Going for gold: How travel marketers can capitalize on events to drive demand
Drawing on data from their travel marketing plaform, Sojern's Noreen Henry (chief revenue officer) highlights Olympic travel trends to help travel marketers woo potential guests to book.
As a marathon runner, there’s nothing I love more than watching the best athletes in the world compete for their countries. I’m also a parent of the Swiftie generation, so I’ve seen firsthand the buzz a single concert tour can ignite.
As someone in the travel marketing business, I know how large-scale events, like the Olympics and the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, or even smaller-scale gatherings, like bachelorette parties, can drive incredible demand. In 2023, Taylor Swift embarked on her Eras tour, which is now the highest-grossing tour of all time. Currently, the tour has grossed more than $1bn – and counting. Now, in 2024, the Olympics are on deck – creating yet another golden opportunity for travel marketers to reach travelers with the right message at the right moment to bolster their bottom line.
Here’s a look at our latest Olympics travel data–and how travel marketers can capitalize on sports, concerts, and other events to drive business.
The allure of entertainment
Beyond tourism, large-scale events generate incredible amounts of revenue and increase travel demand. Between the Super Bowl, Olympics, European Championship, and other major sporting events, ad spending is projected to reach $61bn this year alone.
Not only do these events bolster advertising revenues, but they also drive incredible travel demand and increased awareness of the sport, with countries seeing massive travel spikes long after as attendees flock to cheer on their favorite teams. For example, flight bookings surged 63% compared to the prior year ahead of the F1 Grand Prix in Singapore. Bolstered by media, such as Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, this historically less accessible sport has gained renewed interest that will likely translate to travel dollars. What’s more, Qatar saw between a 79-255% increase in international lodging searches, bucking seasonal travel trends, after hosting the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Unlike prior generations, Gen Z and Millennials are far more focused on experiences – and sports and events are a massive draw for travelers who are looking to pocket memories, not things. The 2024 Summer Olympics have the potential to attract experience-minded Gen Z and Millennials travelers among the estimated 15.3 million tourists who will flock to Paris. By understanding who is heading to Paris and what they want, travel marketers have a golden opportunity to move the needle.
Tourists move in, Parisians move out
Paris has long been a top summer destination for travelers around the world, and the Olympics will cement France’s place at the top of their lists. Tickets for the 33rd Olympic Games went on sale on November 30th, 2023 and, according to our data, flight bookings to Paris skyrocketed 125% compared to the same travel period last year.
Travelers are arriving at different times but planning to leave Paris the day the games end, which shows they are likely planning their trips around specific events and available vacation time. According to our flight booking data, 30% of bookings* to Paris during the Olympic period originate from the United States. Given that the United States led the medal count in both the 2020 and 2016 Olympics, it’s possible that these travelers are anticipating watching their country bring home gold.
As Paris fills with tourists from all around the world, Parisians are flocking to other areas of France, likely to avoid the crowds. Currently, our data shows that hotel bookings from Parisians traveling to other parts of France are up 49% during the Olympics season compared to 2023, with Lille, Nice, Corsica, Lyon, and Toulouse being their destinations of choice.
How can travel marketers capitalize on increased demand?
Travel marketers have endless opportunities to tie their campaigns to events, whether that be the local marathon in their city, mega-star concerts, or global sporting events. For example, Marriott is giving its Bonvoy members the opportunity to win tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. But it’s not just travel marketers who are inspiring potential customers: Budweiser recently won in the Large-Scale Activation category at The Drum Awards for its experience-driven influencer campaign around the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Doha. These companies are smartly building on existing buzz to reach new and repeat customers–and their strategies are working. What event can you creatively capitalize on next?
*Sojern data pulled 11 March