features of tourism marketing

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What is Tourism Marketing? 15 Strategies in 2023

March 22, 2023 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Marketing

From hotels and other types of accommodation to car rental services, airlines , restaurants, entertainment spots, and travel agents – tourism marketing encompasses a wide range of advertising and marketing strategies often used by companies in the tourism and travel industry themselves. All these various marketing efforts are put together under one collective name – Tourism Marketing!

Tourism marketing is an essential tool for a business to ensure they are standing apart from its competitors, garnering customers, and creating brand recognition. Nowadays, various digital marketing platforms such as websites, online ads, email marketing campaigns , and social media marketing outlets have become vital components of modern tourism marketing initiatives for businesses.

Table of Contents

What is Tourism Marketing?

Tourism marketing is a type of marketing used by businesses operating in the travel and tourism industry to attract tourists to a business name or particular location which can be a state, a city, a particular heritage site or tourist destination spot, a hotel, or a convention center anything.

Achieving success in the travel and tourism industry requires thoughtful Tourism Marketing campaigns that are designed to generate brand awareness , create both, reach the most target audience or potential customers, drive traffic, foster loyalty among existing clients, and create a captivating customer experience . By utilizing these strategies, businesses can effectively engage with travelers while generating more sales opportunities.

Tourism Marketing has been profoundly impacted in recent years by digital development, as well as changes in consumer attitudes and desires. Crafting successful Tourism marketing messages today entails taking advantage of social media platforms, featuring user generated content, leveraging online reviews and search engines to your benefit, collaborating with influencers to drive traffic and expand reach, and experimenting with various channels for targeted messaging to attract travelers and optimize their customer journey in a way to convert them into loyal customers.

Why is Tourism Marketing Important?

To make a tourism business thrive, savvy marketing is an absolute must. By staying up-to-date with current trends and launching impactful campaigns, businesses can boost the recognition of their brand, gain customer loyalty and attract travellers. Moreover, tourism marketing holds promise for contributing to the economic growth of the region by driving tourists towards local enterprises.

The tourism industry is one of the biggest in the world and therefore highly competitive. To succeed, businesses must differentiate themselves from their competitors by promoting and advertising what makes them unique, showcasing why they’re the best option for tourists, and advertising and highlighting any special features that set them apart.

To allow businesses to gain a competitive advantage , marketing is essential. Many of the top tourism marketing approaches concentrate on highlighting a business’ unique selling point and broadcasting it effectively. Moreover, marketers must keep abreast with current trends to generate an effective promotional mix and deploy the most viable methods for disseminating their message across all channels.

Understanding the concept of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing is associated with most businesses, with marketing strategies in the field of tourism.  Today there are many countries in the world, where the tourism industry plays a major role in economic development , enhancing their GDP.

In such cases, tourism and digital marketing become important things. Many of the places are generally the hotspot for tourists like the Taj Mahal in India. Now places like these are considered the perfect areas where one can boost tourism through digital marketing.

The places which are more likely to be the major spots for attracting tourists are the places where tourism marketing flourishes the most. Now tourism marketing is all about applying several marketing techniques and strategies to create and boost the tourism industry of that place.

For successful tourism marketing to take place, the thing that is required the most is that the brands should speak for themselves in such a way that makes sense that their voices can be heard in the targeted markets.  This way they will be able to generate the cleanest successfully. Also, they need to be really careful in providing services to clients.

This is because if the customers are happy with the services chances they will spread the word and this may bring them more customers.  In the case of tourism marketing, it becomes easy to find the right audiences and create content to draw the attention of the targeted customers to the website by providing encouraging content.  Thus strategic planning , content marketing, and branding is the key to effective tourism marketing.

With it being carried out by keeping these two points in mind, chances are that the company that is involved in tourism marketing will be able to gain the advantage over their existing customers in no time and become a monopoly in the tourism industry.

What are the different ways in which Tourism Marketing Can Be Done in 2023?

Now various methods are applied for tourism marketing to flourish.  Below are some of the important ways in which the tourism marking of any place is given a boost.

1) Location marketing

In this type of marketing strategy , the main focus of tourism marketing is one bringing people’s attention to a specific location. In this strategy , no recommendations are made with respect to a particular site or any accommodation. Now some locations are already so popular all over the world that tourism marketers don’t have to make many efforts to attract their attention to such places.

All they need to do to attract customers is remind them of such locations and chances are that the consumer can easily get convinced to spend money and visit any such place. For example, Las Vegas is popular for its undying charm and full of life kind of prospects.

Now there s also a popular slogan related to Las Vegas which is ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’. This slogan has gained worldwide popularity and almost everyone wants to visit Las Vegas at least once.

So here the tourism marketers have to simply remind people of how amazing this city is and what are the different ways in which they can have the time of their lives here. Another example that can be taken in Florida.

They use a more ‘benefit-oriented’ approach. Their slogan and website are ‘The Sunshine State’.  This way they are presenting their state with a joyous and charming climate and as a perfect place for beach and football lovers.  Also with their slogan and website, they are successfully able to present their state as an ideal ‘summer vacation’ destination and are definitely a dream for many to visit this place.

Thus location marketing is one of the simplest forms of tourism marketing in which without even putting much effort, with the brand value and the popularity of some specific location, the customers can be attracted.

2) Activity marketing

Now, this type of tourism is carried out keeping in mind both the location and the activities that are performed in such places.  This type of tourism marketing strategy usually keeps in mind travelers who are adventure lovers or activity freaks.

There are many other sites and locations all over the world that are famous for some specific activities. Like Alaska is famous for snowboarding, Yellowstone national park is famous for thrilling activities like hiking, and camping and is a perfect place for all nature lovers, similarly, there is ‘Colonial Williamsburg’ which attracts all history lovers.

Thus depending on the target audience and the type of activity that a particular place is famous for, tourism marketing can be carried out. Some people may be adventure lovers, some people may be looking for art and culture some people love hunting, depending upon their area of expertise and interest, the tourism markers can segment the groups of potential visitors and customers and approach them.

Thus activity marketing is a form of tourism making and social media marketing that emphasizes the booking process and bringing the attention of a customer to particular places on the basis of the activities that are performed there.

3) Corporate marketing

This is quite an interesting approach to tourism marketing. Now it has been found that a large number of people working in corporate sectors have to travel to different places to attend a conference or a meeting.

Then according to research, it was found these locations were ideal for tourists, and a number of people came to attend those places. Also, they brought their families and their loved ones as well. Now considering these scenarios’ latest trends in mind, corporate influencer marketing can contribute a lot to tourism marketing as it has significant potential.

Here the tourism marketers take advantage of the fact that by planning the business meeting in touristy places, people come in large numbers thus they can make a lot of profit out of it.

What are the four basic pillars of Tourism Marketing?

The foundation of tourism marketing stands firmly on four of its important pillars which are the product , the price, the place, email marketing, and the promotion.

Let us understand each of these separately as to how they contribute to tourism marketing!

Marketing Mix of Tourism

1) product in tourism marketing.

One of the most important aspects of the tourism marketing strategy is to determine the effect of the selling benefits and the other types of benefits that are re-obtained by competing with their rivals in the same market .

Tourism marketers need to focus more on such destinations that provide both business advantages to travel brands and pleasure to their customers. These pleasures depend on several factors like the ease of traveling, facilities of the sites and the hotels, the nightlife of that place, activities offered, and the overall culture of that place.

Thus by considering these factors, tourism marketers will understand the areas that have to focus more on, so that marketing can be done effectively.

2) Price in Tourism Marketing

The price point is yet another important aspect of tourism marketing. Now many people avoid traveling due to money-related issues.  And this is where tourism marketing comes in to save the day.  Today so many mobile apps have been developed, on which if a person books a hotel r a transport like a flight or a train, they get discounts. This attracts a lot of customers.

Along with the free referral marketing, they also try to give value-added services to their customers. Some hotels also offer free shuttle services to their visitors. Also depending on whether it is a high season or an offseason, the prices are altered.  

3) Place in Tourism Marketing

Now for tourism marketing to earn a profit, deciding the location where they want to perform the marketing can play a key role in how far they can go. The place refers to the area where the products and services can be distributed.

Now in tourism and destination marketing, the location and the destination marketers offer their products and services to their customers through travel agents, tour operators, inside sales teas, etc.  The distribution of their products and services to visitors can be done through catalogs, online, sites, mobile devices, websites, stores, etc.

4) Promotion

In this numerous different strategies and technologies are used for the promotion of any specific area or tourist destination.  In fact, trade magazines and meeting planners are also efficient ways for promotion purposes.

These often come with many other forms of discount coupons, brochures, etc. also they try their target customers to come across the ads that pop up on the website to make them aware of the various tourist places.

15 Tourism Marketing Strategies in 2023

1. prioritising hygiene and safety via marketing communication.

Tourism marketers must now prioritize safety and hygiene to give their customers peace of mind when they travel. By highlighting the protocols that are being taken, tourists can rest assured knowing they will be protected while visiting.

2. Developing Loyalty Programmes

Loyalty programs are the ideal way to demonstrate your appreciation for existing customers and stimulate repeated patronage. Tourism marketers should construct loyalty programs that will not only retain existing customers but also appeal to fresh audiences.

3. Capitalising on Voice Search

In the age of voice search, it is essential for tourism marketers to create content that can be quickly found and accessed. Optimizing your site and content for this new technology will bolster your site for visibility and success in the long term.

4. Facilitating User-Generated Content

User-generated content, such as ratings and reviews on social media, is critical in helping customers make informed decisions. User-generated social media content is one of the key tourism marketing trends.

5. Deploying Artificial Intelligence:

AI technology is a valuable asset for Tourism marketers, allowing them to track customer behavior and create personalized brand experiences tailored to each individual. This can help customers find the brand information they need quicker and more easily than ever before.

6. Not Neglect Review Marketing

Reviews and ratings are a critical resource for Tourism companies, making them an invaluable asset in swaying potential customer decisions. Any Tourism marketer must recognize the importance of reviews if they wish to stay competitive.

7. Enhancing the Guest Experience & Satisfaction Through Chatbots

Chatbots can be a vital tool in creating an effortless, tailored experience for all customers. Chatbot technology should be a top priority for the hospitality and tourism industry to provide quick customer service and support, as well as respond promptly to any inquiries.

8. Investing in Remarketing Efforts

Maximizing your Tourism business’ potential by tapping into already engaged customers is a surefire way of increasing sales. Leverage the power of remarketing to maximize your potential and gain more qualified leads.

9. Utilising Augmented Reality Technology

Augmented reality provides the ideal platform for tourism businesses to build mesmerizing and unforgettable experiences for their customers.

10. Prioritising Personalisation

Customization is a crucial element of this form of marketing. By personalizing content and messages to the target audience’s wants and needs, Tourism marketers can engineer and create an experience that will ensure positive word-of-mouth publicity for their business or brand.

11. Exploring Metaverse

The metaverse is becoming more and more popular with tourism companies, as it allows them to give their customers an unparalleled, immersive experience.

12. Using NFTs

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are quickly becoming a widely recognized trend. Tourism companies can harness this technology to propel their marketing campaigns and draw in more visitors.

13. Promoting Virtual Reality (VR) Tours

Allow your customers to explore new destinations without even having to leave their homes – with VR tours, the possibilities are endless!

14. Focusing on the Customer Experience

Crafting an exceptional customer experience should be the primary focus of any Tourism promotional strategy . Optimizing customer experiences on all marketing channels is crucial.

15. Embracing content and influencer marketing

Content and influencer marketing are essential building blocks of any successful tourism strategy. It helps in optimizing the presence of a travel business in the search engine.

Thus, tourism and travel agency marketing are one of the branches of marketing that deal with the tourism and travel industry only.

It is essential to carry out efficient tourism marketing, as one can make a lot of money through this because there are so many people in this world who love traveling, and this can help the tourism marketing industry to flourish their business.

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About Hitesh Bhasin

Hitesh Bhasin is the CEO of Marketing91 and has over a decade of experience in the marketing field. He is an accomplished author of thousands of insightful articles, including in-depth analyses of brands and companies. Holding an MBA in Marketing, Hitesh manages several offline ventures, where he applies all the concepts of Marketing that he writes about.

