The entire travel and tourism value chain has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and travel intermediaries are not an exception. However, American online travel company Tripadvisor, Inc (Tripadvisor) witnessed a 40% growth in influencer conversations during June-November 2020 period on Twitter, which is the highest among the travel intermediaries, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Influencer Platform revealed steady growth in influencer conversations for Tripadvisor and Booking Holdings, whereas Expedia failed to sustain the high spike. Booking Holdings Inc. (Booking Holdings) witnessed 20% growth while Expedia Group, Inc (Expedia Group) saw a decline of 20% in influencer conversations during June-November 2020 period.

Smitarani Tripathy, Influencer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “In June, there was a sharp rise in influencer conversations around Tripadvisor in influencer platform, led by the new ‘Travel Safe’ suite launched to boost consumer confidence. This vital tool provides information and reassurance to the travelers and helps hospitality industry to regain trust around safety and cleanliness, the most important factor during the COVID-19 outbreak”.

In October, influencer conversation swelled as Tripadvisor launched Menu Connect, an online listing management solution for restaurants. In November, another dramatic conversation spike was noticed when Tripadvisor issued a warning message on Sea View Koh Chang resort, which sued a guest with Thailand’s defamation law on scathing review. This is an aggressive approach of Tripadvisor to protect free speech or review by guests.

A major spike around Booking Holdings on Influencer platform was noticed in August, when the company announced its plan to lay off up to 25% or about 4,000 employees of its workforce globally. The layoff is implied only for Booking.com unit, as a step to restructure as it got hit by drop-off in travel demand caused by COVID-19. Influencer conversations on Twitter for Booking Holdings increased by 20% on GlobalData’s influencer platform during June-November 2020 compared to the previous six months.

Likewise, there was a sharp rise in influencer conversations around Expedia Group on influencer platform in November, led by data breach of Prestige Software, the hotel reservation software exposed by Website Planet. Influencer conversations on Twitter for Expedia Group fell by 20% on GlobalData’s influencer platform during June-November 2020 compared to the previous six months.