With summer vacation coming up, now's the time a lot of people are trolling the Internet looking for travel bargains. But who's really doing the booking?
According to Hitwise, it turns out it's mostly women. What's more, about a quarter of the women who visit online travel sites are ages 55 and older. And half the visitors to online travel sites are 45 and older. Research by Nielson/NetRatings indicates this trend will continue over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, consider this: Boomers are expected to be the next big wave of social networkers. Already, about one million people over 50 are regularly active on social networks, but that number is expected to increase to 20 million within a year.
Add all this together and a new reality emerges: Boomers will have an increasing impact on where travel dollars are spent because they'll not only be the ones making plans, they'll be sharing their insights and ideas with others online. The trickle down effect could be tremendous for destination sites (positively and negatively).
If you are trying to attract Boomers to your destination, remember this:
> Your web site must be visually appealing and easy to navigate;
> Answers to the most common questions visitors have should be easy to find;
> Boomers expect secure transactions for their bookings;
Think about ways you can engage Boomers on your web site by providing information they'll want to share with others. Can you include a clever video? An informational podcast? A quiz? An opportunity to win something? Links to valuable resources? A first-person blog?
Most of us have had the unfortunate experience of arriving at a destination and discovering it wasn't what we expected, based on what we read online. Those days are quickly going away as people share opinions, rate their experiences and spread the word to others in their network. (I do this on every vacation, by the way. Make me happy and I'll tell everyone I know. Tick me off and I'll tell everybody I know and several that I don't.)
If you aren't sure your web site makes the cut, or if you want to know how to make it better so that you're attracting the right travelers, consider having a firm experienced in word-of-mouth technologies conduct an audit and make recommendations. After all, Boomers will go where their needs are met. We're not big on second chances.
