Summer school holidays may be over, but Audience360 Insights shows that travel marketers should be preparing for the next school break now. 

The role that timing plays for travel marketers is critical to conversions, especially during highly competitive school holiday periods like the upcoming Easter break, where many families are eyeing domestic travel options, but their travel plans are not set in stone.  

Reaching these potential customers at the right moment can be achieved by leveraging first-party data, transparent digital information collated directly from travellers via their interactions with online channels, that demonstrate they are in the market to travel. The accurate and reliable insights drawn from this data not only provide travel marketers with a deeper understanding of their target audience but enable them to strike while the iron’s hot; reaching holiday bookers with precision. 

38 Day Research to Purchase Cycle 

Ensuring conversions for travel marketers in the lead-up to the holidays hinders on how holiday bookers are marketed to at various periods. A combination of advertising formats, enhanced via first-party data, maximises marketing effectiveness and ensures ad dollars aren’t going to waste.  

Through our insight analytics dashboard, Audience360 Athena, we found that for families looking to book interstate school holiday travel, 38 days is the average purchase cycle. The first 30 days are essential for inspiration; reaching families via high-impact display, digital broadcast media and other brand awareness channels to foster those travel ideas. This means that to inspire for the next school holidays surrounding Easter / mid-Autumn travel brands should be in-market within the next 3 weeks. 

To get into specifics, Audience360 found that during the first 20 days of this window family travellers were:  

  • 3.8 times more likely to consume content on glamping,  
  • 4.8 times more likely to consume content on camping parks,  
  • 7.5 times more likely to consume content on spacious accommodation and,  
  • 11.3 times more likely to consume content on day trips. 

This information shows how timing is so critical for specific holiday marketing, particularly in the highly competitive travel landscape where the competition for attention greatens. 

Following this period, the 13-day lead-up to the holiday is when most travellers are booking, as 80 per cent of flights are booked during this period. Here, the use of conversion channels, for example social media and display is critical to ensuring holiday-goers are coming to your destination. 

Where are Travellers Holidaying?

Of course, it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation when it comes to school holidays marketing as family travellers from different states have different destinations in mind. 

The big winner from Audience360’s term three family planning and booking insights was the Gold Coast, with travellers from NSW, Victoria and the ACT choosing it as their top destination while Sydney topped the list for Queensland and South Australian travellers.  

But these insights don’t mean that marketers should just bet big on the Gold Coast or Sydney. Similar spots as the Gold Coast, such as other Queensland and coastal North-NSW destinations, can lure these types of travellers, while families keen on Sydney could find an alternative in Melbourne or Perth for their getaway. 

By utilising trustworthy first-party data, marketers can effectively reach these audiences at the right moments, impressing on them new holiday options that satisfy the same travel itch. To ensure your business is effectively reaching domestic interstate school holiday travellers by harnessing the power of first-party data, get in touch with our team today. 

Audience360 is a leading provider of first-party audiences, powered by exclusive data partnerships with trusted travel publisher brands including Webjet, Executive Traveller and Localista. We connect travel brands and advertisers through digital media with in-market travellers actively searching and making purchase decisions online. With this unique perspective, Audience360 gains valuable traveller insights that help brands reach the right people at the right moment.