A report released today by travel brand performance marketing specialist Sojern claims that currency fluctuations and the political landscape have reshaped global travel patterns in the US.
An increase in travel-related searches to the Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, France, Russia, India and Mexico was also recorded, with US regional travel peaking in the last three months of the year.
The San Francisco-based company’s Q4 Global Travel Insights Report, which provides analysis of over 600 million traveler intent data points from ‘strategic partnerships’ across the globe, also identified a 38% decrease in outbound travel-related searches in Russia as a result of the country’s devaluing currency.
Cuba, meanwhile, is poised to reap the benefits of the recent US embargo relaxation, with searches for travel from the US to the island nation jumping 360% over the day following the White House announcement.
US travel trends
Americans responded most significantly to Cyber Monday, according to the report, with a two-fold increase in flight bookings compared to Thanksgiving. Europeans, on the other hand, saw a 32% increase in flight bookings on Cyber Monday with an increase of 25% coming in the following week.
Thanksgiving also saw a spike in US domestic travel, with the day preceding the national holiday picking up double the amount of last-minute bookers traveling over the quarterly average. But trips were short, and only 10% of consumers booked a trip of six days or more in duration.
December was the biggest month for business in Q4, most of which was domestic or regional in nature, with the exception of Latin Americans, who looked to travel to North America (35%) almost as much as LATAM destinations (38%).
The full report can be downloaded here. See infographic below for a visual journey exploring further findings:
