Study: Nearly 70% of Americans use Google for travel searches

Safety issues and restrictions affected all location-based businesses in the U.S. in 2020, leading to a slight 1% decrease in clicks to action per listing. The travel industry was hit especially hard during 2020, with a decrease in clicks for almost all conversion types. Travel listings saw decline in actions at -47% year-over-year, which can be largely attributed to the extensive travel restrictions in 2020.

“This isn’t too surprising, considering the industry is strongly connected to in-person conversion experiences, which couldn’t be substituted completely by a website visit or phone call,” said Hedges. “Data does indicate a return to normalcy across all industries, with record high volumes of local listing activities in early 2021. This upward trend is one we expect to see continue as travel restrictions continue to loosen.”