Gitnux/Report 2026

Digital Marketing Travel Industry Statistics

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Digital Marketing Travel Industry Statistics
Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Gitnux editors write the brief first: the topic, the inclusion rules, and the frame for what belongs.

02Source Research

Agents search the published record and log every extracted figure back to the passage it came from.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The digital marketing travel industry at a glance

U.S. travel digital advertising is forecast to reach $7.73 billion in 2024, with search accounting for 61.1% of spend as travel marketers increasingly combine performance media, social influence and first-party-data targeting.

$7.73B[46]
U.S. digital spend, 2024
61.1%[46]
Search share, 2024
$2.96B
Travel media networks, 2026
$8.19B[49]
Booking Holdings marketing, 2025
Market size
U.S. travel digital advertising spending was forecast at $7.73 billion in 2024, equal to 2.6% of total U.S. digital advertising. Travel-related companies were forecast to spend $9.86 billion on total media advertising in 2024.[46]
Forecast & CAGR
U.S. travel digital advertising was forecast to grow 8.9% in 2024 and 7.9% in 2025. Travel media network advertising is forecast to increase from $2.53 billion in 2025 to $2.96 billion in 2026, equivalent to approximately 17% growth year over year.[46]
Market share & regions
In Canada, travel services represented 3.5% of digital advertising spend in 2024, up from 3.3% in 2023. For the United States, travel accounted for 2.6% of digital advertising in 2024.[80][46]
Segmentation
Search was the dominant U.S. travel digital advertising channel in 2024, receiving 61.1% of spend versus 41.2% across the overall U.S. digital advertising market. Accommodation companies were the largest travel subcategory by digital advertising spending, while travel media networks are emerging as a distinct commerce-media segment.[46]
Key players & concentration
Booking Holdings reported $8.19 billion in marketing expenses in 2025, up 12.5% from 2024, while Expedia Group reported $7.35 billion in direct selling and marketing expense and $836 million in indirect selling and marketing expense. These figures illustrate the scale advantage of major online travel platforms, although they are company expenses rather than a complete industry concentration measure.[49]
Pricing
The average hotelier reported annual spending of $74,337 on digital advertising and media in 2024. Average spending was $46,251 for single properties, $79,470 for brands and $81,490 for groups or management companies; 21% of hoteliers reported spending more than $100,000 annually.[81]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Travel marketers are shifting toward measurable search, social video, retail-media-style placements and first-party-data targeting. Travel media network spending is forecast to grow 18.9% in 2025 and 16.8% in 2026, while Booking Holdings cited lower performance-marketing return on investment from changes in paid-traffic mix and increased social-media spending as a challenge.[49]
Consumer behavior & competition
Expedia Group’s 2025 survey found that more than 60% of travelers used social media for inspiration and 73% said influencer recommendations had influenced booking decisions. KPMG found that 52% of U.S. consumers booking summer 2026 travel booked directly with a hotel, resort, cruise or attraction, compared with 30% using a third-party booking platform.[38][21]
Regulation
The European Union’s Digital Services Act applies to online travel and accommodation platforms and requires transparency measures for online advertising. It also restricts advertising that targets children or uses sensitive personal data such as racial or religious information.[82]
Latest news
A 2026 destination-marketing survey reported that 41% of destinations increased digital advertising investment, while another 41% kept spending flat and 13% reduced it. The same report identified Instagram and Facebook as the leading platforms used by destination organizations.

02 Ranking

Top 7 Companies in the Digital Marketing Travel Industry

The leading companies in the digital marketing travel industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

MMGY Global leads Gitnux's 2026 digital marketing travel ranking with an Overall score of 9.7, with integrated travel and tourism marketing and communications services. Granicus is the highest-ranked destination marketing platform provider at 9.2, backed by Destinations support for more than 1,000 destinations worldwide.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in integrated travel marketing

    MMGY Global

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.7 · Integrated travel marketing

    Why we picked it: It works in integrated travel, tourism and hospitality marketing and communications.

    See in ranking ↓Visit mmgyglobal.com ↗

  2. Leader in destination engagement platforms

    Granicus

    US

    Ranked #2 · 9.2 · Destination engagement platforms

    Why we picked it: It operates in destination marketing platforms and digital engagement at destination scale.

    See in ranking ↓Visit granicus.com ↗

  3. Leader in hotel and resort digital marketing

    Tambourine

    US

    Ranked #3 · 8.7 · Hotel and resort digital marketing

    Why we picked it: It provides hotel, resort, and destination digital marketing services for worldwide tourism operators.

    See in ranking ↓Visit tambourine.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 7 companies in the digital marketing travel industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

MMGY Global

Integrated travel marketing · US

9.7
2

Granicus

Destination engagement platforms · US

9.2
3

Tambourine

Hotel and resort digital marketing · US

8.7
4

Miles Partnership

Travel digital content · US

8.7
5

Development Counsellors International

Tourism campaign execution · US

7.9
6

GCommerce Solutions

Hotel and resort digital marketing · US

7.3
7

Travel Mindset

Travel influencer and social media marketing · US

7.0

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 7 companies in the digital marketing travel industry. In Digital Marketing Travel Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/digital-marketing-travel-industry-statistics/#top-companies

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

AI discovery traffic to U.S. travel websites rose 194% year over year in May 2026, aligning with wide interest in automating performance reporting, paid optimization, and travel-intent tracking.

