On the digital (world) map: mapping the online travel industry
With summer in full swing, we zoom in on the travel industry. Who are the major players, how do they relate to each other and how can they respond to trend developments? We take you on a journey through the different market divisions within the Dutch travel sector.
Expertise Branche onderzoek
By Anique Schoot
Globally around the globe
To map the market breakdown of the travel industry, we collected data of more than 3,200 unique keywords from all sub-segments within the industry, divided into 27 different categories. Of all these keywords, we tracked the top 100 search results for each term on a daily basis. We compiled this information into a Share of Voice (SOV): a plot that shows the organic online market share of each player in the market at once.
Share of Voice travel sector – click and drag to zoom in further on a particular area. The SOV is more readable on PC.
On the vertical axis, we see the indexation percentage: how many of 3,204 keywords are indexed in the top 20 search results? The higher this percentage is, the more unique search terms a website is found on. Horizontally, we see the average position of these search terms indexed in the top 20. The higher the search volume of all indexed keywords together, the bigger the bullet. In other words, big, round and top-right is where you want to be as a party in the travel industry.
In the overall Share of Voice with all relevant categories included, we see that Tui.nl is the big winner in August 2022, with an indexation rate of 62.8% and an average position of 5.3.
Further exploration in the travel industry
An overall Share of Voice nicely shows who the all-round travel giant is online. On all sub-themes within the “travel” theme, Tui.co.uk scores high in search results on average; a competitor to be reckoned with. But what if you are in the winter sports niche?
Share of Voice winter sports
The landscape within sub-theme “winter sports” looks completely different. Whereas the Wintersport.nl website was completely missing from the overall Share of Voice, it is partially in the lead in the theme-SOV, along with Sunweb.nl, Summittravel.nl and – again – Tui.nl.
Share of Voice winter sports – click and drag to zoom in further on a particular area. The SOV is more readable on PC.
Share of Voice plane tickets
What about the market breakdown within sub-theme “airline tickets”? The Share of Voice of all airline ticket-related keywords shows that as a general travel operator, you don’t get very far in this segment. The only travel agency with a modest market share is Tui.nl. The others are all websites entirely focused on finding, comparing and booking air travel.
Share of Voice plane tickets – click and drag to zoom in further on a particular area. The SOV is more readable on PC.
Share of Voice camping
The distribution of the camping segment is again completely different. Within this sub-theme, we collected 169 keywords that can be divided into the categories “camping”, “motorhome”, “caravan”, “mobile home”, “glamping” and “camping (general)”.
Share of Voice camping – click and drag to zoom in further on a particular area. The SOV is more readable on PC.
Opportunities in your niche
But we can zoom in even further for a more accurate picture of your market. For example, do you own a brand new luxury glamping, and want to gain visibility online to attract more visitors to your website (and glamping)? Then you will have to compete against the 3 clear market leaders in this segment: Glampings.nl, Glamping.nl and Booking.com and – not unexpectedly – you seem to have an edge with the search engine when you include “glamping” in your domain name.
At the same time, there are still relatively few major players in this sub-topic and many parties each taking a small slice of this market. Good news, then, there is still room to jump in as a specialist in this field.
Share of Voice glamping – click and drag to zoom in further on a particular area. The SOV is more readable on PC.
Development trends in the digital travel industry
After you have insight into who your competitors are, it makes at least as much sense to check what their and your own progression (or degression) is. Are there perhaps new parties with a rapid rise, at the expense of your own market share and visibility, that you should take into account? Do you see a gradual gain or loss of ground at your website that you need to dive deeper into? Then it’s time to take action.
Curious about your own market distribution and market share?
We can produce Share of Voices for any market, whether you are in the travel, fashion, financial or service industry. Let us find out which keywords are relevant to your industry, and we will compile all the data in a (thematic) Share of Voices for an overview of the relevant competitors to consider.
Even within your domain, we will use a theme-SOV to reveal where the most growth opportunities lie. Let us examine your website and divide it into different Share of Voices per (sub)theme. That way, you will know exactly how you stand in relation to the market for each website category, so that – possibly together with us – you can develop a data-driven growth strategy.
Curious about what we can do for your sector? Feel free to contact us for more information!
