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Australia’s travel plot twist: How people’s tendency to change their minds can help brands grow

Sarah-Jane Campbell, Hermione Joye, Jacqueline Wong, Sam Yatish / December 2023

How common is it for Australian travellers to change their minds about their holiday destination, accommodation, or flight? More than you might imagine.

Our latest study with Ipsos finds that more than 1 in 3 surveyed Australian travellers alter their destination, flight, or accommodation choices during their planning process.1

Our latest Messy Middle research within the domestic and international flight categories also reflects this behaviour, showing us that brand loyalty is up for grabs. When presented with their first and second choice travel agent, almost half of Australian consumers will switch to their second choice, whilst only 1 in 3 switch to their second choice airline.2

The willingness of Australians to reconsider their travel choices and brands means it’s not enough for industry players like you to be their top pick while they’re making their plans. What matters is: Are you their ultimate choice?

Critically, the race to win mindshare and secure preference is already underway as travellers step up on trip planning. In Australia, search interest for Accommodation and Air travel has grown by over 15% in 2023 as compared with 2022.3

Insight on travellers' behaviour during decision making process: More than 1 in 3 surveyed Australian travellers eventually selected a destination, airline, or accommodation different from what they initially intended during their planning process.

Source: Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

To help you strategise on how to win travellers’ preference, bookings and revenue, we surveyed 3,000 travellers in Australia to uncover insights on what sways their decision-making. These findings, combined with our latest Domestic and International Flights Messy Middle research, will allow you to respond in strategic ways to capture share and grow your bottom line.

What causes Australian travellers to change their minds

Australian travellers may change their minds but they’re hardly fickle. They’re simply focussed on finding and choosing the best possible option to satisfy their personal interests and needs. And the yardstick for what they deem as ‘best’ varies across the categories of destination, flight, and accommodation.

Here are the main reasons for why Australian travellers change their minds about their:

Insights on why Australian travellers change their mind about travel destination: Travellers want to travel to a more budget-friendly location. As they learn more about the destination, they may have become concerned about the budget.
Insights on why Australian travellers change their mind about flights: They want a lower-priced flight option. They change their choices for better value for money.
Insights on why Australian travellers change their mind about accommodation: They find accommodation with more attractive offerings. Examples include larger rooms and better facilities

Source: Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

Source: Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

Source: Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

Ultimately, Australian travellers are single-minded about going on their dream holiday. This means they’re willing to go the distance as they plan and make decisions, to fulfill their travel aspirations, even if it means changing their minds and revising their plans.

It follows that more than 2 in 3 surveyed travelers in Australia said they need to feel a strong sense of confidence that they've made the best decision before they book. It’s also why more than half of all respondents used other sources to cross-check the travel information they have to ensure it’s accurate.4

For your brand to influence travellers’ purchase decisions and win their confidence and bookings, there are three things you can do:

1. Be the constant and ultimate source of travel inspiration

Given that travellers’ decisions aren’t set in stone during their decision-making process, it’s important for you to inspire and capture their imagination at every stage of their trip planning journey.

Among the travellers surveyed in Australia, their number one source of online travel inspiration is YouTube videos, compared to other sources, including documentaries, programmes, and social media platforms.5 And YouTube Shorts is one way you can fuel their wanderlust. Its rich, highly immersive video canvas lets you paint the inspiring getaway experience your brand provides and win the hearts and minds of travellers.

One of the ways brands can influence travellers' purchase decision, and win their confidence and booking: Be their number one source of online travel inspiration through videos on YouTube, like YouTube Shorts.

Source: Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 males/females aged 18–75 with intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

Besides sparking desire, you can spur action with your video campaign using the newly launched Demand Gen. The AI-powered campaign integrates your top-performing image and video assets across touchpoints like YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail, and it lets you optimise your campaign to drive performance goals such as conversion.

For hotel and vacation rental advertisers, Hotel Feeds on Video action campaigns (alpha) can help you further stoke travel inspiration. The AI-powered campaign with the new feature displays a selection of your properties below your video ad in the form of a scrollable grid of listings. The listings are relevant to each viewer, so they can follow their inspiration by clicking on a property to get to the site to book a stay.

