According to Google Trends, people in Saudi Arabia searched for many countries in the past 8 months including Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Thailand the UAE, and the UK (London in particular). Additionally, searches from Saudi Arabia for “booking tickets” this year have increased 153% compared to the previous year. In the UAE, according to Google Trends, people searched for local entertainment destinations in the past 8 months including the Dubai Fountain and Dubai Butterfly Garden, as well as hotels located locally in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, searches from UAE for “ticket prices” this year have increased 122% compared to the previous year. These and similar insights can be helpful for businesses to connect with people searching to travel and plan their campaigns.

By leveraging the tools, businesses in the travel and tourism industry can discover insights to reach global travelers, whether they are departing or arriving in MENA, at every stage of their journey, from dreaming about their next travel destination to booking flights and hotels.

Destination Insights

The Destination Insights tool will give travel businesses, governments, and tourism boards a clear picture of the top sources of demand for a destination, and the destinations within their countries that travelers are most interested in visiting. It also allows businesses to explore how tourism demand is changing, compared to previous months’ or years’ demand, and adjust marketing campaigns accordingly.

Destination Insights tool is now available in Arabic and English

Hotel Insights

Millions of people search for hotels every day on Google, generating immense insights about local interests in hotels and the process travelers go through. Small and independent hotels can now access the Hotel Insights tool to get in-depth knowledge about travelers’ interest in their property and understand where the interest is coming from and how to attract new guests by creating a stronger digital presence.

Hotel Insights tool generates timely insights about travelers’ interest in hotels

“The travel and tourism sector in the Middle East is expected to reach $246 billion in 2022 based on a recent study, and will continue to grow. From our continuous conversations with travel partners around the region, we heard that timely insights are very much necessary for the travel industry at this period, especially with many local & regional events coming up. This is why we're very excited to bring a new insights portal for the region’s travel and tourism sector, to help businesses reach regular and new travelers,” said Anthony Nakache, Google’s Managing Director in the Middle East & North Africa.

The ‘Travel Insights with Google’ website which includes the newly launched free tools, is now accessible to all businesses in MENA. Google will continue to build tech-driven tools that help businesses in the travel and tourism industry engage with more travelers, and grow sustainably.