With a captive audience forecast to reach 1.8 billion users by the end of the year, the social media platform is a vital shop window for travel brands to catch the attention of new customers.
Now, TTG has teamed up with TkTok in an exclusive partnerships examining the latest travel trends – so agents can make sure they’re ahead of the curve when it comes to marketing campaigns and which destinations to promote.
The TikTok travel trends tracker features data from autumn, and details the fastest growing travel hashtags on TikTok in the UK. Travel also featured highly in the list of overall top 10 search keywords, as detailed below.
Top 10 destinations people are searching for on TikTok in the UK
- Paris
- Ibiza
- Dubai
- Rome
- Milan
- Barcelona
- Berlin
- Dublin
- Prague
- Venice
Fastest growing travel hashtags on TikTok in the UK (views are global)
- #vegasbaby [454.8m views]
- #cityview [109.8m]
- #maldivesbeach [47.6m]
- #ibizabeach [22.8m]
- #blacktravelclub [19.7m]
- #discoverlondon [16.7m]
- #timetotravel [8.6m]
- #wellnessretreat [6.6m]
- #budgetravel [5.4m]
- #secretcabins [2.3m]
- #waystotravelmore [1.9m]
- #thetawnyhotel [1.7m]
Top 10 search keywords on TikTok in the UK
- Winter Wonderland
- Buckingham Palace
- La Sagrada Familia
- Eiffel Tower
- Oktoberfest
- Glastonbury
- Moulin Rouge
- Burj Khalifa
- Louvre
- Alps
Meanwhile with Peaks just around the corner, it could be the perfect time to try a new avenue of marketing. TTG explores some of TikTok’s top-performing travel campaigns of the year...
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
With more than 205k followers, TikTok has praised the airline’s “creative and fun” approach, which it says “puts employees front and centre”.
According to TikTok, Virgin Atlantic flies high in the way it “champions” its cabin crew and offers users a window into their world – with staff becoming the stars of the content and creators in their own right.
@virginatlantic The ending 😂 The contrasting energy is real! #virginatlantic #cabincrew #travel #sharpay ♬ high school musical - Aliyatudisco
A major success for Virgin Atlantic this year was its use of TikTok to highlight its diversity and inclusion work – in particular, its introduction of a gender-neutral uniform policy.
Through a series of videos featuring crew, alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, the carrier celebrated inclusivity on the platform as part of its #SeeTheWorldDifferently campaign, with the hashtag since reaching more than 34 million views.
BOOKING.COM
Joining TikTok this summer, Booking.com has rapidly grown its following. The platform launched with a competition putting its own spin on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend, where users share their favourite TikTok-inspired purchases.
Booking.com’s #TikTokMadeMeBookIt campaign called on users to tag their favourite travel companions for the chance to win a voucher to spend on a trip and the company also enlisted several popular creators to showcase their own travels – with the campaign helping Booking.com amass nearly 190,000 followers in its first four months.
@bookingcom Literally everyone is in Europe right now. And so could you. Can you leave within 2 days!? Like this video. Follow @bookingcom. And tag your travel partner with #TikTokMadeMeBookIt ♬ 原聲 - Booking.com
Following its debut campaign, TikTok described how Booking.com continued to post “creative and witty content that feels inherently TikTok”, including jumping on the #ASMR trend (that’s making tingle-inducing noises to you and I) with some relaxing travel-based scenes.
SKYSCANNER
A newcomer to TikTok, launching its account in October, Skyscanner has quickly climbed to around 45k followers and according to the app has savvily utilised a number of popular trends.
In particular, the #collagetrend - collating multiple travel images to create a video showing travel hacks, things to do on holiday and insider advice for destinations, while “packing hacks”, where people share their best tips and tricks for mastering the art of packing a suitcase,
@skyscanner Packing for a trip > unpacking when you get home 🎒 We asked @thewanderingquinn to share how she packs light for a 2-3 day trip ✈️ Do you have any packing tips? Let us know! #Travel #Skyscanner #TravelTok #PackingTips #TravelInspo ♬ Funk It Up - Official Sound Studio
ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL
Royal Caribbean International turned to TikTok to find the godmother of its newest ship, Wonder of the Seas.
The line’s #SearchforWonderMom TikTok contest saw more than 16,000 videos submitted with 10.6 billion #SeachforWonderMom hashtag views.
@royalcaribbean Part 1: Are you ready? Parts 2, 3, and 4 are up! 👀 #SearchForWonderMom #WonderoftheSeas #Godmother ♬ original sound - Royal Caribbean
AGENT ADVICE
Besides the industry’s largest brands, many independent travel agencies are also using TikTok to their advantage with Thorne Travel, Meon Valley Travel and Bordessa Holidays recently telling TTG how their businesses are benefitting.
Thorne Travel launched its account last June, and operations and sales manager Craig Hume believes it’s the perfect platform to showcase destinations and hotels visited on fam trips, while Meon Valley director Karen Beagrie extolls the benefits of authenticity when making videos and not worrying about making them too polished.
@thornetravel Top things to do in Madeira, Portugal✨ #travel #madeira #portugal #adventure #activity #levadawalks #dolphin #waterfall #toboggan #views #beautiful #trending #fyp ♬ arcade x lovely DJ Lilli - DJ LILLI
