Google has presented the Travel Insights with Google platform as part of this year’s third event of the UNWTO & Google Acceleration Programme, focused not only to Croatia, but also on Greece, Portugal and Italy. The platform was designed to help stakeholders from the tourism sector in Croatia understand the current trends based on travel-related searches and as an aid for economic recovery of the sector.

The tourism sector is one of the largest sectors in the global economy, as it was reported to represent 10.3% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and provide for 1 out of 10 workplaces on the global level in 2019. Even though the travel industry has faced difficult challenges from the beginning of the pandemic, recovery is in sight, as more and more people get vaccinated and governments start opening their countries to international tourism.

Technology will be the key to the recovery and growth of the tourism sector. As the recent Connected Commerce Council report has shown, digital tools have created a “safety net” for small and medium companies from the tourism sector in Europe, enabling them to reallocate their resources, change their business plans, and achieve continuous development during the pandemic. 86% of companies from the tourism sector in Europe have increased the use of digital tools because they realized they needed new methods for finding customers and preparing for new tourist interests.

“The pandemic has had an unprecedented negative effect on the tourism sector. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Technology is the key to the recovery of the tourism sector since it enables the adaptation to the new travel environment. By presenting its Travel Insights with Google platform and Destination Insights and Hotel Insights localized tools, Google has once again proven its commitment to the recovery of the tourism sector in Croatia. We are giving insights into the tools and their availability in relation to travel in order for us to provide the countries with support in their recovery while they are speeding up the digitalization process, which will result in better preparation, innovations and adaptation to the new travel environment,“ says Joško Mrndže, Country Manager for the Adriatics region at Google.

Based on Google Search Trends, the following data is evident:

• After a significant drop in demand in the last quarter of 2020 (down by 70% in comparison to 2019), the first quarter of 2021 started with a stable recovery. However, the demand is still significantly lower than during the traditional early booking period.
• After April 2021, vaccination of the European population, lifting of restrictions and widespread optimism have helped speed up the recovery. That is why there was an increase of 40% MoM (Month on Month) in overall demand for Croatia from April to May.
• The most rapid recovery in demand is evident in traditionally strongest markets: Germany, Austria and Poland. Along with the United Kingdom, these three markets have constituted 78% of the overall demand for Croatia from the beginning of the year.
• Even though we were the most successful in terms of recovery during the first quarter, after April the majority our competitor countries have surpassed us. Our strongest competitors are Spain and Italy, which are the first choice for the majority of tourists from our common outbound market (Spain for tourists from Germany, Italy for tourists from the United Kingdom, and Italy for the ones from Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia), while Greece and Turkey are currently less popular.
• As additional key factors for attracting tourists, the following have proven to be the most important:

1. refund (instead of vouchers),
2. no cancellation fees, and
3. special deals and discounts.

• Regarding the types of accommodation, the most popular are still private houses and villas, with a successful comeback of hotels (especially for tourists from the Austrian market).

“The Croatian National Tourist Board and Google have been long-term partners on various projects and we have also maintained our cooperation through the use of Google tools in promoting our country as a tourist destination. The Google Travel Insights tool, which will now also be available in Croatian, is seen as an additional source of relevant information that can be of help to all tourist stakeholders in achieving their target strategic goals. I believe the availability of this tool in Croatian will motivate all stakeholders to use it in their activities,“ says Kristjan Staničić, the Managing Director of the Croatian Tourist Board.

The Travel Insights with Google platform has been designed to help the tourism sector make decisions that are based on understanding the data on travel demand. It encompasses two tools: Destination Insights & Hotel Insights.

One of the key requests of companies from the tourism sector, governments, and tourist boards is precisely to obtain information on destinations the travellers search for from different parts of the world, as well as from the country. The Destination Insights tool provides a clear idea of the main sources of demand for both national and international destinations which travellers would like to visit the most by helping them plan out a possible continuation of the trip along certain routes and make a decision on the moment of addressing the potential future travellers.

Every day, millions of online searches for hotels on the Google search engine provide extensive insights on the demand for hotel reservations. Hotel Insights is a tool that provides support to small and medium hoteliers, enabling them to compete and grow by sharing valuable insights on searches and demands for their destinations, as well as providing them with efficient ways of using the data in the recovery process, increasing the number of hotel reservations and developing their online business.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Google has closely cooperated with the tourism sector in order to encourage it recovery effort by using technology and data analysis. Google’s travel tools, data insights (Travel Insights, Demand Explorer) and digital skills workshops (UNWTO & Google Acceleration Programme) help stakeholders from the tourism sector understand and answer travellers’ changing needs.