It seems we Canadians are cheapskates when it comes to travel. The qualifier “cheap” is a popular one to include in searches in all of the markets we monitor. In Canada, there were 1,746 different search terms that included the word “cheap” in the twelve weeks to June 27, 2009. Looking at that list of search term variations, travel terms dominate the list.
The following table shows the top ten Canadian search terms that included the word “cheap” in the twelve weeks to June 27, 2009.

Notice that 9 of these top 10 terms are travel related with “cheap flights” and “cheap tickets” appearing at the top of the list.
The Hitwise Search Term Variations report shows us the industries that consumers visit after searches that include the word “cheap”. In the twelve weeks to June 27, 47% went to Travel websites with the lion’s share going to Travel Agencies. Only 4.36% went to Shopping and Classifieds websites. This is quite different from what we see in the US. While Travel is also the top downstream industry after queries that include the word “cheap”, only 27.71% of of US visits went to Travel websites with 11.23% going to Shopping and Classifieds.
This data indicate that Canadians, while keen to travel, are sensitive to budgets. This insight can help Travel marketers tailor offers and campaigns. Understanding the qualifiers that consumers are using to find content relevant to your business can help tailor search engine marketing campaigns (by including relevant keywords in ads) and website content (to improve conversion rates and improve search engine optimisation).