Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, the way we travelled was very different. Most of us went to our local travel agent to browse through glossy, full colour brochures, and then booked our holidays in person or over the phone. Today, we are more likely to head online when looking for the best package holiday deals or exotic breaks, and the tour operators know it! The travel industry is increasingly relying on social media to provide us with the best deals and easiest options when it comes to booking our family holidays or budget breaks.

The social media revolution

Every time you're on Facebook, you'll see adverts or page suggestions tailored to appeal to you, based on other pages you've 'liked' in the past. Many of these could be travel companies trying to gain your business, hoping you'll click through to their page and use them to book your holiday. We all spend more time on social media than ever before, looking at photos, updating our statuses and sharing things with friends and family, so it makes sense for the tour operators to spend their money promoting their businesses in the place where we all spend the most time! Even Twitter is filled with tweets from holiday companies or hotels offering the latest deals. In this day and age, your business isn't going anywhere fast unless you have a regularly updated Twitter feed and an engaging Facebook page, not to mention a functioning, good-looking website which is not only accessible from a desktop PC or laptop but also from a range of mobile devices including tablets and smartphones.

Click through for offers

How many times have you 'liked' a page on Facebook and seen special offers popping up in your news feed, received invites to discount events or even emails with the latest deals? The travel industry is more competitive than ever nowadays, and companies have to work hard to thrive. The good news is that this all makes it easier than ever before to tailor make your holiday to suit you. You can view pictures of the hotel you're thinking of staying in, read reviews from previous guests, even message the owners directly to discuss your stay. Whilst in some ways, social media and the internet have made booking a holiday a less personal affair (no more cosy cups of tea with your friendly local travel agent), in other ways it's still as personal as ever - you're just cutting out the middle man and dealing directly with tour operators and accommodation proprietors.

Social media is a big part of our lives and it isn't going anywhere fast. It can be a great tool to use when booking your next holiday, and tour operators know this - social media is where you'll find out about the latest and greatest deals first!