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This was a great article! Now I’m interested in a career in tourism marketing. How do I start? I already write travel content/copywriting blogs for an agency. Where would I go from there?

this article really helped me in conducting research on tourism. Thank you very much

This article helped me alot on my academic research

Hello,the article is highly assisting and I am seriously having interest in studying Tourism Marketing.

This information was very helpful

hey! This is a good and interesting article about tourism marketing. I am a second degree student in tourism business administration,the program is all about tourism as a business perspective.if you can possible,please post such relevant articles via email address that i have attached below the space provided.

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Tourism Marketing

Travel and tourism marketing is the systematic and coordinated execution of business policies by the both private or public and public sector tourism organizations operating at the local, regional, national, or international level to achieve the optimal satisfaction of the needs of identifiable tourist groups, and in doing so to achieve an appropriate return .

Travel agencies in the pre-deregulation, pre-liberalization, and pre-globalization era were often contended to take whatever business that come along this way and sold them on a straight commission basis without bothering about the extensive marketing. Moreover, their scope of the operation was small and was not much complex, sophisticated and competitive.

But today the travel companies are becoming larger, more sophisticated and more automated in management.  Similarly, the clients/tourists are also becoming more trained, experienced, erudite and demanding higher quality services and packages.

Therefore, in this volatile travel business environment, marketing knowledge and skill are more necessary ingredients than the product knowledge and enthusiasm, for a travel agency’s long-term survival and growth. Thus, this has led to the use of tourism marketing which is recent phenomena.

History of Tourism Marketing

The ‘ marketing concept ‘ is not very old. I came into the scene in the 2nd half of the 20th century. In the beginning, it was linked with the number of closely associated factors for achieving volume sales.

The development of the marketing concept, in fact, is the outcome of political, technological, social, economic and business pressures. However, the importance of marketing within travel and tourism industry has been the level of economic and business growth throughout the 20th century, which has led to the improvement in living standards, an enlargement of the population and an increase in discretionary income and time.

These changes have also led to the construction of infrastructure, accommodation, transport , and other recreational facilities. Within a very short period, travel and tourism have become one of the most important and leading industry in the world.

Modern tourism marketing has evolved as a business reaction to changes in the Socio-Economic environment, with the most successful tourism companies or tourism bodies have demonstrated a keen sense of providing the right of organizational structure and products offer for the visitors/tourists.

Interestingly, the tourism companies have recognized the significance of key factors such as needs, wants, and satisfaction in the planning and designing of the tourism product. In the tourism industry, every tourist wants to be treated as a special client and any organization catering to this attitude of the tourist will naturally be head of other competitions.

Definitions of Tourism Marketing

According to Kotler, ” Marketing is a social and managerial process by which consumers obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging product services and values with other .” He has emphasized more on wants, needs, satisfaction, demand, and marketers.

According to the British Chartered Institute of Marketing, ” It is the management process responsible for the identification, anticipating, assessing and satisfying the customer’s client’s requirements profitable .”

The modern marketing concept is not limited only to the identification and satisfaction of customers. It is a comprehensive process which encompasses research and analysis of society’s as well as consumer’s needs, asserts the company’s resources and marketplace and delivers the products/services to those whose experience provides a set of satisfactions which are preferable to those of the competitors.

Krippendorf defines tourism marketing,” as the systematic and coordinated execution of business policies by both private or public sector tourism organizations operated at the local, regional, national, or international level to achieve the optimal satisfaction of the needs of identifiable tourist groups, and in doing so to achieve an appropriate return .”

According to Paynter (1993), ” tour marketing is a systematic process consisting of marketing objective, strategies, schedules, marketing media, focused on the specific market segment and based on a substantial return on investment. ”

World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at Ottawa Seminar, has defined tourism marketing as,” a management philosophy which, in the light of tourist demand, makes it possible through research, forecasting and selection of tourism products/services from suppliers, on the line with organization’s purpose and tourist satisfaction .”

The following aspects can be identified from the above definitions:

• Tourism marketing is a thought-provoking process.
• Identification and selection of the target market.
• Positioning and product lifecycle is important.
• Future tourism marketing strategies.
• Innovative/proactive marketing.

Unique Features of Tourism Marketing

Tour package as a specialized product creates a number of significant considerations which need to be fully analyzed. The management of tour package cannot be divorced from the management of service and quality. Thus, the marketing of the tour package is different from other products because the tour package is a service product where instead of selling physical goods an intangible experience is sold.

An understanding of the complexity of the tourism product concept is an essential pre-requisite for effective tour package marketing in this context. The specific features of tourism marketing are:

• The demand for tour package is highly elastic and seasonal in nature.
• Tour package is a combination of various service ingredient.
• Designing, developing and marketing of tour package a number of intermediaries are involved. Bed experience at one level can spoil the entire image of the package as well as the tour operator .
• A tourist does not only by the tour package in advance because it is consumed and felt at the same time at a particular destination.

It is not possible to evaluate/demonstrate/sample the tour package in advance because it is consumed and felt at the same time at a particular destination.

Tour Package Marketing

A tour marketing plan is a structured guide for carrying out marketing operations. It provides a common structure and focuses on all the company’s management activities. The purposes of a marketing plan include:

• It provides a clear direction for marketing operations.
• It coordinates the resources of the organization in order to eliminate confusion and misunderstanding and achieving cooperation.
• Identifying different market segments.
• Setting targets/goals.
• Identifying the organization’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Corporate mission and goals.
• External and Internal Audit.
• Business situation analysis.
• Creating the objectives.
• Providing an effective marketing mix strategy.
• Monitoring the plan.

Thus, it has become imperative to discuss the tour marketing segment, tourist generating market, and tour marketing mix before developing a tour marketing plan.

Tour Market Segmentation

It involves a division of the prospective market into identifiable groups. The reasoning behind this is that a tour package can be sold more effectively if efforts are concentrated towards those groups which are most potential.

According to Middleton, “ Market segmentation is the process whereby producers organize their knowledge of customer groups and select for particular attention those whose needs and wants they are best able to meet their product .”

