Welcome to the second instalment of our series that takes a closer look at the latest data from Google Trends across a number of key travel industries. The focus of this article is cruises, but you can find similar posts for flights, accommodation, holidays and car hire by tapping on the respective links (they’re not all live yet, so check back in for updates).
Our aim is simple: to help you navigate a complex Covid-19 landscape that is in constant flux. For this article that means providing you with search interest insight for cruises, a segment of the travel industry that has probably been hit the hardest by the pandemic, and which will likely take the longest to recover fully.
Again, as per our messaging in earlier blogs, Google Trends data should be seen as a guide. It’s recommended that you validate any trends data with qualitative and quantitative metrics before taking action.
Methodology
- Defined an initial list of searches for each category
- Used Google Trends API to pull “interest over time” and “related queries” data at scale for against the travel category (67)
- Visualised summed averaged for each category by week in the “interest over time” graphs
- Analysed rising queries within “related queries” tables from the last 30 days
Interest over time (YOY)
The cruise category covers queries related to cruise types, routes and specific cruise liners.
This month we’ve included a comparison between the UK and the US to highlight differences in travel trends for two countries that are experiencing the pandemic differently.
UK
US
Melt takeaways
The cruise industry continues to be severely impacted by Covid-19 despite signs of recovery in other travel sectors, such as accommodation. In fact, in the UK, searches appear to be the lowest they have been in 2020.
In the US, however, there has been a spark of interest in cruises again in week 29 (July) and week 31 (August). This will be an interesting trend to monitor over the coming months in the US.
Rising queries: “Cruises” (UK, last 30 days)
These are the rising queries related to “cruises” within the travel category of Google Trends for the last 30 days. The higher the value, the sharper the increase in recent searches.
| Search Query | Rising Value |
| glen tarsan cruises 2020 | 19650 |
| cruise and maritime administration | 17450 |
| cmv cruises administration | 14450 |
| cruise mapper | 250 |
| windermere lake cruises | 250 |
| windermere cruises | 200 |
| cruise and maritime voyages | 190 |
| queen victoria cruise ship | 150 |
| passion for cruises | 130 |
| disney cruise line | 120 |
| princess cruises uk | 120 |
| rol cruises | 100 |
| virgin cruise ship | 90 |
| disney cruise ship | 90 |
| cmv cruises | 80 |
| cruise aberdeen | 70 |
| cruise holidays 2021 | 60 |
| cruise maritime | 60 |
| jungle cruise | 60 |
Melt takeaways
The low scores in the rising values of cruise related keywords again points to a continued downturn in search interest. Key stories this month, such as the announcement that Cruise and Maritime Voyages was going into administration have dominated search queries.
There is, however, a smaller but growing interest in lake and river cruises, aligning with the wider domestic travel trend in the UK.
We hope you’ve found these trends and insights useful. And we hope to see you back here next month to learn about how these trends play out over time for the travel industry.
If you’d like us to monitor any particular trends for you travel or non-travel get in touch.
