While some destinations in the travel sector are in sharp decline, there are several destinations that are steady and even on the rise.

The central European search market is holding its own with Spain, Tenerife and Ibiza showing no decline in search traffic.

While this fact is great for all the companies currently ranking high in the SERPs for the related search terms, the impact on the cost per click (CPC) on adwords is proving to be an issue. The CPC for the Spanish markets has been increasing rapidly over the past 10 days as travel operators and portals have reallocated their budgets to travel destinations that haven’t been affected by recent terror attacks. Search terms like “spain holidays” and “Tenerife holidays” have seen a rise of up to 35% cost per click, leading in some cases to a negative margin per booking. Transatlantic and long haul destinations search traffic has either stayed steady or slightly improved year on year.

Mexico

Sri Lanka

Cuba

This rise in search traffic for longer haul destinations should be capitalised by all travel portals quickly, these destinations typically provide a much higher revenue and margin per booking.

Interestingly, UK destinations have seen a rise on average as travellers feel safer with a staycation rather than a vacation.

Glamping

Holiday Cottages

Log Cabin Holidays

We expect to see some interesting trends and changes in the UK travel search market as the UK public find their next destinations after recent events in Paris, Egypt and Turkey.