The main purpose of tour market segmentation in tourism marketing are:

• Segment the tourists generating markets.
• Identify the network of intermediaries.
• Identify the nature of demand for one’s product.
• Identify the prospective tourists.

An effective market strategy will determine exactly what the target market will be and to attempt to reach only those markets. The target market is that segment of a total potential market to which the tourist attraction would be most saleable.

Targets markets are defined geographically, demographically and so forth market segmentation must be employed in the marketing programmes to both the long-term strategies. Every tourism attraction can appeal to a multitude of market segments, and the market segment can overlap a great deal. The tour manager must look at market segments and determines which one offer the promising potential for his/her service.

Tour market segment further categories into the following types:

• Geographic Segment
• Demographic Segment
• Psychographic Segment
• Socio-Economic Segment
• Price Segment

Geographic Tourism Market Segmentation

This segment is based on the idea that customer needs differ according to geographic regions.

Demographic Segmentation

Under this segmentation, the tourism market is divided into various groups, keeping in view the demographic variables such as age, income, sex family size, occupation, education, religion etc.

Behavioral Segmentation

In this segmentation, prospective tourists are segmented on the basis of their knowledge, attitude, use or response to the tour product. Under this segmentation, the marketing strategies of a four-company include:

• User Status
• Loyalty Status
• Buyer Readiness Stages

Psychographic Segmentation

Under this, the tourists are divided into different group on the basis of their social status, lifestyles, and personality characteristics. For example, upper class, upper middle, lower classes, product preferences, adventure sports, etc.

Price Segmentation

Price ranges often come in handy in segmenting the tourist markets, such as

• Those who want to take a low priced vacation.
• Those who may take a moderately priced vacation.

Price ranges communicate to the tourists the quality expectation of a product along with the producer’s image. While determining the price of a tour package a tour planner must understand the paying capacity of the tourist.

Tour Marketing Mix

In the competitive tourism marketplace, a tour operator can be successful if it’s complete marketing mix offer matches what the tourist wants. It is planned and coordinated by marketers so that the input can be contributed in such a way that the company will be able to maximize demand and satisfaction of the tourists.

The concept of the tour marketing mix is equally relevant in the case of tourism products as it is in the case of other services and goods. Tour marketing manager must constantly search for the right marketing mix, the right combination of elements that will produce a profit. The marketing mix is composed of every factor that influences marketing efforts such as:

• BrandsPricing – In the Ratio of quality and value
• Product features
• Channels of distribution – both international and national
• Advertising
• Selling techniques
• Public relation

The fundamental starting point for the creation of a successful tour marketing mix to ensure that the target market is clearly defined. The target market is the focus of all marketing mix activities. Generally, the marketing mix constitutes four P’s . These four P’s are following as:

However, besides these four P’s in the tourism industry fifth P – People, Process, Physical evidence is also of most relevance.

Developing Tour Marketing Plan

The marketing of the package tour is materially different than the marketing of other tourism products. The reasoning behind this is that the type of tours offered by one tour company and another are different, and the marketing strategies also differ from company to company.

Each company has a wide range of tours and marketing strategies. No other travel and tourism industry component have such a wide range of specialization.

This fact should be recognized, that the effective and profitable marketing strategies are based on the tour marketing plan which is a complete ‘mechanism’ for the success of a tour company. The mechanism includes several components. These component and stages of making a tourism marketing plan are following as:

Developing a tour marketing plan

Marketing Budget

Plan Strategies

Prepare Plan Schedules

Decide Media Plan

Developing Advertising Plan

Developing Public Relation Plan

Preparing an Annual Sales Plan

Feedback and Evaluation Plan

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Tourism Marketing: A Guide to Effectively Market Your Tours and Experiences

Discover how to strategically promote your tours with our comprehensive guide on tourism marketing and elevate your brand visibility today

by Janelle Visser | 2 February 2024

If you build it, they will come, as the adage goes. But in today’s digital age, where anyone can build anything and put it online in moments, the question becomes: how will they find — and choose — you? 

In the dynamic world of tourism experiences, the key to attracting travelers lies in successfully marketing your tours, activities and attractions. And it’s not just about attracting tourists, it’s about creating unforgettable connections that turn one-time visitors into loyal advocates for your brand. 

Marketing is consistently ranked by Arival event attendees as one of the most important topics they are looking for insights on. As traveler preferences and booking habits change, so do the most effective ways to market to them. 

In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the evolution and strategies of marketing for travel and tourism in today’s digital era, providing actionable insights for tour operators and attractions, and answering key questions that every tour operator grapples with. From crafting a marketing strategy to understanding the components of a successful tourism marketing campaign, we’ll explore how to navigate the competitive and ever-evolving landscape of tour, activity and attraction marketing, and create lasting connections with your guests.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is Tourism Marketing?

The evolution of tourism marketing, how to create a tour marketing strategy.

• Conduct Thorough Market Research
• Identify Your Target Audience
• Understand Your Customer Needs and Expectations
• Create Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)
• Build a Strong Brand
• Consider Offline Marketing for Tours
• Embrace Digital Marketing Strategies
• Leverage Modern AI Technology
• Take Advantage of the Current Trends
• Monitor and Evaluate Your Strategy
• Navigating the Future of Tourism Marketing with Arival

At its core, tourism marketing is a strategic approach to promoting destinations, tourism products and services to tourists. For operators, this primarily means promoting your tour, activity or attraction offerings. The aim is to understand and meet the needs and wants of travelers, creating memorable experiences that encourage reviews, repeat visits and referrals. 

In the context of the global tourism economy, where according to Arival’s latest data the in-destination experiences industry is expected to be worth $270 billion in 2024. Tourism marketing plays a pivotal role in the success of travel businesses, helping them to stand out above their competitors and serving as the bridge that connects them with their target audiences of travelers.

As travel marketing company Blend ’s Managing Director put it recently in an interview with Arival, “The simplest way to define [marketing] is what comes to mind when someone thinks about your brand or experience. And what you do through your marketing channels is help shape that perception.”

The landscape of marketing in tourism has undergone a profound transformation since the early 1900s when the Michelin Guide first encouraged motorists to explore the world beyond their own towns. Progressing from traditional tourism promotion methods like brochures and word-of-mouth recommendations to the digital age of Google searches and social media influencers, technology has played a pivotal role in shaping how destinations and experiences are promoted. 

