Travel search behaviour is changing and becoming more visual thanks to social content sharing apps like TikTok, the Trip.com Airline Global Conference was told.

Eason Zhang, head of apps and strategic partners SEA at TikTok, told airline delegates that user attention is the mast valuable currency today in online marketing.

And he said that social has fused the traditional travel funnel into one seamless journey with an infinite feedback loop of inspiration, booking, experience and reviews.

Zhang said: “In a world where inspiration, influence and intent now unfold in seconds social platforms are no longer just shaping where travellers dream of going.

“They are shaping how they discover what they like and when they book. On Tiktok, what we see here is that the path to purchase does not follow a linear funnel.

“Instead, we see an infinite loop in terms of discovery, driving to consideration, driving to action, review and participation.

“What does this look like? A user would see your brand and product and engage with it because of that they consider eventually leading to an action.

“This could be a purchase, this could be a booking, this could be signing up for a loyalty programme.

“But the journey does not just stop there. It moves towards review, where they share the experience. And then this sparks conversations, participation within the community.

“Now this amplifies the message that you will deliver, leading to further discovery, hence the infinite positive feedback that we see.”

Zhang said platforms like TikTok, which has two billion monthly users who average 100 minutes per day on the app, have shrunk the digital world

“This creates a huge environment that travel intent can be created and travel intent can be leveraged. I would also say that this matters because attention is the most valuable currency today in travel.

“We see that three in four will search for travel ideas on Tiktok, but it is not just during pre-trip, but during the trip itself as well.

“And this is important because travellers are using Tiktok in real time to decide where to go, what to eat and what to do next.

“This means that Tiktok is not just influencing the planning phase, but also influencing the in moment spend and purchases.

“Such behaviour on Tiktok has scaled dramatically. Travel searches have grown by about nine times in just two years.

“What we see here is consumers are increasingly seeing Tiktok, not just as a social app, but more as a visual discovery engine.

“And this is a major behavioural shift, because search is becoming a lot more visual, community-led and immersive.

“This drives business outcomes, from exploring airlines’ reputation to offers to loyalty programmes and reliable reviews from trusted influencers.

“We see actual bookings being made after engaging with the travel inspiration – 73% of users have made a booking for travel services because of the content they saw.”

As well as organic engagement TikTok has launched consideration ads aimed at driving bookings from users in the middle of the funnel who are looking for inspiration.

Zhang said although Artificial Intelligence is being used more and more to create marketing content, he did not believe that it will eradicate the need for humans

“Do I think that AI generated content will eventually replace all human content? I don’t think so. AI, can it create romantic? Maybe, but can it create authentic? I don’t think so.

Zhang  added: “Discovery, influence and booking are no longer separate stages. Social has collected the travel funnel into one seamless, high intent journey.”