Air Travel Trends: Flying Has Never Been So Popular in Germany!

+63% in interest for flying since May 2019, while Spain remains the thought leader on German travelers’ wish list.

Using search listening to explore travellers' favorite destinations

Every travel usually starts with a search on Google to prepare, plan and compare destinations before making any decisions.

Understanding what, how & when consumers seek online is more important than ever for every airline and travel agency.

Of course, not all searches result in trips, but it does provide you with essential and relevant information about appealing areas and developing travel trends – both of which are important to consider in order to secure future benefits.

Search listening is the process of aggregating online searches to unveil consumers’ behaviors and expectations. When processed at scale, search data reveal reliable market trends and insights.

By monitoring for 3 years more than 1800+ keywords related to international destinations searched online by German travelers from April 21 to April 22, Trajaan managed to detect …

Where Germans want to travel the most, every month, in every Länder (region)
What destinations are trending
Which websites get the most business out of online search

Covid-19 has changed the game in the air travel industry

The travel industry is rapidly changing while influenced by many environmental factors (local economy, politics, climate, events…). In addition, the traveler’s demand depends on the season and weather.

So many variables involved that it is difficult for any professional to get a clear overview of what is going on.

+63% in interest for flying since May 2019 ✈️

As we all know, the Covid-19 crisis has kept every single plane on the ground for almost 2 years. Hopefully, for travel professionals, this epidemic travel ban has already caused great excitement for the reopening of airlines.

Demand for flights has bounced back strongly, reaching its highest level in May 2022 since May 2019.

Spain, remaining thought leader in German travellers wish list

With its convenient climate and beautiful landscapes, Spain is the top destination in German online interest (almost 30% of overall searches). Starring Mallorca as the most searched destination with more than 1,600,000 searches over the last 12 months.

Sevilla became big in Winter 2021, as it was one of the few Spanish cities to allow tourists despite the Covid-19 disease. Surprisingly, Sevilla gained interest from German travelers back in 2022.

Nordic cities, now trending among German travellers.

Trending cities (comparing May 2022′ vs. May 2021) are cities from Nordic countries:

Helsinki (+285%)
Oslo (+236%)
Copenhague (+215%)
Stockholm (+152%)

Local trends: Southern Ländern have different expectations

Searches are geo-targeted, which means they are a powerful source of insights to detect local specificities and especially local opportunities for your marketing strategy.

Not all Ländern travel with airplanes at the same intensity

City-based Länder tends to consider traveling much more than bigger Länder.

Depending on where you live in Germany, travel destinations strongly differ. While Spain remains the favorite country in all German Länder, preferences for second place are very local.

As a travel industry professional, you should adapt your campaigns at the local scale to achieve maximal gain and conversions.