2. Be present with information that drives confident decisions

Our research also uncovered that Australian travellers are more likely to be confident in their booking choices and have higher repurchase intent when they’re satisfied with their experience of searching for information during trip planning.

In fact, those who are satisfied with their search experience are at least 3X more likely to be very confident in their booking decision, and at least 2X more likely to have strong intent to rebook with the same airline or accommodation provider.6

Sufficient information from brands drive travellers' satisfaction. Satisfied travellers are at least 3x more likely to be confident in their booking decision, and at least 2x more likely to have strong intent to rebook with the same travel provider.

Source: Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, AU, CN, IN, ID, JP, KR, TH, n=19,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

How can we build confidence? We know from our latest Australian retail Messy Middle research that behavioural science has a strong impact on preference - so we wanted to drill down into travel specifically.

In our recent Messy Middle Flights study we tested the following behavioural science principles for choice:

Principles: Social proof (we follow majority's behaviours and opinion), power of free (we like free things), authority bias (we value credibility), category heuristics (use shortcuts to make quick decisions), risk aversion, price and promotion.

Source: Google/The Behavioural Architects, May 2023, Australia, n= 1,000 prospective online travellers in market for international or domestic flights. ages 18-75.
Google internal data 2023 (H1 2023).

We found that applying just two of the top performing behavioural science principles7 caused at least 1 in 5 consumers to switch to their second choice airline or travel agent.

Similarly, we found that the application of just two of these behavioural science principles can be as compelling to at least 1 in 3 consumers as a 10% discount8.

Across both domestic and international flights, the research found that social proof is the most powerful behavioural science mechanism to counteract discounting.9

Consider how you show up for travellers wherever and whenever they are searching, with relevant information that helps them feel confident about choosing you. Travellers will always love a discount – but smart use of behavioural science principles will enable you to communicate value beyond pricing strategies.

3. Tap into AI-powered solutions to drive bookings at scale

Finally, how do you achieve this at scale? Google’s AI-powered ad solutions will allow you to show up and be compelling with the right message for the right traveller at the right moment. Use Google Search broad match with Smart Bidding to maximise conversions on relevant queries, and combine it with Performance Max to enhance your search query coverage across Google's full suite of channels including YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

That power pairing of AI marketing solutions lets you discover untapped demand and drive incremental results from new search queries, channels, and audiences.

Australian travellers are a savvy bunch. They’re willing to change their minds about their destination, flight and accommodation, just so they make the best decisions for a memorable trip.

For you, this traveller behaviour is a valuable opportunity to inspire and influence them through YouTube as they dream and plan their trips, and ultimately, become their choice for bookings.

By understanding what can sway their decision, providing a constant stream of holiday inspiration, tapping into behavioural science to drive confident bookings, and using AI to amplify your expertise, your brand’s bookings will be ready for takeoff.

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Sarah-Jane Campbell

She / Her
Industry Head Travel AU
Google

Hermione Joye

She / Her
Sector Lead, Travel and Vertical Search APAC
Google

Jacqueline Wong

She / Her
Strategy and Insights Manager Travel AU
Google

1 Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023

2 “An average of 47% (across domestic and international flights) will switch to their 2nd choice travel agent, whilst only 31% (across domestic and international flights) switch to their 2nd choice airline.” Source: Google/The Behavioural Architects, May 2023, AU, n= 1,470 prospective online purchasers across international and domestic flights ages 18-75.

3 Destination Insights Google (Flights and Accommodation searches), Australia, Jan. 2023–Sept. 2023 vs. Jan. 2022–Sept. 2022.

4 Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023. “67% of Australian travellers say they need to be very confident in having made the best decision”; “54% of Australian travellers say they always use other sources to cross-check that the travel-related information they found is true”.

5 Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 males/females aged 18–75 with intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

6 Google/Ipsos, Travel Attitudes, Demand Research 2023, Australia, n=3,000 consumers who have intention to travel for leisure in the next 12 months, May 2023–June 2023.

7 Top performing behavioural principles for:

  • Domestic flights: Social Proof and Risk Aversion;
  • International flights: Social Proof and Category Heuristics;

8, 9 Google/The Behavioural Architects, May 2023, Australia, n= 1,470 prospective online purchasers across international and domestic flights ages 18-75.