Dive Brief:

• Expedia Group Media Solutions, Expedia's global advertising organization, and the Puglia (Italy) Tourism Board launched "Puglia Travel Flavors," an Expedia subsite that uses authentic culinary content to attract U.S.- and U.K.-based travelers to the region, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. 
• "Puglia Travel Flavors" features visual content and videos, including a "tasting menu" quiz where users choose a desired dish and a video showcases one of Puglia's regions and its landscapes, culture and local ingredients. The platform also offers customized travel itineraries determined by the tasting menu selections and allows for social media and email integration, so users can share their itineraries. 
• The site also includes images from Puglia's Instagram feed, information about regions in Puglia and nearby hotels. The campaign was created by Expedia's in-house creative agency and is supported by social media, email and display ads. 

Dive Insight:

Expedia and the Puglia Tourism Board are embracing digital storytelling and compelling imagery to encourage travel bookings to the Italian region. The food-centric campaign was inspired by internal Expedia research showing that 53% of travelers say they plan their travel around food and drink, and Puglia is known for its culinary scene. The groups aim to reach travel planners with hotel deals, promotions and interesting content. 

"Puglia Travel Flavors" could help both brands spark an emotional connection with millennials, many of whom are foodies and also prefer to spend on experiences, like travel, over products. Seventy-two percent of millennial women say spending on experiences makes them happiest, and 54% said experiences would drive most of their future purchases, according to Merkle and Levo research. 

Expedia's partnership with the Puglia Travel Board follows a campaign from last year created by the travel site in partnership with Estee Lauder. The collaboration with the beauty brand included a contest where fans could win a trip to different destinations by sharing a selfie of their dream vacation makeup looks on Instagram. 

The Expedia campaigns are examples of how travel brands continue to seek innovative ways to reach consumers and encourage bookings by offering personalized experiences, especially as the hospitality industry grows more competitive. Booking sites, like Expedia, face competition from individual hotel and airline brands and sites like Airbnb. Forty-six percent of consumers say online travel aggregators and booking sites do the best job assisting and satisfying travelers, according to the CMO Council's GeoBranding Center and AIG Travel. 

In line with the Expedia-Puglia campaign, Airbnb last week announced a partnership with Pinterest on a spring and summer travel guide that includes travel hacks and trends for different types of vacations. With Pinterest serving as an inspiration for users, the collaboration with Airbnb will offer millions of listings that could help travelers make their inspiration a reality.