TikTok has launched Travel Ads, a format built for the travel sector, while phasing out its Custom Identity option for advertisers. Australian travel brands get a fresh format with light competition. Everyone else gets a reminder to check their account setup.
Every new ad format is a bet on where attention is moving. TikTok is betting travel research now starts with a video.
TikTok has launched Travel Ads, an advertising product built for the travel industry, while quietly phasing out its Custom Identity option for advertisers.
Travel Ads give travel brands a format tuned to how people research and book trips on the platform, where short-form video has become a genuine discovery channel for destinations and deals. The retirement of Custom Identity is the less glamorous half. It changes how some advertisers manage brand presence in their campaigns, so affected accounts need to check their setup before the option disappears.
Why it matters
Australian travel and tourism brands have a clear opening here. TikTok shapes where younger travellers decide to go, and a purpose-built format lowers the barrier to showing up well. For everyone else the Custom Identity change is the reminder. Platforms remove features on their own timeline, not yours, and if your account relies on one you did not notice was deprecated, your campaigns can break without warning.
60% of TikTok users say they have visited a destination after seeing it on the platform
What to do about it
If you are in travel or tourism, test the format while it is new and competition is light.
Lead with real video, not a static ad in a video wrapper. TikTok punishes ads that feel like ads.
Check whether your account uses Custom Identity and plan the change before it is forced on you.
Keep your creative native to the platform. Borrowed TV spots do not work here.
Measure bookings and enquiries, not just views.
Constraints become an advantage when you fish one channel well. Travel brands have a fresh pond and a short head start.