TRAVEL RECOVERY DASHBOARD
WHAT SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS TELL US

Social Voice

March 2021 – MMGY Travel Intelligence is the exclusive social listening provider for the U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Recovery Insights Dashboard. Social listening is a vital tool in helping to inform recovery and tapping directly into how consumers are talking about travel across a range of areas. 

MMGY Global social teams are experts at identifying and understanding the social voice of the traveler landscape – and how to use it to inform the way forward for our travel and hospitality partners. Within this report are key recovery indicators identified through social listening for the month of March 2021.

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5 POINTS TO KNOW ABOUT TRAVEL RECOVERY THIS MONTH

  1. Crying for Joy. Consumers shared the crying for joy emoji in droves across social as excitement built through the month about finally being able to travel.

  2. Bye, Bye Travel Shaming. Travelers sharing their trips across social increased by nearly 40% during the month. Those engaging with their friends’ travel content across social increased by 94% – driven by Likes.

  3. Coming Up Roses. Positive travel mentions registered across social media increased by 22% for the month, marking the highest level of positive comments in the past 12 months.

  4. Book Now, Book Often. Travelers actively talking about booking travel across social increased by 31% in March 2021 over February 2021.

  5. Happy Birthday! Where are you going? Travel social mentions associated with life moments increased by 48% from February 2021 to March 2021

 

HOW ARE GENERAL TRAVEL CONVERSATIONS PACING?

All Travel Mentions – March 2021 (MoM Comparison)

  • Travel-related social mentions increased by 37% in March compared to February.
  • Positive net sentiment continues to return to past levels, which is now at 71% – three points higher than February.
  • Engagement with consumer-shared social travel content increased by 94% month-over-month – driven by friends liking posts of those on vacation or actively planning a getaway.

Travel Sentiment – 2019 vs. 2020 vs. 2021 

  • March net sentiment for 2021 registered at 71% – which is only 3 points lower than March 2019 – indicating a positive near return to pre-pandemic levels.
  • March 2021 also registered 20 points higher than March 2020 for travel net sentiment.

Sentiment Analysis by Month

  • Positive mentions around travel increased by 22% in March 2021 over February 2021.
  • This marks the highest level of positive comments in the past 12 months.

WHAT IS DRIVING TRAVEL CONVERSATIONS?

Top Terms and Sentiment Attributes

  • Consumer travel conversations continue to range from actively booking travel, being on vacation or just returning from a trip.
  • The crying emoji has officially evolved from upset over canceled travel to now travelers using it to crying tears of joy for the return of travel.
  • Beach- and more nature-focused destinations continue to lead as consumers look to explore and also relax.
  • As vaccine rollout continues, the ability to now see family and friends through travel is a key topic across social media.

HOW IS TRAVEL PACING (INTENT/CONSIDERATION/BOOKING)?

Travel Booking Indicators – March (MoM Comparison)

  • Travelers actively talking about booking travel across social increased by 31% in March 2021 over February 2021.
  • Potential impressions associated with consumers talking about travel increased by 134% – led by a higher engagement rate across posts driving virality.

 

Travel Booking Indicators – By Month

  • March 2021 marks the highest interest in talking about booking travel across social in the past 12 months – well above summer 2020 levels.

 

WHAT ARE SOME KEY AREAS OF INTEREST FOR TRAVEL?

Road Trips Mention Analysis

  • Travelers talking about road trips across social increased in March 2021 by 18% MoM (February 2021).
  • March 2021 road trip mentions (103,596) nearly matched August 2021 (105,977) mention levels.

Air Travel Mention Analysis

  • Mentions around air travel across social increased by 13% in March 2021 over February 2021.
  • Positive social mentions around airline travel centered on general happiness to be flying again, comfort level with the experience as well as the quick access to destinations afforded by air travel.

Train Travel Mention Analysis

  • People talking about train-specific travel in March 2021 increased by 10%.
  • Similar to other indicators, March 2021 was the second highest in the past 12 months of travelers mentioning train travel. May 2020 was the peak month for mentions in the past year with nearly 8,500 mentions.

 

Accommodation Mentions (Hotels, Resorts, Airbnb, VRBO)

  • Travelers talking about conversations across social increased by 22% in March 2021 over February 2021.
  • March 2021 saw a significant increase in social activity in comparison to monthly activity over the past year, but it was still below pre-pandemic levels.
  • Positive-specific mentions across social for accommodations increased by 43% for March 2021 compared to February 2021. This was the highest month-to-month increase in positive mentions over the past year.

Cruise Ship Travel Mentions

  • Cruise ship social mentions in March 2021 remained nearly flat from February 2021.
  • Overall, net sentiment continues to remain high at 85%.
  • Social comments continue to focus on excitement for when cruising is allowed to return with many talking about looking forward to 2022.

HOW DOES TRAVEL SEASONALITY AND LIFE MOMENTS IMPACT LISTENING?

Spring Break

  • Social mentions around spring break travel increased as expected by 365% in March 2021 over February 2021.
  • Net sentiment around travel during the month grew by 6 points to 72% over February 2021 – showing the excitement and happiness among consumers with being able to travel.
  • In a three-year comparison around net sentiment, March 2021 was still down over March 2019. This March, net sentiment did increase by 137% compared to the same time period last year.

Summer Travel

  • Social mentions tied to summer travel increased by 71% in March 2021 compared to February 2021.
  • Over a three-year comparison period, March 2021 social mentions were considerably lower than March 2019 mentions. This is likely due to travelers planning more near-term travel with excitement for being able to get away ahead of summer travel.

Life Moments Travel – Anniversaries, Birthdays, Weddings

  • Travel social mentions associated with life moments increased by 48% from February 2021 to March 2021.
  • Consumers planning travel to celebrate birthdays saw the largest increase at 51% improvement from February 2021 to March 2021.
  • Net sentiment across life moments for March 2021 registered at 72%. While this is still 10 points lower than March 2019, we are seeing continued improvements and building toward previous levels.

About MMGY Travel Intelligence

MMGY Travel Intelligence is MMGY Global’s industry research and insights brand, offering proprietary data and research designed to power travel industry decision-makers through consumer insights, travel performance data, and audience modeling and segmentation. With offerings including DK Shifflet, the Portrait of American Travelers® and travelhorizonsTM  as well as the recently launched groundbreaking “The Black Traveler: Insights, Opportunities and Priorities” report and inaugural Portrait of European Travellers® study, MMGY Travel Intelligence features top consumer insights exclusively for the travel and tourism industry. To learn more about the extensive collection of research, analytics and strategy services, visit mmgyintel.com or email us at research@mmgyglobal.com.

About MMGY Global: Business Strategy Practice

MMGY Global business strategy team members go where others don’t. They go where the data leads them to provide critical insights and strategic guidance that maximize contributions from every channel, team member and agency partner. Through tools like Portrait of American Travelers®, Terminal and social listening, they help turn these insights into actions to create meaningful and fully integrated recovery plans for our clients. 

About MMGY Global: Social Listening Practice

MMGY Global is the exclusive social listening provider for the U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Recovery Insights Dashboard. MMGY Global social team members have been using social listening for the past 10 years. Our social teams identify key observations and insights gleaned through social listening to set a strong data-driven foundation as a key pillar in developing a successful social media strategy for our clients around the world. Learn more about MMGY Global’s social marketing practice.

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