AI in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 194% year-over-year growth was recorded in traffic from AI sources to U.S. travel websites in May 2026.[1]
  • 26% of millennial travelers used generative-AI tools for trip planning in 2025.[2]
  • 20% of travelers worldwide used generative-AI tools when planning trips in 2025.[2]
  • 9% of boomer travelers used generative-AI tools for trip planning in 2025.[2]
  • 50% of experience operators worldwide were actively using or testing AI in 2025.[3]
  • 19% of Generation X travelers used generative-AI tools for trip planning in 2025.[2]

Automation in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 48% of independent hotels wanted to automate performance-report generation and analysis in 2025.[4]
  • 44% of independent hotels wanted to automate paid-campaign optimization in 2025.[4]
  • 36% of mid-sized hotel chains wanted to automate performance-report generation and analysis in 2025.[4]
  • 68% of large global hotel chains wanted to automate performance-report generation and analysis in 2025.[4]
  • 44% of independent hotels wanted to automate travel-intent tracking in 2025.[4]
  • 61% of large global hotel chains wanted to automate paid-campaign optimization in 2025.[4]

Digital Transformation in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among German digital-industry companies, 76% expected marketing automation to become more important in the future in 2025.[5]
  • 30% of agencies, brands and publishers had fully integrated AI across the media campaign lifecycle in the advertising industry in 2025.[6]
  • Across 15 countries, 77% of organizations used generative AI for marketing content creation in 2025.[7]
  • Across 15 countries, 75% of organizations used generative AI for search-engine optimization in 2025.[7]
  • Across 15 countries, 72% of organizations were using generative AI extensively or to a limited extent in their marketing departments in 2025.[7]
  • 57% of companies in the marketing sector were in the emerging stage of digital transformation in the U.S. in 2024, meaning new technology was not yet integrated into processes.[2]

Technology Adoption in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 77% of marketers reported using AI in 2024, up from 57% in 2023, based on Digiday+ Research surveys.[8]
  • 96% of major brands used AI in marketing in 2026, including 80% using it for content creation and 54% for media buying or optimization.[9]
  • 63% of multinational brand owners were already using generative AI in marketing in 2024, most commonly for content creation, ideation and task automation.[9]
  • 83% of advertising executives said their companies had deployed AI in the creative process in 2026, up from 60% in 2024.[6]

Cloud Computing in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 52.74% of EU enterprises used paid cloud computing services in 2025.[10]
  • 85% of EU enterprises using cloud computing used it to host email systems in 2025.[10]
  • 72% of EU enterprises using cloud computing used it for office software in 2025, while another 72% used it for file storage.[10]
  • 85% of large EU businesses used paid cloud computing services in 2025, compared with 52% of small and medium-sized enterprises.[10]

Big Data in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 25% of enterprises in Poland performed data analytics internally or externally in 2025, the lowest share among the EU countries reported.[10]
  • 40% of EU enterprises performed data analytics internally or through another organization in 2025.[10]
  • 60% of enterprises in Denmark performed data analytics internally or externally in 2025, the highest share among EU countries.[10]
  • 33% of EU enterprises used data analytics performed by their own employees in 2025.[10]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Travel analytics emphasis centers on speed, accuracy, and extra data sourcing, while personalization capability gaps show up as missing automation, missing data, and declining loyalty when personalization is limited.

Business intelligence in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 87% of travel leaders rate analytics speed and accuracy as important or critical when evaluating third-party providers in 2024.[11]
  • 71% of travel leaders rate access to additional data sources as important or critical when evaluating third-party providers in 2024.[11]
  • 44% of travel companies use booking and reservation systems, including look-to-book ratios, for customer analysis in 2024.[11]
  • 46% of travel companies use forecasting data or systems to manage and anticipate customer behavior in 2024.[11]
  • 34% of travel companies use external data sources such as weather, holidays and major events in customer analysis in 2024.[11]
  • 24% of travel companies use voice-of-the-customer data to understand customer behavior in 2024.[11]

Data analytics in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 58% of airlines and hotels report lacking internal skills for personalizing digital interactions in 2024.[11]
  • 51% of airlines and hotels report lacking automation capabilities for personalization in 2024.[11]
  • 46% of travel companies report decreased customer loyalty as an effect of limited personalization capabilities in 2024.[11]
  • 43% of airlines and hotels say they do not have the technology needed to personalize digital interactions in 2024.[11]
  • 43% of travel companies report diminished marketing return on investment because of limited personalization capabilities in 2024.[11]
  • 30% of airlines and hotels say they do not have the data needed to personalize digital interactions in 2024.[11]