Fast forward to today, where the advent of short-form video marketing and generative AI has added new dimensions, allowing every tour, activity or attraction operator to engage travelers in innovative ways. These tools provide opportunities for engagement, personalization, and storytelling that were once unimaginable, and have become integral to captivating the modern traveler.

Successful marketing for tourism starts with a well-defined marketing strategy, which will help ensure the effort and resources you put into marketing are effective. The following steps will help guide you through the creation of a marketing strategy for your tour, activity or attraction company.

1. Tour Marketing Strategy

Understanding the market is the foundation of any effective strategy. Thorough research into customer demographics, travel patterns, and consumer behaviors will provide invaluable insights as you create your marketing strategy. 

Arival conducts regular tourism market research to assist tour, activity and attraction businesses with this process. For example, Arival’s latest consumer research on the 2024 U.S. Experiences Traveler found that day tours are on the rise among U.S. travelers , and that younger millennial and Gen Z travelers in particular are moving away from traditional sightseeing tours and looking for more experiential tours , such as culinary tours and immersive experiences. See Arival’s latest research here . 

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Targeting your tourism marketing plan to a specific audience is crucial, as this will enable you to enhance the relevance of your offerings, improve engagement, and maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Identifying your target audience involves a strategic process that combines market research as described above, data analysis, competitive analysis and customer profiling. Google and social media platforms, for example, offer analytics tools that provide insights into the age, interests, geographic location and income bracket of your followers, that can help you to develop detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal customers, and create a plan to reach and engage these audiences. 

In addition, analyzing the target audience of your competitors will help you build on this and identify gaps or underserved segments in the market that your tourism marketing plan can effectively target.

3. Understand Your Customer Needs and Expectations

Conducting tourism market research and identifying your target audience will help you with this step. Once you have an idea of who your target customers are, you can discover what their needs and expectations are, and how to develop a marketing strategy to reach them effectively. 

For example, if you offer sightseeing tours and you have identified younger Millennial and Gen Z travelers from the U.S. as a demographic you want to market your tours to, you will need to go beyond sightseeing to attract this demographic, according to the latest Arival research . 

How can you make your tours more immersive and experiential, and reflect this in your marketing to engage this demographic? Anticipating and meeting your customers’ needs and expectations can lead to higher customer satisfaction, fostering reviews and repeat business. Personalization is key.

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4. Create Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)

One of the challenges a tourism marketing strategy needs to solve is how to make you stand out above your competitors. Why do tourists choose some travel experiences over others? One way to differentiate your offerings is by identifying and highlighting unique selling points (USPs) that resonate with your target audience.

Let’s say you have identified younger Millennial and Gen Z travelers as a group you’d like to target with your marketing efforts. In your city there are multiple competitors offering similar tour products to yours, however you’ve realized that this target audience has an affinity for food tours. You find a way to work elements of culinary tourism into your sightseeing tour offering and your marketing to set yourself above your competitors and offer something unique in your region.

5. Build a Strong Brand

A consistent, strong brand fosters trust and ensures your tour company is memorable in the minds of potential guests. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t recognize the logo of an apple with a bite taken out of it, or doesn’t know where the phrase “just do it” comes from. 

Brands are about more than creative logos and catchy slogans, however. Building a robust brand for your experience business involves defining a clear identity with a focused mission and incorporating those USPs described in the previous step. Then, reaching out to your target audience through engaging storytelling and content, bolstered by a strong online presence, will enable your customers to build an emotional connection with your brand. Ensuring you’re delivering high-quality customer experiences to your target audience is crucial to building trust in your brand, and encouraging positive reviews is essential to building your brand’s reputation and ensuring ongoing brand success. 

Arival Insider Pro Access members can learn more about the importance of building your brand here. 

6. Consider Offline Marketing for Tours

Before we go too deep into digital marketing in tourism, it’s important to recognize that traditional methods like print advertising, brochures, and partnerships with local businesses still have relevance and can complement digital marketing strategies.

Many travelers are still waiting to book their things to do until they are in-destination, which means there is an opportunity to meet these travelers where they are. For example, working with destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and other regional tourist organizations that operate tourist information centers can enable you as a tour or experience operator to get printed promotional material about your experiences physically in the hands of tourists looking in person for things to do. Reach out to destination marketers in your region to take advantage of this offline marketing opportunity. 

7. Embrace Digital Marketing Strategies

As travelers increasingly use digital channels to discover, plan and book their travel, operators can and should leverage a range of digital marketing strategies to effectively promote their tours and engage with potential customers. 

From Google Things to do to search engine optimization (SEO), from social media strategy to working with influencers, from effective email marketing to impactful content marketing, a strong tourism marketing plan will incorporate a variety of digital marketing elements to bring a wider audience to the top of the funnel, and engage with them throughout the funnel at various stages of their discovery, planning and booking journey.

Arival has developed a number of guides and articles to help experience operators navigate the world of digital marketing for travel and tourism. Here are a few resources:

• An Essential Guide to SEO for Tours & Activities
• Content Marketing
• Your Guide to Influencer Marketing in Travel and Tourism

8. Leverage Modern AI Technology

The popularity of AI in 2024 cannot be understated, however many companies in the travel industry have been using AI in various forms long before the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 brought Generative AI, or Gen AI to the forefront. Gen AI, though, has made it a lot more accessible for travel businesses and tourism marketers without a lot of technical expertise to integrate AI to personalize customer experiences, generate targeted content, and enhance decision-making in marketing strategies for tourism. 

Many companies in the marketing for tourism space have developed tools and resources for tour, activity and attraction businesses, some of which are listed on Arival’s list of AI Resources for Experience Operators . Find out more about what’s the latest with AI in travel and how tour and attraction businesses are using it at the next Arival event. 

9. Take Advantage of the Current Trends

Staying up-to-date with the latest digital trends in marketing for travel and tourism is essential to stay relevant and get ahead of your competitors. 

