Spending money on travel is rarely a logical process. Quite often the desire to travel is born from inspiration – be it a picture of a friend, a song, or a film.
With dreaming at the heart of travel trips, it is no wonder that Pinterest – a social media site that allows people to build their own inspiration board – features so many images related to travel.
This is why we will have Pinterest’s head of travel Vanessa Jones speaking at our upcoming Travel DAZE conference in Cairns. To see Jones speak alongside some of the top names in travel and tech, you can buy your tickets HERE.
In the meantime, you can see Jones’ responses below:
What does the standard customer journey from inspiration to booking look like?
Pinterest is a visual search and discovery platform where people find inspiration, curate ideas, and shop products—all in a positive place online. We’ve seen that it significantly influences travel behaviour, serving as a source of inspiration and guidance for users throughout their travel planning journey. From dreaming about potential destinations to booking and planning the details, Pinterest plays an integral role:
Dream: Users browse their personalised feeds and search the platform for travel inspiration, unlocking new destinations and experiences.
Save: By organising and evaluating their ideas on boards, users curate their travel aspirations.
Book: Pinterest serves as a gateway for users ready to transition their plans from inspiration to reality by booking their trips.
Plan: Beyond booking, users continue to use Pinterest to plan various facets of their travel, such as outfits and curating their holiday aesthetic.
For advertisers, Pinterest provides a prime opportunity to engage with motivated travellers during key life moments and seasonal milestones, making it an increasingly go-to platform for those crafting their journeys.
What is the best measure of engagement? Is it touch points or something else?
Engagement on Pinterest can be measured through different metrics that help brands assess and optimise their campaign performance. Some of these include Saves, Clicks, Impressions, Close-ups (when users tap on a Pin for more detail), and Video Views. Campaign goals should cater to the brand’s business needs as the measure of engagement can vary.
Pinterest search is also an indicator of user intent. A total 96 per cent of top searches on Pinterest are unbranded, demonstrating that consumers come to Pinterest with an open mind to seek inspiration for their ideal holiday getaway or experience. Because of this, ads can be considered additive content. This presents a unique opportunity for brands to engage with consumers early in their journey, guiding them from dreaming to booking within a premium, brand-safe environment. Travel-related searches also consistently rank among the top use-cases on Pinterest (alongside Fashion, Home and Beauty), highlighting the platform’s role in discovery and planning. In fact, the platform has seen a 17% year-over-year growth in travel searches in Australia, indicating that users are increasingly using Pinterest for vacation planning and trip inspiration.
What are the top-performing travel brands you work with doing well?
Our leading Travel partners utilise Pinterest across the entire marketing funnel, collaborating with us to achieve brand recognition, consideration and performance. With users highly engaged on Pinterest – where ads are scrolled past 1.5 times slower and can drive 170 per cent more Total Attention compared to other platforms – our top partners regard Pinterest as an always-on platform that reliably delivers a strong return on investment.
In addition to this – in the past six months, many of our Travel partners have tested Pinterest Performance+, a suite of automated ad products that’s powered by AI to optimise campaign outcomes. This product suite helps to simplify ad creation and optimise ad delivery, which can result in a performance boost for advertisers.
What would be your one piece of advice for travel brands in 2025?
I’d say to get started on Pinterest today! Serving as both a source of inspiration and a crucial planning tool, Pinterest offers advertisers the opportunity to engage extensively with highly motivated travellers. Brands can influence users from the initial dream phase all the way to booking, ensuring a comprehensive presence throughout their planning journey.