Data Quality in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 45% of CMOs estimate that the marketing data their teams use for decisions is incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated; the survey covered marketers across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2025.[12]
  • 73% of marketers say at least 10% of their lead data is inaccurate or outdated, based on a survey of more than 200 marketing operations and demand-generation professionals.[13]
  • 31% of CMOs say data completeness is the biggest data-quality problem affecting their marketing organizations across the surveyed markets in 2025.[12]
  • 67% of marketing professionals report that poor data quality disrupts lead handoffs between marketing and sales.[13]
  • 30% of CMOs identify improving data quality as the biggest lever for improving marketing performance across surveyed marketing organizations in 2025.[12]

Data Governance in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 49% of advertising and data decision-makers at U.S. brands, agencies, and publishers are creating or planning dedicated teams or departments in response to privacy and data-governance requirements in 2024.[6]
  • 92% of marketing decision-makers report investing in automated data-governance platforms, according to a survey of more than 200 marketing operations and demand-generation professionals.[13]
  • 45% of respondents identify regulatory compliance as a goal of their data-governance program in 2024, in a global survey of data and analytics professionals.[14]
  • 58% of organizations with data-governance programs report improved data quality in 2024, based on a global survey of data and analytics professionals.[14]
  • 14% of organizations in the Dutch marketing sector report using data governance in 2024, down from 16% in 2022.[15]
  • 71% of global respondents report that their organization has a data-governance program in 2024, up from 60% in 2023.[14]

KPIs in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 53% of travel leaders say improving customer relationship management and retention is challenging or very challenging in 2024.[11]
  • 65% of travel leaders say improving loyalty programs is challenging or very challenging in 2024.[11]
  • 69% of travel leaders say improving customer acquisition is challenging or very challenging in 2024.[11]
  • 67% of travel leaders say identifying new revenue streams is challenging or very challenging in 2024.[11]
  • 59% of travel leaders say improving customer experience is challenging or very challenging in 2024.[11]
  • 59% of travel leaders say optimizing revenue management and pricing strategies is challenging or very challenging in 2024.[11]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Channel mix and booking behavior are changing: online travel bookings grew 9% globally in 2024, and KPMG reported 52% of U.S. consumers booked directly with hotels, resorts, cruises, or attractions for summer 2026.

Growth in the digital marketing travel industry

  • Online travel bookings grew 9% globally in 2024.[16]
  • Global travel gross bookings grew to $1.6 trillion in 2024.[16]
  • American Express Global Business Travel reported 45% total transaction value growth in 2025.[17]
  • American Express Global Business Travel reported 36% growth in travel revenue in 2025.[17]
  • TripGenie received more than 2.6 million unique views in 2024, up over 120% from 2023.[18]
  • American Express Global Business Travel reported 37% transaction growth in 2025.[17]

Differentiation in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 17% of millennial travelers said personalization influenced booking decisions in the Netherlands in 2024.[19]
  • 39% of Gen Z travelers said experiences offered influenced booking decisions in the Netherlands in 2024.[19]
  • 15% of Gen Z travelers said personalization influenced booking decisions in the Netherlands in 2024.[19]
  • 38% of millennial travelers said experiences offered influenced booking decisions in the Netherlands in 2024.[19]
  • 34% of Gen Z travelers said hotel-brand reputation influenced booking decisions in the Netherlands in 2024.[19]
  • 34% of millennial travelers said hotel-brand reputation influenced booking decisions in the Netherlands in 2024.[19]

Mergers and acquisitions in the digital marketing travel industry

  • $115 billion was the total deal value in the travel, logistics and infrastructure sector in 2023.[20]
  • $155 million of synergies were identified for the proposed Amex GBT-CWT transaction in 2024.[17]
  • $3.5 billion was the value of Scopely’s acquisition of Pokémon Go assets reported in H1 2025 travel, leisure and hospitality M&A coverage.[21]
  • $157 billion was the total deal value in the travel, logistics and infrastructure sector in 2024.[20]
  • $800 million was the value of Light & Wonder’s acquisition of Grover Gaming assets reported in H1 2025 sector M&A coverage.[21]
  • $540 million was the final reported value of Amex GBT’s CWT acquisition after the original $570 million announcement was reduced.[22]

Strategic partnerships in the digital marketing travel industry

  • Trip.com Group opened its platform to international partners, search engines and e-commerce platforms to expand partner business opportunities in 2024.[23]
  • Trip.com Group operated across 39 countries and regions through its global travel partnerships in 2024.[18]
  • Expedia Group became a long-term strategic partner and shareholder of Amex GBT through the CWT transaction announced in 2024.[24]
  • Trip.com Group offered accommodation inventory from approximately 1.5 million global listings through its partner ecosystem in 2024.[23]
  • American Express Global Business Travel identified approximately $155 million in synergies from its planned CWT combination in 2024.[17]
  • Trip.com Group offered flights from more than 640 airline partners in 2024.[23]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Workforce constraints and turnover intersect with marketing execution capacity, including 76% of U.S. hospitality workers leaving within one year and 40% of Canadian tourism businesses reporting recruitment difficulties in August 2024.

