PETALING JAYA: The travel landscape is undergoing a transformative shift, driven by the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), tightening privacy standards, and rapidly evolving consumer behaviours.
How brands are discovered has fundamentally changed, along with the ways in which campaigns are optimised and digital marketing effectiveness is measured. As a result, marketers have had to quickly adapt.
Martin Nguyen, vice-president of marketing at leading online travel platform Agoda, told StarBiz that travel planning today has become far more immediate, personal, and dynamic.
“A decade ago, the journey was relatively linear: people found inspiration, researched on a browser, then booked,” he said.
“Today, a travel idea can begin anywhere and move from inspiration to booking in moments,” he added.
For instance, the increased use of mobiles has resulted in an “always-on” mode of travel planning, as travel consumers growingly expect relevance from the very first interaction of the planning process.
Travel brands, therefore, need to be useful and inspiring throughout the journey, while staying locally relevant, Nguyen said.
“A great travel experience must combine global choice with an understanding of what matters in each market.”
The Asian market presents a further challenge for marketers, who have to respond to a diversity of languages, cultures, and travel seasons at the same time.
The pressure is, therefore, on teams to produce high-quality work at speed, staying discoverable as travellers utilise new ways to search and plan for trips.
For Nguyen, technology has been critical in helping to create relevant work for a wider number of travellers and respond to consumer needs more quickly.
“We have tackled this by bringing teams, technology and data closer together, enabling faster testing, learning and adapting while keeping local market expertise at the core,” he noted.
Meanwhile, stricter data privacy rules and browser restrictions on third-party cookies have resulted in less visibility into the customer journey, which has significantly altered how marketers understand and engage consumers online.
To navigate this new reality, Agoda has prioritised responsible data use, working within the applicable privacy requirements and applying clear governance on data and AI use.
Rather than being reliant on one channel or metric for measurement, the company has looked towards building understanding through direct traveller interactions and disciplined experimentation, Nguyen said.
“More travellers are beginning with conversational questions rather than a list of keywords: ‘Where can I go for a long weekend?’ or ‘What is a good beach destination for my family?’,” he explained.
“That creates an opportunity to make travel discovery more relevant, helpful, and intuitive, grounded in accurate, current travel information and responsible AI and privacy practices.”
Industry shifts are also reshaping marketing and advertising budgets.
As mobile plays an increasingly crucial role in travel planning, marketing investment has followed, with search, metasearch, app marketing and other digital channels becoming more central for connecting the discovery, consideration and booking stages of the customer journey.
“We are also more thoughtful about the role each channel plays.
“Organic social remains valuable for building awareness and cultural relevance, while paid channels can deliver more predictable reach and clearer measurement,” he added.
At the same time, Nguyen noted that the company has benefitted from developing and adapting work in-house, as it provides greater flexibility for the team to learn from live performance and make improvements while campaigns are still running.
Looking to the next five years, he sees travel discovery growing more personalised, conversational, and inspiration-driven.
Consumers today are already drawing travel ideas from online platforms that recommend content based on their interests, and AI assistants are likely to only accelerate this trend.
This represents a key opportunity for marketers, Nguyen observed.
“Travel is inherently emotional and personal, and technology can help people discover places and experiences that genuinely fit what they are looking for.”
To engage travellers, brands should aim to balance utility with inspiration, offering recommendations that are relevant, timely and connected to their needs.
Furthermore, he pointed out that marketing teams can drive greater efficiency by integrating generative AI into everyday workflows.
“The teams that succeed will not simply use AI more, they will use it responsibly to stay close to travellers and turn faster learning into better experiences.”
