Remarketing and retargeting are terms used interchangeably in most digital marketing conversations, but they have a technical distinction worth understanding – particularly for travel advertisers who are building re-engagement campaigns across multiple channels. Here’s the difference, and how to apply both effectively for travel brands.
What Is PPC Retargeting?
Retargeting typically refers to re-engaging users based on their on-site behaviour – showing display ads or social ads to people who have previously visited your website. It’s powered by a pixel or tag placed on your site that records visitor behaviour, then uses that data to serve targeted ads to those visitors on other websites and platforms. For tour operators, this means someone who viewed your Patagonia tours page in January can be shown a relevant ad on Instagram two weeks later. Given that most first-time visitors don’t book immediately, retargeting provides the persistent, relevant follow-up that keeps your brand visible during the extended consideration period characteristic of travel purchasing.
On-Site Interactions
On-site retargeting segments are built around specific page visits – destination pages, tour pages, pricing pages, enquiry form visits. The more granular the segmentation, the more relevant the retargeting can be. A visitor who spent five minutes on a specific tour page is a much stronger retargeting signal than one who bounced from your homepage. In our experience, retargeting campaigns built around specific destination or tour page visitors consistently outperform those targeting all site visitors with the same message.
Off-Site Interactions
Off-site retargeting signals come from interactions beyond your website – email opens, social media engagement, or app activity. These are less commonly used in travel but can be valuable for re-engaging an email subscriber who opened a destination newsletter but didn’t click through, or a social media follower who engaged with your content but hasn’t visited your site. What we’ve found is that layering off-site engagement signals with on-site behaviour creates richer, more qualified retargeting audiences than either source alone.
What Is PPC Remarketing?
In Google’s terminology, remarketing specifically refers to Google’s product for showing ads to past website visitors or app users across the Google Display Network, YouTube, and (via RLSAs) Google Search. In broader usage, “remarketing” often refers to email-based re-engagement – sending targeted emails to users who have shown intent signals, such as an abandoned enquiry form or a viewed tour that wasn’t booked. For travel brands, email remarketing is particularly powerful given the months-long consideration window – a well-timed email reminder about departure availability or a limited-time offer can convert visitors who expressed interest weeks or months earlier.
So what is the difference?
The practical distinction: retargeting is primarily paid advertising to past visitors using pixel data; remarketing is primarily email communication to a known contact list. In practice, both terms are used loosely and often interchangeably in travel marketing discussions. The important thing isn’t the terminology – it’s having both capabilities in place and using them in coordination. Clients often ask us which to prioritise, and our answer is usually both: retargeting keeps your brand visible to anonymous past visitors; remarketing re-engages the known contacts who’ve already given you their details.
Remarketing & Retargeting share a goal
Both mechanisms share the same objective: converting people who’ve already shown interest in your travel brand into bookings. Given the cost of acquiring a new visitor – through paid search, paid social, or organic – it makes commercial sense to invest in mechanisms that extract more value from the audience you’ve already paid to acquire. For tour operators with long consideration cycles, this is especially true: a prospective customer who visited your Morocco tour pages in October and didn’t book may well be ready to book in November or December with the right nudge.
Which should you use?
Use both, and build them as a coordinated system. Retargeting through Google Display and Meta reaches anonymous past visitors visually across the web. RLSAs (remarketing lists for search ads) allow you to adjust bids and messaging for past visitors when they search on Google – serving a more conversion-focused message to someone who’s already been on your site. Email remarketing re-engages known contacts with personalised, timely communications. Together, these mechanisms give you a multi-channel presence throughout the extended consideration period that defines travel purchasing – which is exactly where bookings are won or lost.