Hiring in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 22% of Canadian tourism businesses reported unfilled positions in August 2024.[25]
  • 40% of Canadian tourism businesses reported recruitment difficulties in August 2024.[25]
  • 22% of Canadian recreation-and-entertainment businesses reported job vacancies in 2024.[25]
  • 42% of Canadian accommodation businesses reported recruitment difficulties in 2024.[25]
  • 36% of Canadian travel-services businesses reported recruitment difficulties in 2024.[25]

Employee retention in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 28% of Canadian accommodation businesses reported retention difficulties in 2024.[25]
  • 76% of U.S. hospitality workers left their job within one year, according to Deloitte’s 2025 workforce analysis.[2]
  • 37% of Canadian food-and-beverage tourism businesses reported retention difficulties in 2024.[25]
  • 21% of 4.1 million Americans who quit in September 2022 were in hospitality, according to the U.S. Travel Association.[26]
  • 14% of Canadian travel-services businesses reported retention difficulties in 2024.[25]

Remote Work in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across marketing organizations, 55.6% reported working from home some of the time in Fall 2024, according to a U.S. CMO survey.[27]
  • Across management, marketing and sales respondents, 20% reported working fully remotely in the State of Sales and Marketing Report.[28]
  • Among U.S. marketing, advertising and public-relations office job postings, 12.2% were advertised as remote in 2024.[29]
  • Across marketing organizations, 37.8% reported working from home all the time in Fall 2024, according to a U.S. CMO survey.[27]

Hybrid Work in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among marketers, 68.7% said in 2024 that their current balance of office and home-working days was appropriate.[30]
  • Across management, marketing and sales respondents, 57% said their employer offered a hybrid work option to at least some employees.[28]
  • Across advertising professionals, 74% reported working in hybrid situations in the 2024 Myers Report survey of 3,462 respondents.[31]
  • Across advertising professionals, 64% preferred hybrid work over fully remote or fully on-site work in the 2024 Myers Report survey.[31]

Upskilling in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 21% of Canadian tourism businesses increased employee training in 2024.[25]
  • 16% of destination organizations offered formalized mentorship programs for diverse employees in 2023.[26]

Employee Engagement in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across organizations with highly activated communications strategies, 40% reported increased employee engagement in Gallagher’s 2026 global survey.[32]
  • Across organizations with low-activation communications strategies, 23% reported increased employee engagement in Gallagher’s 2026 global survey.[32]
  • Across organizations surveyed globally, 32% reported an increase in employee engagement from their previous survey in Gallagher’s 2026 Employee Communications Report.[32]
  • Across the global workforce, 21% of employees were engaged in 2024, according to Gallup’s worldwide workplace measure.[33]

DEI in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 42% of Black employees and 44% of Hispanic employees in U.S. arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services held administrative, laborer or service-worker jobs in 2021.[26]
  • 61% of destinations aimed to expand diversity at all leadership levels in 2023.[26]
  • 77% of destinations with social-inclusion strategies aimed to attract and retain diverse talent in 2023.[26]
  • There were approximately 123,000 diverse employees in leadership compared with roughly 230,000 Caucasian employees in leadership across the cited U.S. industries in 2021.[26]
  • More than 6% of destination-organization employees identified as neurodivergent, predominantly in entry-level positions.[26]

Change Management in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among marketers, 20% had experienced a recent change in senior marketing leadership in Gartner’s 2023 talent survey.[34]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

AI-driven browsing appears to translate into engagement: travelers referred by AI spent 70% longer per visit on U.S. travel websites in May 2026 and had a 41% lower bounce rate than non-AI visitors.

Customer experience in the digital marketing travel industry

  • Travelers referred by AI spent 70% longer per visit on U.S. travel websites in May 2026 than visitors from non-AI sources.[1]
  • 77 points was the 2024 U.S. online travel agency score for helpfulness of customer support, on ACSI’s 0–100 scale.[35]
  • 79 points was the 2024 U.S. online travel agency score for site performance, on ACSI’s 0–100 scale.[35]
  • 82 points was the 2024 U.S. online travel agency score for ease of booking and payment, on ACSI’s 0–100 scale.[35]
  • AI-referred travel visitors had a 41% lower bounce rate than visitors from traditional sources in May 2026.[1]

Customer retention in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 51% of U.S. travel-loyalty professionals measured program performance by customer retention in 2024.[36]
  • 43% of U.S. travel-loyalty professionals measured program performance by net promoter score in 2024.[36]
  • 60.6% of Entertainment & Restaurant website visitors were returning visitors in Contentsquare’s 2026 travel-and-hospitality benchmark.[37]
  • 79% of North American travel brands with more than 50 million loyalty members prioritized customer lifetime value as a program KPI in 2024.[36]
  • 43.0% of Travel & Transportation website visitors were returning visitors in Contentsquare’s 2026 benchmark.[37]

