U.S. Travel Brands Hop on TikTok Marketing to Reach Next-Gen Travelers


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Skift Take

TikTok is finally becoming a promising tool for travel marketers. But brands should expect a lot of trial and error. This social video app isn't just Instagram or YouTube by another name.
Social video app TikTok is best known for animals performing tricks, people doing stylized and hip dance moves, and random events such as a baby being born mid-flight. But TikTok's usefulness for travel marketing to Gen Z and younger millennials is becoming more apparent for U.S. travel brands who are seeing the success of foreign brands on the platform. Delta Air Lines this week launched its first TikTok campaign in the U.S. The carrier asked app users to post a short video about their favorite trip and tag the post with #FavoriteTripChallengeHashtag. The app said the campaign garnered over 19.5 million views in its first 36 hours, thanks partly to a partnership with TikTok. Several U.S. travel brands had hesitated to engage with TikTok in contractural ways until recently. Executives were nervous about some uncertainty about the app's status in the U.S. A year ago, the Trump Administration attempted to effectively banish the app from Apple's and Alphabet's Google app stores, but courts prevented the ban. In June, U.S. President Joe Biden revoked the related executive orders, dispelling most of the clouds. During the uncertainty, a few U.S. travel brands turned to "organic" efforts, engaging TikTok users via posts without paying the company to promote or coordinate campaigns, such as United Airlines' April TikTok video encouraging travel and touting exclusive discounts for Gen Z travelers. This year Marriott's loyalty program Bonvoy ran an organic "Travel Makes Us" campaign, encouraging the community to create their own travel videos using Marriott's custom song and hashtag montages. Posts with the hashtag #TravelMakesUs, such as this one, collectively drew