HOW TRIPS CAN BEGIN ON TIKTOK
Introduction
The German travel market is the largest in Europe, and leisure travelers are more likely to prioritize their trip spend than a range of other purchases like fashion or dining, according to Phocuswright’s latest German consumer travel report. As the market grows, understanding traveler behavior and marketing opportunities for these customers is as important as ever. In March 2024, Phocuswright conducted a survey of 1,030 German travelers who had taken at least one overnight leisure trip within the past year to further understand these travelers’ attitudes and patterns.
Nearly half (46%) of German leisure travelers turn to social or entertainment platforms when researching major travel decisions, such as choosing a destination, transportation, accommodation or experience. Among these travelers, TikTok is particularly popular with Gen Z, spanning ages of 18-27.
Marketing to TikTok users has many advantages. Users highly value recommendations from posts of their friends and families, but they also trust and engage with content from creators, making partnership campaigns a powerful way to connect with potential travelers. While TikTok serves as a major source of inspiration, Gen Z travelers rely on a variety of resources to plan their trips. Brands that provide informative and engaging content can effectively guide them through the decision-making process, increasing the likelihood of travel conversions at multiple touchpoints.
In a market crowded with travel options, marketers must be savvy in understanding how to reach audiences who are not only devoting attention to a channel, but also investing in their trips with a mindset open to learning about new options and brands.
The rise of travel: A top consumer priority in Europe
Across a range of markets (U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain), European leisure travelers are more likely to place high priority on travel than other purchase categories. Forty-six to fifty-four percent of leisure travelers in those countries place a high or top priority on travel spend. This far exceeds spend priorities for a range of other purchase categories, including fashion and accessories (22-28%), entertainment and sporting events (25-31%), or dining and nightlife (27-32%).
Germany is the largest travel market in Europe. In 2023, it exceeded its pre-COVID value in gross bookings, which reached €68 billion (per Phocuswright’s Germany Travel Market Report). On a more individual level, German leisure travelers took 3.2 trips on average in their past year of travel and spent €3,887 on leisure travel over the course of that year. These travelers are also venturing beyond their borders: 77% traveled outside of Germany on one of their leisure trips, including 29% who took trips outside of Europe.
Search meets discovery
In Germany, 46% of leisure travelers used a major social media or entertainment platform to inform trip planning in one of four main categories: destination selection, transportation (to reach a destination), accommodations, or tours and activities (see Figure 1). For Gen Z travelers (ages 18-27), TikTok is one of the most-used platforms, second only to Instagram.
Figure 1:
German travelers: Platforms used for major trip decisions among social/entertainment users for travel, overall and by age
*Note: Small sample size, findings should be considered directional Question: Which specific social media apps or platforms did you use to help decide on each of the following trip elements in the last 12 months?
Base: German travelers who used a leading social or entertainment platform (N=474)
Source: Phocuswright’s Germany Consumer Travel Report 2024
This information was hardly found by accident: A study commissioned by TikTok in collaboration with Material found that two in three discoveries made on TikTok were intentional. Another study in collaboration with AYTM concluded that TikTok users for travel consider the platform a top resource to spark inspiration in both destinations and tours and activities, as well as the third mostpreferred platform for accommodation ideas. This intentional search and discovery experience frequently guides users to specific brands and companies: 59% reported discovering a new travel brand via TikTok.
When leisure travelers venture farther from home, they often find themselves in need of more information from quality sources. This can naturally arise from planning in areas they are less familiar with or navigating issues like language and cultural barriers in foreign environments. In these situations, authentic personal experiences and visual walkthroughs from fellow travelers, creators and brands become invaluable guides for their travel decisions.
Destination selection is the decision category for which travelers are most likely to use TikTok. The app becomes an even more popular research tool for German travelers who left Europe, used by almost one in four (24%) extra-European travelers (see Figure 2). Likewise, nearly one in five (18%) Germans who left Europe researched with TikTok for transportation to reach a destination, accommodation decisions, or tours and activities.
(formerly
Overall Gen Z (18-27)* Millennials (28-43) Gen X+ (44+)
Figure 2:
German travelers: TikTok usage for major trip decisions among social/entertainment users for travel, overall and by destination
Question: Which specific social media apps or platforms did you use to help decide on each of the following trip elements in the last 12 months?
Base: German travelers (N=1,030) Source:
Destination selection can be a good travel use case for social and entertainment because Gen Z travelers from Germany, who use TikTok at high rates, are more likely to approach trip planning with a shortlist of destinations that they need to narrow down. Over half (53%) of German travelers ages 18-27 went into a recent trip planning process considering several destinations (see Figure 3). Social and entertainment platforms can be one of the resources that aid them in choosing where to go, whether they are persuaded by the destination itself or the accommodations and activities available there.
Figure 3:
German travelers: Approach to destination selection,by age
Question: Which of the following statements best describes how you selected the destination for this trip? Select one.
