The Veria Search Marketing Team has extensive experience in travel and tourism. The majority of our clients over the years, big and small, have come from this industry. It continues to be one of the backbones of our company and part of a flourishing online market. During the Search Engine Strategies Travel Conference in 2007, the following upcoming trends were predicted:

• Travel search will grow to over 100 million unique visitors in the next three to five years.
• Travel meta search is growing even faster (20-22% per year), and is taking market share from the OTAs (online travel agents) such as Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity.
• Direct bookings (airlines, hotels, cruises, car rentals, etc.) are increasing and account for almost 60% of online bookings because of the increase in referrals from travel search engines.
• Three-quarters of all travelers are online during the research and planning process, and over half of all travel bookings occur online.

The picture may not be quite as rosy today due to the current economic climate, but travel remains a very active market online. In fact, if you have a travel and tourism business you cannot afford to not have an active search marketing campaign happening right now. This is a time of opportunity, especially for the smaller, more niche operator who may have a more difficult time competing when things are going well for everyone.

Please contact us today to find out how we can help your travel and tourism company with its search engine marketing strategy.