For example, over the last couple of years, short-form videos on platforms like TikTok have risen dramatically as a channel for travelers — younger Millennial and Gen Z travelers in particular — to find inspiration for travel experiences. Incorporating vertical and short-form video in your tourism marketing will help you engage this audience, enabling you to meet travelers where they are online and present the experience offerings of your tour, activity or attraction company in a format your audience is familiar with.

@j_buzzi I don’t think I’ll ever get over how amazing bioluminescence is! 🤯🌌 #bioluminescence #getupandgokayaking ♬ Another Rain (From “Halo 3: ODST”) – DS Music

Justin Buzzi , founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking , jumped on the vertical video trend and attracted millions of views and over one million likes on TikTok with this short bioluminescence video.

10. Monitor and Evaluate Your Strategy

A strategy without evaluation is like a ship without a compass. Regularly assess the effectiveness of your marketing strategy using key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs to monitor the effectiveness of your marketing strategy could include website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement, booking levels, and customer reviews and ratings. Consistent monitoring and evaluation ensure that you not only navigate the course but also make agile adjustments, keeping your strategy aligned with the ever-shifting tides of the tourism market.

1. What are the key components of a successful tour marketing campaign?

Success lies in a well-researched strategy with clear targeting built on tourism market research, compelling USPs that speak to the needs and expectations of your target audience, and a strong brand built on a balanced mix of offline and digital marketing, as well as a compelling tourism experience product itself. All of these components work together to make for a successful marketing strategy. 

2. How often should I reevaluate and update my tourism marketing strategy?

In the world of tourism marketing, trends and traveler preferences change rapidly. Check in regularly with travel trends (and let Arival research guide you). While you might evaluate the effectiveness of your overall strategies quarterly to stay responsive to market changes and ensure your strategy remains effective, more frequent monitoring of individual social media channels, website KPIs and SEO will help you be that much more effective.

3. How can I optimize my website for tour marketing purposes?

Your website is your digital storefront. Prioritize content marketing , then optimize for search engines ( learn more about SEO here ), ensure seamless user-friendly navigation and online booking system capabilities for both computer and mobile booking , incorporate visually captivating elements like photos and videos, keep your pricing and product listings up to date, and update your content regularly. 

4. Are there any specific strategies to attract international tourists?

To attract international tourists, consider ways to tailor your marketing messages for the specific regional audiences you’re interested in reaching. Look at tourism market research and trends for the different regions you intend to target — what works in the U.S. might not work in Asia and vice versa. Your local and regional destination marketing organizations (DMOs) may be able to help with this, as destination marketers often conduct research on the international travelers coming to your destination. Consider utilizing multilingual content to reach a broader range of potential travelers, and explore partnerships with international travel agencies. Check out Arival’s list of OTAs organized by geographic region to help you identify potential distribution partners in other languages and regions.

5. How important are customer reviews and testimonials in tour marketing?

Customer reviews and testimonials play a crucial role in tour marketing, acting as powerful social proof that influences potential customers. Positive reviews build credibility and trust, addressing concerns and reservations prospective customers may have. Encourage your satisfied customers to share their experiences on platforms like TripAdvisor or Google, or wherever they booked, and don’t forget to respond to these reviews, whether positive or negative.

6. What are some unique challenges in tourism marketing compared to other industries?

Tourism marketing faces unique challenges such as seasonality, unpredictable external factors (e.g., natural disasters ), and the need for real-time adaptability to changing travel trends. High competition demands innovative strategies to stand out, and the reliance on positive word-of-mouth makes ensuring customer satisfaction even in the face of unpredictable challenges critical. 

7. How can I use tourism marketing to cope with seasonal fluctuations in the industry?

To cope with seasonal fluctuations, craft seasonal promotions, diversify offerings to match changing preferences, and use marketing to highlight the unique experiences available during different seasons. Some strategies include implementing targeted off-season promotions, creating incentives for bookings during slower periods, and developing themed tours or events that align with seasonal interests and capitalize on festivals or holidays. Implementing dynamic pricing strategies , where prices vary based on demand, can also help maximize revenue during peak seasons and encourage more visitation during slower periods.

Navigating the Future of Tourism Marketing With Arival

Success in tourism marketing lies in learning about your audience, developing practical strategies to reach them, constant adaptation to keep up with changing market conditions and traveler trends, and utilizing tools and research like what Arival provides to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. 

Keep in mind that you don’t have to do this alone. There are multiple marketing agencies out there that specialize in marketing for travel and tourism companies, with some even focusing specifically on tours, activities and attractions. Check out our curated list of the tourism marketing agencies for tours and attractions here. 

Even better, join us at the next Arival event where we’ll dive into the latest tourism market research insights and trends in travel experiences, and share practical tourism marketing strategies and other actionable takeaways to help you reach your target markets, increase your bookings and grow your business.  

Become an Insider Pro Access member today and get access to the full library of Arival research, plus many other benefits such as free consulting sessions, special discounts and 20% off in-person events, starting from $179 per year.

Sign up to receive insights tailored for the in-destination industry as well as updates on Arival.

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• Master tourism marketing: strategies for a thriving business

In an age where the tourism industry is constantly evolving, staying ahead of the competition and effectively marketing your tourism business has never been more crucial. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out in the field, this comprehensive guide is your passport to success. We’ll look at innovative marketing strategies tailored specifically for the tourism and hospitality industry , equipping you with the knowledge and tools to thrive in this dynamic and competitive field.

Introduction to tourism marketing strategies

Tourism marketing is aimed at potential customers from all over the world. To stand out in a crowded market, innovative strategies are crucial. Here’s what comprises effective tourism marketing:

• Understanding your audience : Tailor your approach to a range of demographics, connecting with them personally based on their preferences and interests.
• Developing a unique brand identity: Create a distinctive visual and narrative identity that encapsulates your organization’s values and essence.
• Creating engaging content: Go beyond static images, embracing blog posts, real-time social media updates, and vlogs to captivate prospects and entice them to visit.

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Understanding your target audience

Effective tourism marketing begins with a deep understanding of your target audience. To attract and engage potential visitors, it’s vital to recognize their preferences and interests. Some are attracted to cultural heritage, while others seek vibrant nightlife or culinary experiences.

