twitch. Another relevant insight is the effect of inflation on the travel industry, decreasing the amount that people can spend on travel, yet not affecting the will to travel to other exciting destinations.
Need help analysing your performance during 2022? With Travellyze, we can help you gather insights and use these insights to innovate and create positive impact for you.