Base: German travelers (N=1,030)
Source: Phocuswright’s Germany Consumer Travel Report 2024
TikTok can be a useful marketing tool for travelers going to any type of destination, but it has particular advantages for international travelers looking for more perspective on the places they want to visit and stay. International travelers are also high value customers: They spend far more than those who only took domestic trips. German leisure travelers who went outside Europe had an average household travel spend of €6,628, compared to €1,462 from those who only traveled domestically.
Both Gen Z travelers and TikTok users show higher frequency of leisure trips, which equates to higher spend and more opportunities to build loyalty by engaging with these audiences. German Gen Z travelers had a higher average trip count (4.3) than either millennials (3.4) or Gen X and older generations (2.8). And the German travelers who used TikTok to research trip components took more trips per year on average (3.7) than travelers who only used other social and entertainment platforms (3.2).
Meeting travelers where they are
When travelers turn to social and entertainment platforms for trip planning, they engage with a wide range of accounts to inform their decisions. The most frequently visited are personal connections – accounts from friends and family (see Figure 4). OTA and travel agent pages are also among the top sources, with TikTok users showing a stronger tendency to visit pages from travel agents compared to those on other platforms. However, the biggest difference lies in the role of creators: 27% of travelers who used TikTok visited celebrity or creator pages in travel research compared to 11% of those who only used other platforms. This makes creator partnerships a valuable opportunity for brands looking to engage travel audiences.
TikTok Users Other social/entertainment platform users
Question: Which types of social media accounts did you visit to get ideas, information or inspiration for your trips in the last 12 months? Select all that apply.
Base: German travelers who used a social/entertainment platform (N=546)
Source: Phocuswright’s Germany Consumer Travel Report 2024
TikTok travelers may rely slightly less on personal connections, but when they do turn to them, their opinions carry significant weight. Among TikTok users making major travel decisions, 43% consider posts from their personal networks to be very or extremely influential, compared to only 25% of those who only used other social and entertainment platforms (see Figure 5). This presents a high-potential opportunity for user-generated content (UGC) campaigns, as TikTok users lend extra credence to posts from the travelers they personally know and trust.
German social/entertainment platform users: Account types considered very/extremely influential, by platform usage
Posts from personal network
Posts from celebrities/influencers
Question: Please rate how influential the following were in helping you select your destination for this trip.
Base: German TikTok users for travel (N=180); German users of other social/entertainment platforms for travel (N=293)
Source: Phocuswright’s Germany Consumer Travel Report 2024
TikTok travelers are also content creators themselves. More than three in four (76%) of TikTok users shared visual trip content (photo or video) on social or entertainment platforms in their past year of travel, so they are already in the habit of posting. Travel brands can amplify their own voice by encouraging or incentivizing travelers to post about specific parts of the experience that they want to publicize. UGC is powerful, but it is not without limitations. Personal contacts may not have first-hand experience with the exact places a traveler is looking to venture, and brands have less control over exact messaging and the timing of content posted. However, there are alternative marketing pathways to explore. For TikTok users, posts from celebrities and creators have a perceived influence that is on par with that of personal acquaintances. German travelers who use TikTok are also far more likely than those who only use other social and entertainment platforms to view posts from creators as highly influential to their decisionmaking process (44% of TikTok users vs. 20% of users of other platforms).
German TikTok travelers are also distinct in their openness to hearing from a variety of travel-related businesses. They consider sites from a multitude of travel-related companies to be highly influential compared to those who only used other social and entertainment platforms (see Figure 6). This spans from OTAs to packagers to destination management organizations and even exceeds perceptions of influence from Gen Z travelers who do not use the platform. For advertisers, this indicates an opportunity to capture the attention of an audience with open ears. Brands can direct users from TikTok to other trusted travel sites that they want to hear from, seamlessly guiding them from inspiration to action.
Figure 5:
TikTok Users
Other social/entertainment platform users
Figure 6:
German social/entertainment platform users: Web or mobile resources considered very/extremely influential, by platform usage German social/entertainment platform users: Account types considered very/extremely influential, by platform usage
Question: Please rate how influential the following were in helping you select your destination for this trip.
Base: German TikTok users for travel (N=180); German users of other social/entertainment platforms for travel (N=293)
Source: Phocuswright’s Germany Consumer Travel Report 2024
Conclusion
Almost one in four Germans are active users of TikTok, and they are valuable for the travel industry. These travelers are much more open to the impact of posts from both their peer groups and creator accounts as well as from a bevy of travel brand types that they discover through social and entertainment platforms. Many of the platform users are still rising in their careers and spend capacity. Therefore, targeting them at this phase is a key opportunity to build loyalty in these frequent travelers and introduce them to new trustworthy voices and brands that they can use for a visual, communal and engaging trip-planning process.