To understand a range of demographics, conduct thorough consumer research to identify patterns among prospective travelers, using data from customer surveys, travel agents, and online feedback. Build detailed personas to profile typical tourists who visit or may use your travel business. These personas become the foundation for shaping campaigns.

Key considerations:

• Focus on what tourists find attractive, not what you think they find attractive
• Rely on market research and verifiable data sources for insights
• Knowing customers’ wants and needs is vital for effectively tailored campaigns
• Stay adaptable to evolving visitor behavior and trends for sustainable growth

Understanding your audience and staying attuned to changing preferences are central to destination marketing, ensuring your efforts generate maximum impact.

Developing a unique brand identity

Oscar Wong/Moment Getty Images

Developing a distinctive brand identity is vital. As you deepen your understanding of what marketing is in tourism, you will realize how important it is for your destination or attraction to have its own niche.

Uniqueness: make your destination stand out

Think about the irresistible attractions your destination offers. Perhaps it’s culturally rich heritage steeped in history or maybe it’s rainforest and its wildlife. When you’re embarking on promoting travel to your location, make sure these distinguishing features are highlighted by using them as hooks in your tourism marketing strategies. The idea is to conjure up an image so potent that travelers instantly recognize it.

Relevance: aligning factors that attract tourists

One area where many falter is not aligning their offerings with market demands. Even if you can offer Northern Lights viewing spots in Norway, this won’t resonate with tourists if it doesn’t address their specific needs and interests. This is where consumer research in tourism comes in handy.

Consistency: keeping the promise

Once you’ve developed your unique brand identity and aligned it with what attracts tourists, make sure all marketing touchpoints — digital or offline — feature consistent messaging. Of course, varying content types necessitate a tweak in style, but the core substance should remain stable across all platforms.

Leveraging local listings

Local listings, like Google My Business and Tripadvisor, are vital for tourism marketing. They provide essential information and reviews to travelers. To maximize their potential:

• Claim your business listing on popular platforms
• Ensure consistent data across all platforms
• Encourage customer reviews and respond promptly
• Continuously analyze visitor feedback for optimization

Utilizing these platforms builds legitimacy and trust, as online reviews can play a significant role in travelers’ decision-making.

Creating compelling content

Engaging content is a powerful strategy in tourism marketing. It resonates with emotions, tells captivating stories, and showcases your destination creatively. Here are three ways engaging content can enhance your strategies:

• Storytelling: Share local legends and anecdotes to add depth to your destination’s persona, appealing to tourists’ emotions and curiosity.
• Visual content: Use high-quality images and enticing descriptions to showcase your destination’s attractions, and stimulate the interest of potential tourists.
• Interactive content: Offer virtual tours or quizzes to engage audiences at an experiential level, increasing their curiosity and perception of your destination.

Authenticity is essential in content creation, as it builds credibility in tourism marketing.

Engaging with social media platforms

In today’s digital world, social media is essential in tourism marketing. Different platforms cater to various demographics and interests, so you need to carefully tailor your social media posts to your target markets on each channel. Here are some key points to consider:

• Tailored content: Create content suitable for each platform, such as stunning images on Instagram and engaging travel stories on X (Twitter).
• Two-way interaction: Respond promptly to reviews and comments on social media, building loyalty among customers. You can also encourage user-generated content about your business, nearby tourist attractions, or about the customer service they experienced.
• Influencer collaboration: Partner with social media influencers to promote your destination to their followers.
• Hashtag movements and contests : Participate in trending hashtag movements and initiate contests or games related to destinations to boost visibility and generate positive publicity.

By understanding the unique features and demographics of each social media platform, you can meet travelers where they spend time and enhance your tourism marketing strategies.

Paid social media advertising

Paid social media advertisements are also important for any modern tourism company. They can be targeted to deliver messages to specific demographics. To make the most of social media advertising, here are a few key considerations:

• Identify your key demographics – know who you want to reach.
• Set clear objectives – understand what return on investment looks like.
• Develop engaging ad creatives – images or videos that represent what is being marketed.
• Monitor results frequently – adjust where necessary.

Sending email newsletters

Among the various tourism marketing strategies, email has emerged as an enduring tactic. Don’t underestimate the efficacy of a well-crafted email newsletter, as it stands at the intersection of providing information and subtle promotion.

Here’s a peek into how you can engage prospective travelers through strategic email newsletters.

• Schedule regularly : Choose a frequency – weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly – that aligns with your offerings and can be consistent. This gives subscribers something to look forward to while keeping your brand on their minds.
• Personalize communications : To make each subscriber feel acknowledged, use advanced CRM tools for personalization and tailored offerings based on previous interactions or noted preferences.
• Showcase compelling stories : Emotionally charged narratives about real guest experiences can stir interest and spark the imagination.
• Promote upcoming attractions : Give dormant clients reasons to reactivate by featuring must-see events or unbeatable seasonal deals.
• Incorporate reviews and testimonials : Customer reviews paint a convincing picture of what awaits future tourists. Their first-hand accounts — featuring praise or constructive feedback — can often build trust more effectively than promotional text.

Displaying online banners

An effective strategy in mastering tourism marketing involves harnessing the power of online banners. Banner advertising, a form of digital outreach, helps create awareness about your destination and may catch a potential tourist’s eye.

Here’s how best to take advantage of this potent bit of marketing strategy in tourism:

• Design with purpose : Creating compelling banner designs requires an understanding of what attracts tourists. Your banners must effectively communicate the unique appeal of the location you’re promoting. Does it offer historical and cultural significance? Is its natural scenery superb, or does it provide high-end luxury experiences?
• Location, location, location : Destination tourism is all about presenting prospective visitors with an irresistible locale they’d love to explore. Online banners should be strategically displayed on websites that your target audience visits, such as travel blogs or holiday booking sites.
• Clear call-to-action (CTA) : The most successful online banners have a clear CTA that prompts visitors to learn more or make bookings. This simple yet assertive instruction can enhance user engagement and increase bookings substantially.
• Mobile-friendly designs : Given our world has become increasingly mobile-centric, ensuring your online banners are optimized for mobile viewing is non-negotiable. This will also help make sure your mobile websites or advertisements are seen in search engines.

