Travel video insights by in-depth Google study

Google recently released findings of a comprehensive online travel study entitled, “2012 Traveler’s Road to Decision Study.” I have pulled out and highlighted some interesting numbers that relate to travel videos. Additional information from the study can be found by clicking links at the bottom of this post.

96% of travelers begin their travel planning online.

46% watch travel videos on a regular basis. During the actual travel planning process that number jumps to 66%. 57% rely on travel videos when deciding what accommodations to stay at. 63% rely on travel videos for making destination decisions.

Most popular types of travel videos are: 62% hotel/lodging videos; 58% are cruises or tours.
58% watch trip reviews from experts. Tied at 58% are travel videos from a travel-related channels such as, “Mike’s Road Trip,” Lonely Planet, etc. 56% are trip review videos made by peers.

A direct correlation was found between the more affluent a viewer, the more they gravitate toward professionally produced videos

How influential are travel videos? 45% of leisure travelers said it influenced them to book a trip. That number jumped to 72% for business travelers, and to 74% for affluent travelers.

This data clearly shows the impact that travel videos have on the decision making process

Between 2009 and 2012, online video as a resource for travel planning has increased 89% with Leisure travelers and 93% with business travelers.

38% of Leisure travelers and 57% of business travelers rely upon mobile devices for searching their travel information.

NOTE: I tried to make this video auto play at the start of the travel video segment, but for some reason it will not work. If you’d like to skip ahead, move the playhead to 22:55