June 11th, 2024, Samuel Tan
From Booking.com to Webjet, how effective are major online travel agencies in Australia at converting awareness of their brand to an intention to book their next trip on their platform?
In today’s competitive travel market, brand conversion is essential for online travel agencies (OTAs) to maintain and grow their market share. Analysing data from YouGov BrandIndex – which continuously tracks key measures of brand health on thousands of companies around the world every day – we compare how successfully the most well-known online travel agencies in Australia have been at guiding travellers and holidaymakers down the conversion funnel, as of the first four months of 2024.
Stage 1: Awareness – Which travel agencies are most well-known in Australia?
Booking.com leads the pack in brand awareness – more than three-quarters (76%) of Aussies have heard of the Booking Holdings subsidiary – although trivago (73%) and Tripadvisor (72%) follow closely after.
Next in line are homegrown online travel agency Webjet (66%) and US-based Expedia (63%), which are a distance ahead of Luxury Escapes (38%).
Stage 2: Consideration – Which travel companies are best at guiding consumers from discovery to evaluation?
When it comes to converting awareness to consideration, Booking.com not only comes out on top again: it substantially widens the gap with its closest rivals. While over half (52%) of Aussies who are aware of the platform would consider making travel bookings with it, only three in ten (30%) who know about Luxury Escapes – the next best converter – say the same.
Meanwhile, less than a quarter of Aussies who are aware of Expedia (24%), Webjet (23%), Tripadvisor (22%), and trivago (22%) would consider bookings with each platform the next time they are travelling.
How did consumer consideration of major online travel agencies in Australia change week-by-week across the first quarter of 2024?Get full report
Stage 3: Purchase Intent – Which travel agencies are best at getting consumers ready to purchase?
When it comes to being the top choice for consumers who are ready to make a booking, Booking.com remains the unequivocal leader. Among Aussies who consider the platform for travel bookings, more than half (56%) are likely to choose it for their next trip.
In contrast, only around a quarter of Aussies who are considering other well-known online travel agencies like trivago (27%), Luxury Escapes (26%), Tripadvisor (25%), Webjet (24%) and Expedia (23%) express the same likelihood.
Eva Stewart, YouGov's global travel sector head: “As the data reveals, Booking.com's dominance in both awareness and purchase intent highlights its strong brand equity and effective marketing strategies. Their ability to convert brand awareness into actual bookings significantly outpaces their competitors, setting a high benchmark in the online travel industry. We’ve seen similar performance in other geographies too, making Booking.com a true global leader in this space.”
How did purchase intent towards major online travel agencies in Australia change week-by-week across the first quarter of 2024?Get full report
This article is part of our regional series on the Purchase Funnel performance of Online Travel Agencies across key markets in APAC. Read the companion pieces for other markets below:
Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Awareness scores measure whether consumers have ever heard of a brand. Consideration scores measure whether consumers would consider a brand the next time they are in the market for a particular product or service. Purchase Intent scores measure how likely consumers are to purchase from a specific brand, out of various brands they would consider buying from. Learn more about BrandIndex.
Cover Photo from cihatatceken