Customer acquisition in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 88% of global consumers planned a leisure trip within the following year in Expedia Group’s 2025 survey of 11,000 consumers across 11 markets.[38]
  • 25% was the quarter-over-quarter increase in global travel searches during the first quarter of 2024, according to Expedia traveler-insights data.[39]
  • 194% was the year-over-year increase in AI-referred traffic to U.S. travel websites in May 2026.[1]
  • 84% of travelers under 40 said influencer recommendations had affected their booking choices in Expedia Group’s 2025 survey.[38]
  • 58% of global consumers expected to become more price-conscious about travel in the next 12 months in Expedia Group’s 2025 survey.[38]

Customer loyalty in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 80% of travelers used an online travel agency during the 45 days before a purchase in Expedia Group’s path-to-purchase research.[40]
  • 83% of global travelers considered travel their top category for redeeming loyalty points in Expedia Group’s 2025 survey.[38]
  • 75% of consumers said they would pay more for a vacation rental with better customer reviews in Expedia Group’s 2025 survey.[39]
  • 61% of travelers used a search engine during the 45 days before a travel purchase in Expedia Group’s path-to-purchase research.[40]
  • 36% of travelers used a hotel website during the 45 days before a travel purchase in Expedia Group’s path-to-purchase research.[40]

Lead generation in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 13% of travel advisors identified print advertising as a lead-generation source in 2025.[41]
  • 34% of travel advisors identified digital marketing as a lead-generation source in 2025.[41]
  • 18% of travel advisors identified partner-group referrals as a lead-generation source in 2025.[41]
  • 81% of travel advisors identified current or past clientele as a lead-generation source in 2025.[41]
  • 27% of travel advisors identified a niche or specialization as a lead-generation source in 2025.[41]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Upper-funnel and creator influence are measurable in traveler intent, with influencer recommendations affecting booking decisions for 84% of travelers under 40 in Expedia Group’s 2025 survey.

Marketing in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 19% of travel advisors named email campaigns their top marketing method in 2024.[42]
  • 57% of destination marketing organizations monitored social-media engagement and followers as a marketing-success metric in 2024.[43]
  • 37% of bookings were captured by online travel agencies among experience operators in 2025, according to Arival’s global operator study.[3]
  • 57% of travel advisors said they used customer feedback in websites or promotional materials, social media and advertising in 2024.[42]
  • 64% of travel agents said in 2024 that the industry did not provide enough education about marketing.[42]

Digital marketing in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 3,500% was the year-over-year increase in generative-AI traffic to U.S. travel websites in July 2025.[1]
  • 8 million visits to U.S. travel websites were included in Adobe’s 2026 digital-analysis dataset.[1]
  • 85% was the improvement in the travel conversion-rate gap between AI and traditional sources from October 2024 to December 2025.[1]
  • 1.5 times higher was the conversion rate of the low-AI-visit-share travel segment than the high-visit-share segment in January–May 2025.[1]
  • 60% of the high-AI-visit-share travel segment consisted approximately of international airlines from January through May 2025.[1]

Branding in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 72% of followers considered friends and family helpful for travel advice in 2024.[16]
  • 81% of travel advisors identified current and past clientele as a lead source in 2025, highlighting the role of existing brand relationships.[41]
  • 67% of followers considered travel creators helpful for travel advice in Phocuswright’s 2024 research.[16]
  • 43% of social-media converters recalled an influencer or creator partnership that influenced their travel choices in 2024.[16]
  • 87% of travel advisors identified word-of-mouth and referrals as a lead source, making reputation the leading brand-growth channel in 2025.[41]

Social media in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 77% of travelers using social media identified it as their leading online inspiration resource in Expedia’s travel-advisor research.[44]
  • 40% of travelers used social media to narrow down and compare travel options in Expedia’s research.[44]
  • 58% of travelers used social media during the 45 days before a travel purchase in Expedia Group’s 2023 path-to-purchase research.[40]
  • 65% of travelers using social media used it for destination inspiration in Expedia’s travel-advisor research.[44]
  • 49% of travelers using social media used it to find lodging recommendations during inspiration in Expedia’s research.[44]

Influencer Marketing in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • Six in 10 multinational brands had dedicated influencer-marketing budgets globally in 2025, up from 37% in 2019.[9]
  • 58% of global marketers reported dedicated and growing budgets for creator or influencer partnerships in Nielsen’s 2026 survey.[45]
  • 77.7% of surveyed U.S. companies increased their creator-economy budgets in 2025, according to a survey of 139 marketers.[46]
  • $37 billion in U.S. creator advertising spend is projected for 2025, growing four times faster than the broader media industry.[6]
  • 74% of surveyed brands, agencies and creators reported year-over-year creator-marketing budget increases in the 2025 survey covering nine countries.[47]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Implementation gaps persist in back-end and CRM support; 45% of travel businesses did not use a booking platform in 2024, increasing to 53% among destination-management companies.

