The disruption to the travel and entertainment sectors stemming from COVID-19 has been shown in new data revealing a sharp drop in social media searches relating to either topic across the past six months.

The research was conducted by Yellow (formerly Yellow Pages) in January (2,000 people) and replicated in July (1,000 people) as part of its annual social media report.

The figures indicate that 65 per cent of both men and women used social media to search for information on holidays, travel and accommodation in January.

At a glance: 

• New research from Yellow has shown that social media searches relating to travel and accommodation have dropped off sharply in the wake of COVID-19.
• According to the Yellow Social Media Report 2020, the percentage of men and women using social media to search for  information on holidays, travel and accommodation had dropped from 65 per cent in January to 43 per cent (women) and 46 per cent (men) in July.
• Hospitality was another sector hit hard with looking to buy searches going down 14 per cent for women – 60 per cent to 46 per cent - and by 13 per cent for men – 41 per cent to just 28 per cent.

In July, that had dropped 22 per cent for women to 43 per cent and 19 per cent for men to 46 per cent.

The second hardest hit sector was entertainment, with July social media searches by women dropping 18 per cent to just 45 per cent with men dropping from 5 per cent to 47 per cent.

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A snapshot of the Yellow data from January. Source: Yellow Social Media Report 2020.

Women also stopped looking for music in their droves with just 32 per cent doing so in July compared to 47 per cent six months earlier, while men dropped just 3 per cent from 53 per cent to 50 per cent.

When it came to looking for movies, the percentage of men actually increased – from 52 per cent to 56 per cent - but again women were down 12 per cent from 60 per cent to 48 per cent.

This was despite the lack of new movies in the market.

Hospitality was another sector hit hard with looking to buy searches going down 14 per cent for women – 60 per cent to 46 per cent - and by 13 per cent for men – 41 per cent to just 28 per cent.

Sensis (the owner of Yellow) Chief Marketing Officer, Hayley Jovanovic, said it wasn’t surprising that travel had been the hardest hit sector.

“What did surprise us was that women fell away so much more than the men," she said.

"I think that may be because women tend to be the ones that tend to do research whether it is for holidays or entertainment." 

Click here to download a copy of the consumer report.

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