Google is launching new tools to help the travel industry as the sector recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, per a Wednesday (July 14) blog post from the company. Travel Insights with Google was initially rolled out in the Asia Pacific region in December 2020 for testing and is now launching in the United States.
Travel Insights with Google is partnering with Destinations International and Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) in a move to bring travel solutions to the worldwide hospitality industry, according to the blog post.
“We see from Google searches that people want to travel, provided they feel safe to do so: Global searches for ‘where to travel,’ ‘can I travel’ and ‘covid travel restrictions’ are near all-time highs. Google is working hard to listen to customer feedback and ensure travel businesses and tourism officials have the information needed to continue recovery,” according to the blog post.
Using global Google search data, the new tools for the travel industry offer insights into real-time travel demand. The travel industry tools in the U.S. and around the globe offer personalized training materials that can benefit destination organizations and hospitality marketing professionals.
Destination Insights, a tool within Travel Insights with Google, aims to help travel, governments and tourism, according to the release.
The travel industry is picking back up, but it is not anywhere near the numbers before the pandemic took hold in March 2020. For example, in May of this year, the demand for air travel was down 62.7 percent compared to May 2019, PYMNTS reported. However, that was an increase over the 65.2 percent drop posted in April of this year compared to April 2019. In May of this year, international demand was 85.1 percent lower than in May 2019, whereas in April of this year, it was down 87.2 percent compared to two years ago.
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