A fear that online advertising is becoming too invasive and creepy appear to be unfounded, reveals the World Travel Market 2015 Industry Report, released today (Monday November 2) at World Travel Market London.

Targetted adverts – where banner ads on a page reflect previous searches – are an example of how sophisticated advertising technology has become over the past few years. Hotel chains, OTAs and airlines are among the travel verticals which use this technique.

Targetted ads from travel firms are also now appearing on Facebook feeds as well as on desktops and mobile devices.

When asked whether they had noticed an increase in the use of targetted ads by travel firms, nearly half (48%) of British holidaymakers said that they hadn’t. Furthermore, 12% weren’t sure or didn’t know.

However, this means that 40% of travellers have noticed an increase in targetted ads with the sentiment slightly negative – 23% think that targetted ads are “not helpful” while 17% see the ads as beneficial.

But the sector often bears the brunt of criticisms about online advertising becoming too personal.  The topic features regularly in the advertising technology specialist media, but has recently captured the mainstream attention, particularly in light of Apple’s decision to include an “ad blocker” in the release of IoS 9 operating system.

Some commentators argue that, while many consumers like the idea of an advert-free internet, online businesses are dependent on advertising revenue and would face severe business headwinds if ad blockers were to become widely used.

WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press said: “Our findings that nearly half of British travellers are not aware of an increase in targetted ads are significant because the trend towards this type of digital marketing is growing.

“And while the overall sentiment is slightly negative, the ad tech industry will take some comfort from our finding that one in six British travellers think targetted ads are helpful.”

– ends –

About World Travel Market London

WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.

Almost 51,500 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL – London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.

WTM London, now in its 36th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM 2014 will generate around £2.5 billion of travel industry contracts.

WTM London is part of Reed Travel Exhibition’s World Travel Market events, which also includes Arabian Travel Market, World Travel Market Latin America and World Travel Market Africa.  www.wtmworld.com

World Travel Market Events

World Travel Market is comprised of the leading leisure travel events in the world; World Travel Market London, WTM Latin America in Sao Paulo, WTM Africa in Cape Town and Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.

New events for 2016 are WTM connect Asia and WTM connect China, which join WTM connect Ski and International Golf Travel Market. These unique one-to-one events are targeted at leisure and niche travel markets, allowing exhibitors to exclusively meet with elite hosted buyers.

The World Travel Market events are attended by the global travel and tourism industry’s senior executives to conduct business deals and discover the latest research, insight and opinion.

In 2014, the World Travel Market events facilitated around $7 billion in industry deals from negotiations between the more than 15,000 buyers, 9,500 exhibitors (1,500 main stand holders and 8,000 stand sharers) in attendance of its four events.

WTM is  part of Reed travel Exhibitions, the leading events organizer in the travel industry, and is owned by the world’s leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions.

Reed Travel Exhibitions

Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, incentives and business travel, as well as golf, ski and spa travel.

RTE, which organises more than 22 events around the world, includes three divisions; World Travel Market, IBTM Events and International Luxury Travel Market.

RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions.

About Reed Exhibitions

Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in 43 countries. In 2014 Reed brought together over seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 41 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.