New social media research from Digitas and Brandwatch shows that Americans are considering Valentine’s Day a time to vacation away from home and no longer celebrating as just a single day affair.
The study found that:
- 30% of all travel-related mentions referenced traveling by air, while 37% mentioned traveling by car — the majority of conversations about air travel were about couples, while groups of friends dominated the conversations about road trips
- 70% of people discussing Valentine’s Day travel are considering visits to domestic destinations — the top five being New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles
- While traveling within the U.S. leads in conversations, 30% are discussing trips abroad to international destinations with the top five international destinations mentioned as Paris, London, Barcelona, Spain, Sydney and Vancouver, Canada
- Among popular activities for vacationing, 42% are looking to relax at the spa as their primary Valentine’s Day activity, 33% want sun and beach destinations, 21% are hitting the slopes and 4% are wine tasting
- Hotels with spas have been advertising heavily online, and our study shows that their online investments are paying off — every four mentions interested in a relaxing destination, either by singles or by a couple, at least one included a reference to a coupon or deal
The study analyzed over 1.6 million social mentions of Valentine’s Day taking place on news and general media sites, blogs, forums, Facebook, and Twitter from November 2012 to February 2013.