Traveling is a widespread activity in society, especially as the holiday seasons approach. Regardless of the destination and the motivation for the trip, many people agree on one thing: they use the Internet as a channel to obtain information and plan their trips.
For this reason, GfK DAM, the official measurement of digital audiences in Spain, has carried out one Analysis of travel-related search queriesespecially on dates before holidays such as Easter, as many users organize these trips in advance.
According to browsing data collected by GfK, there are more than 34 million people have accessed it Websites And Apps Travel search (i.e. related to accommodation such as hotels and apartments, as well as transportation, from finding return to trains) last January. It means that 86% of the population visited these websites and applications.
Regarding the time spent on this activity, it can be observed that each user invests on average 1 hour and 42 minutes per month. And what’s more, it’s an intensive consumption, because More than 12.5 million people consume this type of content every day.
Increase in travel-related searches compared to 2023
Compared to last year, there has been an increase in the number of people planning their vacation digitally in the period before Easter. And it assumes a monthly consumption of more than 33,202,265 unique users in January 2023 exceed 34 million in January 2024, what does a mean? Increase by 3%.
What stands out, however, is the year-over-year growth in the average daily audience, which is the number of people accessing these websites every day. Websitesin the case of almost 20% more daily users compared to last year.
In the words of David Sánchez, Head of Digital Solutions at GfK: “The data is optimistic: the number of users accessing travel sites has increased compared to last year, which could indicate a better economic outlook or at least a society that increasingly wants to travel.”
The profile of the digital traveler: women and men aged 45 to 54 with a high socioeconomic level
Another conclusion that this analysis provides is that the Web consumption and Apps from is equal, Both analyze monthly traffic – both genders top 17 million users – and average daily audience, which is 6.5 million men compared to just over 6 million women. Also the dedicated time both of Men and women exceed one and a half hours per month.
As for age, The most active group in digital vacation planning are 45 to 54 year oldsBe 6.7 million people those who make this consumption per month. That means about 90% of this segment consumed travel content in the period starting January 2024.
However, those who They spend most of their time Millennialsthe population between 25 and 34 years old who accessed it Websites an average of 2 hours and 8 minutes a month.
Finally, it can be seen that purchasing power also influences this type of consumption, The highest socioeconomic indices are the most digitalized. That is, these higher strata have a greater affinity for digital platforms related to travel, above the population average, and they are the ones who spend the most time planning their vacation, with more than 2 hours per month per user.
Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country are the Autonomous Communities where the most time is invested in digital consumption of travel content
Based on geographic distribution, residents who spend the most time on travel content each month are those from Madrid (2 hours and 20 minutes per month per user), followed by Catalonia (approx. 2 hours) and Basque Countryalso just under 2 hours (1 hour and 52 minutes).
On the contrary, it is the Autonomous Communities where less time is spent on these searches The Rioja And Extremadurawith just over 1 hour per month.
Booking, TripAdvisor and Renfe, the Websites related to trips most visited in Spain
Digital travel platforms, whether focused on accommodation or transportation, were the most visited in January Booking.com (approx. 11.7 million monthly unique users), followed by TripAdvisor (more than 6.5 million) and Renfe (which is more than 5 million).
Airlines like Iberia They are also represented in this analysis with more than 3.4 million monthly users, as is the accommodation company Airbnbwhich registered more than 3.3 million, or the flight comparator Skyscannerwhich was accessed by more than 3.1 million people in the last month analyzed.