Process optimization in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 31% of travel businesses planned to start using AI to support operations in 2024 worldwide.[48]
  • 45% of travel businesses did not use a booking platform in 2024, rising to 53% among destination-management companies worldwide.[48]
  • 47% of travel businesses reported integrating artificial-intelligence-driven tools into operations for 2024 worldwide.[48]
  • 36% of travel businesses reported in 2024 that they did not automate any back-end or front-end processes worldwide.[48]
  • 27% of travel businesses identified insufficient back-end IT or CRM support as a major growth challenge for 2024 worldwide.[48]

Operational efficiency in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 44% of independent hotels wanted to automate travel-intent scraping and day-to-day bid adjustments in 2025.[4]
  • 61% of large global hotel chains wanted to automate paid-campaign optimization in 2025, compared with 28% of mid-sized chains and 44% of independent hotels.[4]
  • 74% of large hotel chains identified travel-intent tracking as an automation priority in 2025.[4]
  • Booking Holdings’ sales and other expenses were 1.9% of gross bookings in 2025, unchanged from 2024.[49]
  • Airbnb’s operations and support expense increased 4% in 2025, or $45 million, primarily because of higher payroll, insurance, facilities, IT and software costs.[49]

Quality management in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 22% of global experience operators rated their marketing as very effective in 2025.[3]
  • 55% of travel businesses using AI for operations or customer support had used ChatGPT as their only AI tool in 2024 worldwide.[48]
  • 37% of global experience bookings went through online travel agencies in 2025.[3]
  • 65% of respondents in Adobe’s 2025 travel and hospitality study worked for companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.[1]
  • 50% of global experience operators were actively using or testing AI in 2025.[3]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the marketing and advertising sector (sector benchmark)

  • 67.5% of B2B brands outsourced work to an agency or third party during the previous 12 months in 2025, compared with 60.2% of B2C brands.[30]
  • 49% of marketing respondents outsourced digital content production fully or partly in 2024, according to the Marketing Benchmark Survey.[50]
  • 63.1% of marketers outsourced work to an agency or third party during the previous 12 months in the 2025 survey, covering more than 3,500 respondents globally.[30]
  • 45% of marketing respondents outsourced design functions fully or partly in 2024, according to the Marketing Benchmark Survey.[50]
  • 57% of marketing respondents outsourced video production fully or partly in 2024, the most commonly outsourced marketing function in the survey.[50]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Marketing scale and expense trajectories matter for digital advertising provisioning, including Booking Holdings marketing expense of $8.186 billion in 2025 and a stated challenge around performance-marketing ROI.

Pricing strategy in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 40% of US travelers said comparing hotels took more time than comparing other listed travel products in Travelport’s 2024 survey.[51]
  • 49% of US travelers said shopping for flights took more time than comparing hotels in Travelport’s 2024 survey.[51]
  • 64% of Generation X travelers often used online travel agencies to book travel in Travelport’s 2024 survey.[51]
  • 5% of Australia and New Zealand experience operators reported using true dynamic pricing in 2026.[3]
  • 6% of tour, activity and attraction operators automatically adjusted prices in 2026 worldwide.[48]

Cost reduction in the digital marketing travel industry

  • Booking Holdings spent $8.186 billion on marketing in 2025, up 12.5% from $7.278 billion in 2024.[49]
  • Airbnb’s sales and marketing expense increased 20% in 2025, including a $163 million increase in marketing activities.[52]
  • Booking Holdings’ marketing expense represented 30.4% of revenue in 2025, down from 30.7% in 2024.[49]
  • Booking Holdings reported $550 million in annual run-rate savings expected from its Transformation Program by the end of 2026.[53]
  • Airbnb’s operations and support expense increased $45 million in 2025, including $33 million in additional payroll-related expense.[49]

Profitability in the digital marketing travel industry

  • Airbnb generated $2.5 billion in net income in 2025, down 5% from the prior year.[49]
  • Booking Holdings generated $9.9 billion in adjusted EBITDA in 2025, up 20% year over year.[49]
  • Booking Holdings reported a 20.1% net-income margin in 2025, compared with 24.8% in 2024.[53]
  • Booking Holdings generated $5.404 billion in GAAP net income in 2025.[49]
  • Expedia Group generated $14.733 billion in total revenue in 2025, up 8% from 2024.[49]

Financial planning in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 50% of corporate travel managers reported that their companies encouraged or mandated lower-cost flights in 2024.[2]
  • Airbnb repurchased 29.7 million shares for $3.8 billion in 2025 and had $5.6 billion remaining under its repurchase authorization.[49]
  • 62% of business travelers expected to attend at least one conference, trade show or exhibition in 2024.[2]
  • Booking Holdings recorded $186.1 billion in gross bookings in 2025, up 12% year over year.[49]
  • Airbnb generated $4.6 billion in operating cash flow in 2025, compared with $4.5 billion in 2024.[49]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Experimentation and personalization readiness remain limiting factors, including 18% of travel leaders using business-experimentation systems to test new offerings in 2024 and 71% prioritizing personalization improvements in 2024.

