Understanding travel planning in HK
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A new research study has found that travellers from Honk Kong use a variety of online and offline tools to research a trip, before finally executing a purchase – usually online.
Consumer and market intelligence company, GfK, followed and analysed the travel purchase habits of Hong Kong consumers, revealing some intriguing results.
On average, a typical consumer spends almost five hours researching online for their trip. During this period, they make an average of 92 visits to 22 travel-related websites and Apps before actually purchasing their bookings via the Internet.
The most popular online sites used are search engines which were visited by 9 in 10 respondents (91%), followed by travel aggregator and information sites (83%), travel booking sites (79%), airline companies (69%) and social media sites (38%).
Even in a highly digitised society such as Hong Kong where 65% of travellers utilise their digital platforms to purchase a holiday, traditional marketing channels remain relevant. Travellers exhibit strong omni-channel behaviours, navigating both online and offline platforms throughout the whole process.
Nearly all travellers in Hong Kong (96%) utilise a combination of the online resources and traditional brick and mortar channels, with a very low number (2%) using any single channel exclusively.
According to the study, traditional mass media is the most dominant offline touchpoint that triggers the gathering of travel information.
Three in every four consumers (74%) were prompted to action after they saw an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine, while 70% said they read an article in these publications. Meanwhile, over half said their travel plans were sparked by TV or radio ads.
“Advertising in the mass media is an effective platform to garner the interest of intended travellers and a good complementary channel that helps them shift from offline to online,” said Van den Oever, Global Travel Director at GfK.
“It is especially important for industry players to understand the consumer purchase journey as they plan their trips so that travel service providers can more thoroughly understand the complexity of the process,” he added.
With regards to gaining brand recognition through corporate marketing campaigns, Van den Oever said: “With the widening coverage and global reach of online service providers, consumers are increasingly focusing on specific established brands popular in their local market, reinforcing the fact that having a strong presence and top-of-mind awareness provides these companies with a head start.”
The nine-week survey from March to May 2014 polled more than 700 Hong Kong travel decision makers intending to purchase an air ticket in the next three months, who agreed to install GfK Nurago’s online tracking software on their digital and mobile devices. This allowed the integration of online tracking data with offline diary and website data to provide in-depth single-source insights into consumer shopping habits.
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