New Report: How Travel Content is ‘Getting Real’ on Social
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We’ve launched the first report in our new Social Snapshot series! Read on for a preview, or download the report below.
THE END OF WANDERLUST?
Gone are the days when social media was a place to share glossy holiday snaps. Today, it’s where the journey begins and ends. A huge 75% of travelers now use social platforms for research and inspiration.
The shift is undeniable. Forty-one percent of Gen Z and Millennials now plan their travel through platforms like TikTok and Instagram. AI tools are also playing a significant role, with 40% of global travelers already using AI-based platforms to organise their trips.
Social is powering a new kind of collective travel planning – one that is fast, personalised, and deeply influenced by online culture.
Authenticity Outperforms Aspiration
Remember the meticulously-curated travel feeds, filled with impossibly perfect sunsets and flawlessly-posed influencers? That aspirational dream is giving way to something more real. Our analysis of sample data shows a 60% drop over the last year in the use of “aspirational” travel hashtags like #wanderlust and #instatravel. In their place, hashtags describing honest, relatable moments like #rawdogging and #travelfail have more than doubled in usage.
This isn’t to say people don’t want to travel; they just want to see the real story. Users are quick to document travel fails – from awkward sleeping arrangements to overcrowding at popular destinations.
For travel brands, this marks a critical shift from curated gloss to credible connection. Audiences online are drawn to real stories and imperfect moments; they want to see behind the scenes. Brands that embrace this authenticity will build trust and ultimately drive bookings.
How Travel Brands are ‘Getting Real‘
So, what does this new landscape look like in practice? Our report dives into how various travel brands are successfully navigating these shifts, for example:
Authentic Moments Steal the Spotlight: Disney’s “This is Magic” campaign moved away from scripted parades, focusing on candid, “in-between” moments with real visitors, generating 11M engagements and a 300% increase in website visits.
Unexpected Entertainment Cuts Through: Instead of competing on destinations, our client Booking.com focused on “motivations,” creating thumb-stopping stories with diverse creators and leveraging cultural moments. More than 60 of their TikTok videos surpassed 1M views in 2024.
How Brands can Activate it
To win in today’s social world, travel brands need to be fluent in fandoms, on top of trends, and navigate the algorithm. But this isn’t instinct; it’s derived from a strategic, data-backed approach.
In the report, we show how we’ve helped our clients like Air France and Four Seasons succeed by building a system that enables them to show up as a culturally relevant brand at scale:
Develop a chronically online mindset
Our dedicated Culture Comms teams live online so you don’t have to — powered by cultural tracking tools, daily newsrooms, and sharp social listening that maps out where your brand can show up and shape conversation. We helped Air France become best in class on TikTok by tapping into the ‘Wes Anderson” trend, reimagining it through the lens of an Air France journey.
We turn scroll-stopping moments into brand-defining movements. It starts with a chronically online mindset, operationalised through smart strategy and real-time readiness. When the ‘Four Seasons Baby’ went viral, we jumped in, creating a full-blown fan-fuelled experience that made headlines. This wasn’t just a viral post — it was a cultural intervention that flipped luxury on its head and put the brand at the centre of the internet’s joy.
Rewriting the rules of talent activation
Our influencer framework blends audience intelligence with cultural fluency to match brands with talent who truly click — not just on demographics, but on humour, values, and how people actually consume content. To reboot its Genius loyalty program, we tapped into the internet’s love of self-aware humour — casting perfectly matched creators in a social mockumentary that made travel perks feel cool, instant, and accessible.
We help brands need to think beyond the confines of their own fan bases, to consider how they can use their powers to add value and build affinity within the wider cultural landscape of travel. We helped bring Group Chat–TikTok creator Sydney Jo’s fictional adventure to life for Tripadvisor, transforming a TikTok storyline into an actual Costa Rica getaway, with Tripadvisor seamlessly integrated into the series’ narrative, generating over 1 million views and 94k engagements in a week.
The final word
The future of travel marketing is less about showcasing unattainable perfection and more about building genuine connections. The brands thriving today aren’t just selling destinations; they’re embracing the whole, often imperfect, reality of each trip.
If your content feels more like a trusted travel mate than a glossy tour guide, you’ll be speaking the language of tomorrow’s travelers and securing their loyalty.
To discover how your travel brand can ‘get real’, download the report now using the form above.
The Social Snapshot series helps marketers move at the speed of social, delivering essential insights on evolving trends and strategic shifts in social media.
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