Product development in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 35% of travel companies report an inability to test new business ideas, limiting product innovation (2024).[11]
  • 63% of airline and hotel leaders identify new revenue streams as an important or critical objective (2024).[11]
  • 18% of travel leaders in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific use business-experimentation systems to test new offerings (2024).[11]
  • 67% of travel leaders say identifying new revenue streams is challenging or very challenging (2024).[11]
  • 37% of travel companies report being unable to test new business ideas accurately (2024).[11]

Product lifecycle in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 67% of global travel leaders prioritize cross-channel data integration during the 12 months following the 2025 survey.[54]
  • Less than 40% of global travel leaders say travelers are very satisfied with post-trip loyalty and feedback experiences in 2025.[54]
  • 55% of global travel leaders rate their digital customer-journey maturity as only adequate in 2025.[54]
  • 71% of global travel leaders identify anonymous-visitor identification as their top challenge in 2025.[54]

After-sales in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 5.8% of the total trip cost is the average fee U.S. travelers willing to pay for an artificial-intelligence travel assistant in 2025.[55]
  • 68% of U.S. travelers are willing to pay a one-off fee for an in-trip artificial-intelligence travel assistant in 2025.[55]
  • 8 percentage points was the year-over-year decline in U.S. travel consumers saying they would stop doing business after one bad experience in 2026.[56]
  • 39% of U.S. travel consumers say brands using artificial intelligence to assist them make customers feel less valued in 2026.[56]
  • 59% of U.S. travel consumers felt forced to interact with brand artificial intelligence most or all of the time in 2025.[56]

Value proposition in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 56% of airline and hotel executives say rising expectations for digital user experiences affect strategic planning in 2024.[11]
  • 71% of airline and hotel executives rate improving personalization as important or critical in 2024.[11]
  • 82% of airline and hotel executives rate improving customer acquisition as important or critical in 2024.[11]
  • 66% of travel leaders expect third-party analytics providers to improve personalization and customer acquisition in 2024.[11]
  • 51% of airline and hotel executives cite increased demand for personalized experiences as a strategic-planning trend in 2024.[11]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability signals are influencing booking choice, with 85% of travelers saying more sustainable travel is important or very important in 2026 and 36% planning to choose accommodation with sustainability certification.

Sustainability in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 43% of travelers planned to avoid overcrowded tourist destinations in 2026, according to Booking.com research across 35 markets.[57]
  • 50% is Expedia Group’s target increase in hotels with sustainability certifications displayed on its platforms.[58]
  • More than 100% was the growth in Expedia Group property inventory with sustainability certifications since 2025.[40]
  • 85% of travelers said more sustainable travel was important or very important in 2026, based on a Booking.com survey across 35 markets.[59]
  • 36% of travelers planned to choose accommodation with a sustainability certification in 2026.[57]

ESG in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 7.3% of global greenhouse-gas emissions came from Travel & Tourism in 2024.[60]
  • 40% of Travel & Tourism greenhouse-gas emissions came from transportation in 2024.[60]
  • 39.6% of direct Travel & Tourism jobs were held by women globally in 2024.[60]
  • 91.6 was Airbnb’s score and second-place ranking among online travel agencies in IMD’s 2025 Future Readiness Indicator.[61]
  • 100 was Booking Holdings’ score and first-place ranking among online travel agencies in IMD’s 2025 Future Readiness Indicator.[61]

Ethics in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 240,000 accommodation partners received human-trafficking-prevention educational resources through Booking.com webinars and digital campaigns in 2025.[62]
  • 71% of underserved travelers valued travel staff trained in diversity and inclusion in Expedia Group’s 2024 study.[40]
  • 71% of Black travelers said authentic representation in travel advertising significantly increased their likelihood of booking in Expedia Group’s 2024 study.[40]
  • 14 companies and civil-society organizations collaborated with Booking Holdings on human-rights due-diligence training for tourism in 2023.[62]
  • 250 million people received anti-human-trafficking material through Booking.com activities in 2025.[62]

CSR in the digital marketing travel industry

  • IDR 30 trillion in destination spending was generated by Airbnb guests in Indonesia in 2024.[63]
  • 6,000 Booking Holdings employees contributed more than 38,000 volunteer hours to community causes in 2025.[62]
  • 112,900 jobs were supported across Bali by Airbnb guest spending in 2024.[63]
  • 7,000 Booking Holdings employees participated in employee resource groups in 2025.[62]
  • 22 employee resource groups operated across Booking Holdings brands in 2025.[62]

Circular economy in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 43% was the increase in Booking.com accommodation partners obtaining third-party sustainability certifications in 2024.[64]
  • 37% of travelers planned to reduce pressure on destinations in Booking.com’s 2026 sustainability research.[57]
  • 25% of travelers planned to seek cooler-temperature destinations in 2026, according to Booking.com research.[57]
  • 43% of travelers planned to avoid overcrowded destinations in 2026, supporting destination-level resource management.[57]
  • IDR 3.8 trillion in wages was generated across Bali by Airbnb guest spending in 2024.[63]

