Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday…promotion days are multiplying in e-commerce, giving tourism players the opportunity to boost their online sales. But is it necessary to engage in all these marketing operations? Are they necessarily synonymous with overconsumption?
Tomorrow, Friday November 29, will take place Black Friday, this commercial day which takes place the day after Thanksgiving in the United States. This day is marked by an abundance of promotions on e-commerce sites and concerns both the purchase of toasters and travel. In the tourism sector, reductions mainly concern packaged offers. Expedia, Booking, Voyage Privé, TUI, Carrefour Voyages and many others offer discounts of up to 80%.
For Bruno Delmas, CEO of Elloha, this day of promotions is an opportunity for tourism stakeholders to get back on track after a very disappointing summer of 2024, particularly for accommodation providers. “This allows us to open up to new customers and encourage additional sales. Black Friday also allows us to test appetite for certain products.” For consumers, these reductions are welcome in a context of declining purchasing power.
“As much as we want to show some resistance to these “big trade fairs”, it is clear that, from year to year, they meet with increasing success…correlatively with the feeling of decline in purchasing power expressed by consumers . » observes the company Elloha on its blog.
Travel Tuesday is gaining popularity in the USA
After Black Friday, Cyber Monday will follow on December 2, then Travel Tuesday on December 3. Cyber Monday began in 2005, when Black Friday mainly took place in physical stores. It was then the digital counterpart of this marketing operation. Travel Tuesday is more recent. It was Hopper, a plane ticket sales platform, which invented this reduction day in 2017.
“Hopper noticed that sales increased on the Tuesday after Black Friday. This is not surprising because you don’t buy a trip like you buy jeans. Consumers take a few days to think before checking out,” explains Cédric Lopez, Sales Director EMEA and Asia at Sojern.
According to McKinsey, Google search volume for the term “Travel Tuesday” increased more than fivefold over a two-year period. It should be noted, however, that it is in the United States and Canada that this research has increased the most.
Sojern observes that Travel Tuesday saw a notable increase in 2023 hotel, cruise and airfare bookings by U.S. travelers, compared to the previous two weeks and the following two weeks.
Searches are increasing in Europe but they remain of little significance in the minds of the French and Italians.
Are there too many promotion days?
According to Cédric Lopez, these successive marketing trends can reduce the commercial impact of tourism brands. It’s hard to know which day to prioritize. But according to him, we must nevertheless follow them all. “If Travel Tuesday continues to gain popularity, it could overtake Black Friday. Promotions can then be concentrated on Tuesdays,” he continues.
“In Europe, we are still 3-4 years behind the United States », adds Bruno Delmas. In a few years, the sector could therefore have its own dedicated day, independent of Black Friday.
What if Travel Tuesday highlighted sustainable offers?
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Travel Tuesday: these marketing operations are often considered synonymous with overconsumption and generators of mass tourism. The association Acting for Responsible Tourism (ATR) publishes a guide each year on the occasion of Black Friday. It helps determine whether a travel purchase is responsible or not. According to ATR, it is important to restore travel to its exceptional nature.
The Acting for Responsible Tourism (ATR) guide
But is compulsive travel buying always a bad thing? This is the question asked by Sojern’s EMEA and Asia Sales Director: “What if Travel Tuesday became a day dedicated to highlighting sustainable offers? It is believed that consumers who purchase sustainable travel are against this type of operation. But it is not contradictory. To be able to change things globally, we have to address everyone.”
Cédric Lopez is aware that everything is a question of image. This would be like imagining sales in the luxury sector. But if the promotions offered encourage consumers to travel more sustainably and the system remains fair, this is an opportunity worth seizing.
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