New research on travel searches from Microsoft show that although search numbers have been down year-on-year since the week ending 20 March:

• Except for the week of 28 February when numbers were flat with the corresponding week in 2019, searches for destinations and attractions have been up by double-digit percentages throughout 2020 to date.
• Search numbers for air travel may have hit bottom in the week ending 10 April.
• Search numbers for accommodations, cruises and transportation/tours may have hit bottom in the week ending 17 April.
• Travel search ads' average cost-per-click were down approximately 60% yoy across travel categories in the week ending 1 May 2020.
• Clicks on travel ads in the week ending 1 May were down similarly - around 90% yoy - across major country markets: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and USA.
• Except for an occasional, temporary upturn, numbers of travel search ads per page trended down across travel categories from 1 March through 28 April. But ads per page for air travel and transportation/tours have trended up since 26 April.

Travel categories with largest week-on-week increase in click numbers in the week ending 1 May were (top 3):

1. Accommodations
2. Transportation/tours
3. Booking services

Destinations with largest week-on-week increase in click numbers in the week ending 1 May were:

1. China +24%
2. Italy +21%
3. Orlando FL +12%
4. Ireland +12%
5. Washington DC +12%
6. Tampa FL +10%
7. Houston TX +4%
8. San Diego CA +3%
9. Spain +2%

Are those destinations with click increases the ones who are keeping their marketing always-on during COVID-19? I'll bet they are.