Carbon footprint in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 61% of Airbnb’s 2022 corporate emissions were represented by nearly 70 suppliers engaged in its first supplier sustainability program phase.[65]
  • 17% was Airbnb’s reduction in absolute corporate emissions in 2022 versus its 2019 baseline.[65]
  • 19% of Travel & Tourism greenhouse-gas emissions came from utilities in 2024.[60]
  • 85% was Booking Holdings’ reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions versus 2019 in 2024.[62]
  • 17% was Booking Holdings’ reduction in Scope 3 emissions versus 2019 in 2024.[62]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Partner ecosystem scale and direct channels are central to distribution, including 1.5 million global accommodation listings via Trip.com’s open platform in 2024 and $262 billion of hotel gross bookings through digital direct channels in 2024.

Globalization in the digital marketing travel industry

  • More than 65,000 ecosystem partners were connected to Trip.com Group’s travel platform as of December 2024.[23]
  • 1.5 million global accommodation listings were available through Trip.com Group’s open platform in 2024.[23]
  • Trip.com Group’s hotel network covered 1.5 million properties across 200 countries and regions in 2024.[23]
  • Online travel bookings grew 9% globally in 2024, lifting digital penetration of the travel market.[16]
  • Global travel gross bookings are projected to approach $1.8 trillion by 2027.[16]

Cultural adaptation in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 41% of Chinese travelers said immersive or local experiences were a key part of destination choice in 2025.[71]
  • 12% of U.S. travelers identified cultural immersion with another culture or people as a travel motivation in 2024.[72]
  • 36% of Indian travelers said immersive or local experiences were a key part of destination choice in 2025.[71]
  • 28% more travelers chose culinary travel in Spain in 2024 than in 2019.[73]
  • 34% of U.S. travelers said immersive or local experiences were a key part of destination choice in 2025.[71]

Supplier management in the digital marketing travel industry

  • More than 65,000 ecosystem partners supplied travel products and services to Trip.com Group in 2024.[23]
  • Two-thirds of corporate travelers frequently stayed at hotels affiliated with the loyalty programs they supported in 2025.[74]
  • 145 million IHG One Rewards members booked more than 60% of IHG’s global room nights in 2024.[75]
  • Over 600 airlines were represented in Trip.com Group’s global travel ecosystem in 2024.[18]
  • Three-quarters of corporate travelers belonged to multiple hotel loyalty schemes in 2025.[74]

Stakeholder management in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 96% of U.S. travelers said rising costs would have at least a minor influence on travel planning in 2024.[72]
  • 60% of U.S. travelers expressed discomfort with travel systems using artificial intelligence in 2024 because of data-breach concerns.[76]
  • 56% of European travelers relied on recommendations from people they knew, according to evidence reviewed in 2026.[77]
  • 75% of Europeans said climate affected how they traveled in evidence reviewed in 2026.[77]
  • 86% of travelers said artificial intelligence had improved their travel-planning experience in 2026.[78]

Distribution channels in the digital marketing travel industry

  • 49% of global airline booking value came through airline-direct online channels in 2024.[20]
  • 4% of multi-day travel operators said online travel agencies were their primary booking channel for 2026 departures.[79]
  • $262 billion of hotel gross bookings came through digital direct channels in 2024.[71]
  • 50% of multi-day travel operators said direct website or phone channels drove most bookings for trips departing in 2026.[79]
  • 35% of global airline booking value came through offline channels in 2024.[20]

Key questions about the digital marketing travel industry

How large is U.S. travel digital advertising spending in 2024?
U.S. travel digital advertising spending was forecast at $7.73 billion in 2024.
What growth rate is forecast for U.S. travel digital advertising?
U.S. travel digital advertising was forecast to grow 8.9% in 2024 and 7.9% in 2025.
Which companies lead the digital marketing travel industry?
MMGY Global leads Gitnux's 2026 digital marketing travel ranking with an Overall score of 9.7, with integrated travel and tourism marketing and communications services. Granicus is the highest-ranked destination marketing platform provider at 9.2, backed by Destinations support for more than 1,000 destinations worldwide.
What technology shifts are most visible in travel digital marketing by 2026?
AI-driven discovery is accelerating, including 194% year-over-year growth in traffic from AI sources to U.S. travel websites in May 2026, alongside automation requests for reporting, optimization, and travel-intent tracking.
How is the market structured by channel and where is spend concentrated?
Search is the dominant U.S. channel in 2024 at 61.1% of travel digital advertising spend, while travel media networks are emerging as a commerce-media segment with $2.96B forecast for 2026.
What data and governance pressures shape provider evaluation for travel marketers?
In 2024, 87% of travel leaders rated analytics speed and accuracy as important or critical, and 92% of marketing decision-makers reported investing in automated data-governance platforms.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Digital Marketing Travel Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/digital-marketing-travel-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Digital Marketing Travel Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/digital-marketing-travel-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Digital Marketing Travel Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/digital-marketing-travel-industry-statistics.

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