'Prepare for Google Analytics overhaul' travel warned

Andy Headington, CEO of digital marketing agency Adido, stressed that rather than an update, this was a complete overhaul of the system and businesses need to be prepared.

He advised smaller travel companies to look beyond the market leader. 

“Google Analytics is what we’ve been using for over a decade. It’s all going to change over the next year. GA4 is a new tool to get to grips with,” said Headington.

"[by July 2023] the car you’ve been driving isn’t going to work and you’re going to have to get into a helicopter.”

He urged travel companies to start allocating resources now to tackle the steep learning curve and to make a plan for data migration. 

For small travel businesses, he suggested shopping around: “[Google Analytics] is the industry standard now, but GA4 is very complicated. If all you want is to measure traffic and conversions there are many companies that do this.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Cotton, head of marketing for Thomas Cook, pointed out that tracking conversions from an original web search was not as straightforward as it was once assumed.

“People are considering that purchase a lot longer. It’s obviously multi-touchpoint. They’re going to talk to family members and use multiple devices,”  he said.