The United Nations World Tourism Organisation recently reported that international tourism neared pre-pandemic levels in 2024—a welcome sign for travel companies. However, after years of disruption and amid significant economic and geopolitical headwinds, profitability remains a challenge. As a result, the need to reassess business models and invest in measurable strategies that produce desired outcomes has never been more critical.
Travel brands have long known the importance of a comprehensive understanding of their audiences. Competing with the range of enticing destinations offered by other providers, holidays are also rarely planned by a single individual, but rather by multiple decision-makers—i.e., the whole family must agree. This protracts the journey from exposure to the final booking, so having a holistic overview of each stage of the path to purchase is crucial.
This is why many travel brands are collaborating with data partners, whether those be endemic or non-endemic brands, publishers, and even walled gardens, to gain a deeper understanding of incremental measurement from their campaigns across channels.
Of course, similar to retail, travel brands have access to a goldmine of data themselves—from flight and hotel searches to trip bookings and additional services, such as car rentals. Not only is this data useful for travel brands enhancing their own marketing, but it presents a significant opportunity to enable partners to better market to high-value audiences at key stages of the customer journey. Through data collaboration, travel brands can drive incremental measurement for these brands and unlock new, high-growth revenue streams.
Are the retailers onto something, and how does it translate for travel?
Retailers like Tesco, Amazon and Boots were quick to recognise the opportunity their vast pools of first-party data created for them and have pioneered retail media networks – where brands utilise their first-party data to create a comprehensive and measurable view of their audiences’ path to purchase. This enables data-owning brands to optimise media experiences for their customers, and also provides partner brands, lacking the same scale of customer data, the opportunity to do the same within their network. The result is better measurement of what is performing, including return on advertising spend (ROAS) and incremental return on advertising spend (iROAS), to understand what drives customer growth and lifetime value (LTV). These networks are now one of the world’s fastest-growing advertising channels, being expected to surpass £1bn in spend in the UK this year.
Thanks to the evolution of technology and growing market awareness of the retail media network phenomenon, big names from other sectors, including automotive, financial services, rideshare, luxury, and travel are recognising the power of their own unique first-party data and following suit. Expanding beyond traditional retail, these networks are known as commerce media networks, and are rising in popularity across all industries.
For example, major travel players like Expedia, United Airlines, and Marriott have already invested heavily in their own media network offerings. Meanwhile, online travel agents like TripAdvisor have been generating revenue from digital ads for years. The US may be leading the way, with travel media network ad spend exceeding $2 billion in 2024, but the opportunity is just as open to the UK travel brands and US brands with presence in the UK.
Travel’s unique data
Thanks to loyalty programmes and frequent log-ins, travel brands can offer marketers rich insights to unlock high-value audience segments. This includes customer preferences, such as preferred destinations or travel dates; demographics, like age, gender, income, and family size; behaviour patterns, including booking habits and spending trends; and current market trends, such as popular destinations. For marketers, they can use this data to enhance personalisation and relevance, identify new opportunities and stay competitive with well-timed campaigns.
For example, an adventure holiday brand might collaborate with a consumer packaged goods company to analyse how travel bookings correlate with purchases of holiday essential snacks. Or a hotel chain might use first-party data (e.g., noticing room service pizza orders) to uncover demographics and consumer behavior, attracting advertisers like quick-serve restaurants and amusement parks. Likewise, an airline might segment its customer data to target high-value first-class fliers on behalf of luxury brands, which could then plan a campaign combining seatback screens with mobile and social targeting post-travel.
But what steps do travel brands need to take to make their data available in a way that allows them to build, activate, target, and measure every stage of the consumer journey?
How to establish a media network
Establishing a media network typically requires three core components:
- A clear strategy & go-to-market approach
- Internal alignment, support, and change management across various key stakeholders (e.g., legal, IT, data privacy, commercial, product)
- An underlying technology infrastructure that provides scalability with mechanisms to protect data at the heart of it.
Travel brands must invest in technologies that help them securely get the most out of their data. Any solutions adopted need to prioritise responsible use of data while also being able to connect with a wide range of partners.
Thankfully, the increasing availability of enhanced privacy-preserving technology has made this type of collaboration possible at scale. Data collaboration solutions, and in particular those with a strong identity infrastructure, enable companies to collaborate with many trusted partners in a safe environment that helps them to break down data silos and unlock a 360-view of their customers. Uniting their data assets for an enhanced view of customer preferences and behaviours enables travel brands and their partners to measure every stage of the journey and improve outcomes.
Those looking to establish their own travel media network should start by implementing this technology and testing it in line with market maturity and the right use cases. This includes offering ad inventory that supports where brands are already investing against their media plans, as well as newer media outlets that deliver measurability. In most starting cases, this will mean a combination of owned media properties (websites, apps) for ad placements as well as off-site placements on platforms such as walled gardens, social, YouTube, and CTV. The more travel brands engage with the technology and collaborate with their partners on successful campaigns, the more advanced use cases they’ll unlock as the market matures and value is proven.
While retailers may have been the first in the door for commerce media, there is a huge opportunity for travel brands to drive returns in the form of incremental measurement. With unique access to high-value first-party insights, these brands can transform their data assets into powerful engines of innovation, growth, and revenue. By setting clear objectives, forging strategic partnerships and implementing the right technology solutions, the commerce media revolution is ready to take off in travel.
