TikTok’s influence on travellers increased by 10% in 2022

TikTok has grown to the seventh largest social media network in the world in recent years and in 2022 its influence on travellers increased by 10 per cent according to a recent survey by MMGY Global.

The app has been linked to having an early influence on travellers, meaning that many companies have shifted their marketing focus to the platform that presents its audience with short, engaging videos to advertise as their latest getaway or flight deal.

“Early decision making is where a lot of our respondents talk about how TikTok influences their decision of where to go and where to stay,” Clayton Reid, CEO, MMGY Global said.

The survey states 34 per cent were influenced by the app. Whereas Google, he continued, “has moved down in some ways” when speaking to Skift.

Many business’ in the travel sector have used TikTok to reach a global audience due to the nature of the app. Accounts with a small following have equal opportunity to go viral and receive massive engagement because of the way algorithm rewards creativity and uniqueness.

This recent post on Booking.com’s TikTok account racked up 7.4 million views, over 30 times its follower base of 233 thousand.

@bookingcom

We challenged @the.mcfarlands to book a trip in 24 hours. Flights. Home rental. Car. Boom. New family tradition unlocked. #challenge #familytrip #uniquestay #bookingcom

♬ original sound – Booking.com

While it is obviously hard to exaggerate the importance of digital advertising for travel companies, TikTok has set a precedent in the way it focuses on short-form content. Meta and Instagram have followed suit with their ‘reels’ feature, so too YouTube with ‘shorts’ and many destination marketing organisations are onboard.

Christian Tänzler, spokesperson of visit Berlin created an account last year to help them reach new audience and told Skift, “this platform also allows us to reach a larger audience more quickly regardless of the number of followers,” this was echoed by Reid who said, “a fourth of client aggregate paid social media spend on behalf of clients is now on TikTok” and his “clients have grown their TikTok exposure 70 percent over a 12-month period.