MARTA GONZÁLEZ-HONTORIA Madrid
Madrid
Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2024-00:14
Ideas The destinations that will be talked about in 2024 (and that you will want to visit)
Experience Around the world in 80 days... aboard the seven most luxurious trains on the planet
A bath in a heavenly hotel in Bali, Indonesia, which only costs 5 euros a night. The camel ride of an
influencer
's last trip to Morocco . A dance step that is repeated in different European capitals. A clip of a secret beach in Sicily and a private jet trip with a song in the background called
Feel the Moment
. If you have ever looked at TikTok, with more than 1.2 billion users worldwide, 150 million in Europe and 18 million active users in Spain, you have been able to see one (or thousands) of these short travel videos. The
hashtag
#luxuryhotels alone, for example, has 179 million views and #honeymoon reaches 450 million. For their part, #SustainableTourism and #ResponsibleTourism have accumulated almost 44 million views.
So much so that, according to company data, 77% of its users say that TikTok played a key role in the discovery of a destination or travel-related product. "It is said that a trip is enjoyed three times," explains Teba Lorenzo, general director of Business Solutions at TikTok for Spain and Portugal: "When it is planned, when you go on a trip and when you return, when you remember. On TikTok you enjoy a fourth: when you're getting inspiration for your next getaway."
It is true that you only have to spend a while to realize that the content is endless. Whoever has stayed in the little dances has a lot to explore. From unique corners off the tourist itinerary to tips for women traveling alone. From bargain trips to experiences you didn't know existed. The ability of content to
go viral,
something that is in the nature of the platform, makes it a trend factory. A case these days is that of the
Royal Caribbean cruise ship
that is sailing around the world and that has become an online obsession. Since it set sail last November, videos about life on board have been viewed millions of times.
Creators like Cristina Rodríguez (@akkicriso) from Alicante or Mexican Alan Estrada (@alanxelmundo) garner a whopping more than half a million followers each. "
We tend to think that
content creators are very young profiles and that is not necessarily the case
. The diversity of the communities we find also applies to generations," says Lorenzo. "67% of users are over 25 years old."
Brands in the Tourism industry have taken note.
Meliá
, for example, was one of the pioneers in creating native content for the platform. "TikTok has created a revolution in the way brands communicate," says Santiago García Solimei, Head of Social Media & Brands PR at Meliá, who decided to enter TikTok right after the pandemic. "We no longer sell hotels, we sell experiences that are a combination of the destination, the hotel, the gastronomy and the services offered. TikTok is the perfect platform to tell a very long and complex story in 7, 8, or 10 seconds."
García Solimei says that when they started their intention was to reach the new generations, the millennials and the Zetas. "Today, 63% of our followers are over 25 years old, between 25 and 44 years old. We see that
luxury is increasingly important on TikTok
and there are people with higher purchasing power. One thing that happens on the platform is that trends permeate from younger people to other generations, so these trends end up being multigenerational."
In addition to Meliá (with more than 100,000 followers), @iberia (with almost 144,000 followers) has made a prominent place on the platform by announcing highlights of its team, curiosities about the flights, planes or destinations to which arrives. Institutions have also joined, including Tourism of Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Paradores de Turismo. The Prado Museum, with 550,000 followers, has managed to dominate the medium on TikTok.
Can the platform be converted into a travel agency? It's hard to think that watching a 10-second video translates into purchasing a vacation, but according to the Marketing Science EU Travel Vertical Research study, conducted by Walnut Unlimite, one
in two users purchased a vacation
or travel-related product after be inspired by content seen on the platform. "For brands it is the opportunity to be rediscovered in a different way and position themselves at the center of travel trends," says Lorenzo. The data is divided in this way: if almost half of the platform users have purchased a travel product, a little more than half have booked a plane or train ticket and exactly half have booked accommodation after seeing a TikTok video. "The path to booking a trip is no longer linear. Being exposed to this content, commenting on the video or liking it also works as a lever to do business."
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