TikTok Enters Travel Marketing with New In-App Travel Ads

TikTok has launched Travel Ads, a new advertising platform designed to help travel brands drive bookings.

Travel Ads had been in testing for several months with early participants including Expedia Group, Accor Hotels, Meliá Hotels International, Etihad Airways, and Sunweb.

The solution displays travel inventories via personalized ads in video or carousel formats directly within the TikTok feed. Pop-up booking cards appearing in ads allow users to make bookings without leaving the app.

This feature leverages TikTok’s massive global audience, especially Gen Z and millennial travelers who prefer authentic content and engaging storytelling.

Travel Ads is powered by TikTok's AI-powered Smart+ technology that combines users’ travel-related in-app behaviors with travel offerings to deliver personalized ads. It identifies audiences who show high intent to book, based on their engagement with travel videos, search activity, and other signals.

This launch establishes TikTok as a new channel for travel marketers, competing with traditional digital advertising platforms.

In late August 2025, TikTok partnered with Booking.com to launch a feature that allows US users to book hotels through the app.

When creators share hotel videos, viewers can tap the embedded location pin to access the hotel's page, which includes photos, descriptions, prices, availability, and the option to book without leaving TikTok.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash