Report Overview

When the entire travel industry comes to an abrupt stop, marketing is often among the first expenses to be cut, as it’s not considered critical spending and it doesn’t make sense to promote travel when nobody is allowed to travel.

However, budget cuts without having an optimization strategy risk losing marketing talent and opportunities to keep up with consumer needs and shifting behavior in the short term, to eventually falling behind in market share and revenue when the economy bounces back.

We surveyed 756 travel marketing professionals globally to assess the impact of COVID-19 on marketing and advertising spending and identify challenges and opportunities travel marketers are facing in response to the pandemic.

In addition to the benchmark data from this survey, we examine tactics and strategies that winning companies and marketing teams have in common in navigating through a crisis and provide best practices for leading the marketing team out of this crisis stronger.

What You'll Learn From This Report

  • Benchmark data on levels of marketing budget cuts, breaking down by travel vertical
  • Key tactics that travel marketers are adopting and major challenges they are facing in response to COVID-19
  • Travel marketers’ predictions on the timing of full recovery
  • A framework and best practices on how to be best positioned to come out the pandemic stronger

Executives Interviewed

  • Kristie Goshow – Chief Marketing Officer, Preferred Hotels & Resorts
  • Louise Casamento, Sr. Director of Marketing, Oracle Hospitality