Offline promotional activities

Online marketing is powerful, but don’t overlook offline strategies. Traditional tourism marketing methods remain effective for personal connections with your audience.

Explore event sponsorships and collaborations at local events to showcase your brand. Print materials like brochures and flyers provide valuable tourism information and visibility in target areas. Roadshows educate potential customers in various locations, stirring interest. Utilize television and radio ads for wide-reaching awareness.

Tailor these techniques to your unique business needs while maintaining consistency across online and offline platforms.

Contextual advertising and SEO

Contextual advertising leverages relevance to attract tourists effectively. By placing your ads within content that aligns with travelers’ interests, you capture their attention when their tourism curiosity is at its peak. This targeted approach can lead you to your ideal customer base.

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps people find you in a sea of competitors when they go searching for what you offer online. Honing your site’s SEO capabilities can increase the likelihood of appearing in search results, so potential tourists can move toward becoming actual visitors.

Using promotional videos

In the quest to implement effective tourism marketing strategies, don’t overlook promotional videos. This type of content can effectively portray what attracts tourists to a particular location, destination, or service.

The power of promoting travel through video

Visual storytelling is compelling and engaging by nature. It can transport viewers directly into your destination’s most appealing spots. When considering marketing attractions or marketing a destination, creating videos that convey what is unique about your tourist spot can significantly boost your campaign.

How videos enhance tourism marketing strategies

• Showcase scenic views: Highlight the incredible views from the highest peak or show underwater adventures featuring vibrant marine life. Let viewers feel as if they’re already on an extraordinary journey.
• Provide local insight: Film a local tour guide telling stories about a historic castle or local attraction that you won’t find easily in travel pamphlets.
• Highlight experiences: Use this chance to display exhilarating possibilities like zip lining over lush forests, relaxing at a secluded beach, or sampling delicacies at markets

Try and ensure the video depictions will match expectations when tourists arrive.

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Key considerations

Successful application of promotional videos as part of tourism marketing strategies hinges on factors such as:

• Solid marketing plans
• Quality production
• Meaningful narratives that highlight customer experience
• Resonating with your ideal customers
• Optimization for viewing on different devices
• Keeping up to date with tourism marketing trends

Mastering tourism marketing strategies is instrumental in developing a tourism marketing plan. They are also instrumental for sustaining the growth of a destination tourism business and ensuring success in a tourism or hospitality career .

Social media platforms offer many opportunities for promoting travel adventures and facets of the tourism business, from sharing compelling imagery to sharing delightful experiences, or even connecting personally with potential patrons. Get started on the journey to becoming a tourism marketing professional with a hospitality degree from Glion. Or read more about the tourism and hospitality industry in the new normal .

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The 8-Step Tourism Marketing Strategy (Free Template)

By Kyla Steeves

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You should never leave your marketing up to chance. 

Sure, it’s important to be nimble to changing conditions, such as tourism marketing trends , algorithm updates, employee churn, and evolving technology. But if you’re always throwing tactics at the wall to see what sticks, you’ll likely waste resources, fall behind your competitors, and miss out on future opportunities. 

Instead, it’s far better to have a well-thought-out marketing strategy in place.

Trial and error can come afterwards. 

What is a tourism marketing strategy?

A tourism marketing strategy is a structured document that outlines your current position in the marketplace, what you hope to achieve going forward, and how you’re going to make that happen.

In other words, it provides a framework, so you’re not floundering around, wondering what to do next. All while giving you a way to track your progress so that you can be confident you’re heading in the right direction. And if things change drastically, as we witnessed in 2020, you’ll always have a foundation to build off and make adjustments.    

So, are you ready to come up with a master plan? We’ll cover what goes into marketing strategies for travel and tourism, which includes a:

• SWOT Analysis
• Value Proposition
• Guest Personas
• Competitor Profiles
• Marketing Mix
• Budget & Resources
• Goals, Metrics & Activities
• Marketing Roadmap

Follow along by downloading our free 8-Step Marketing Strategy Workbook.

How to write a tourism marketing plan, 1. run a swot analysis.

A SWOT analysis is a fun exercise that identifies your company’s S trengths, W eaknesses, O pportunities, and T hreats. 

Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors that you can control, like your team, resources, and location. In contrast, Opportunities and Threats are external factors that come and go randomly, leaving you with no other choice but to react and adapt — such as travel trends, economic downturns, and your competitor landscape.

To help you with this step, it’s a good idea to round up key members of your team across departments. Why? Because each representative will bring a unique perspective, allowing you to get outside of your business owner bubble. For instance, your tour guides know your guests the best and can offer insight into what they’re thinking and feeling. 

Once you have everyone together — in the same room or Zoom meeting — you can start the process. First, answer a few questions that relate to each element.  

Like for Strengths, you can ask, “what does our tour company do well?” and “what do guests like about our experiences?” Weaknesses, “what areas of the business need improvement?” and “what do our competitors do better?” As for Opportunities, “is there an underserved market we can tap into?” and Threats, “ are there new regulations that impact our business?”

Try to answer at least five questions each, and then summarize what you come up with in a 2×2 SWOT grid for a visual overview. 

2. Identify your value proposition

After doing your SWOT Analysis, you should have a general idea of your value proposition — which is a simple statement that answers why someone should book with you instead of your competitors. Essentially, it’s what sets your travel business apart based on the desirable attributes you bring to the experience.

Your value prop is the most important piece in your marketing strategy, as it dictates your messaging and ultimately serves as the first thing guests look at when evaluating your brand with the “what’s in it for me?” mindset. That’s why it should be front and center on your homepage. 

But it can be difficult narrowing down all of your unique qualities into one or two sentences. So, your best bet is to compile a list of features and benefits, along with the emotional value for each, and see if there are any obvious patterns.

Looking at the example above, you can see there’s a trend towards a local experience, so the value proposition for this company could be something along the lines of: Experience Hanalei Bay the local way with a paddleboard that looks nothing like a rental.

3. Create a guest persona

If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll wind up appealing to no one. That’s probably one of the biggest tourism branding mistakes. 

Instead, go after 20-35% of people most likely to enjoy your experiences. That way, you can be more effective with your targeting because you’ll understand what makes them tick, or better yet, what makes them book. 

How do you go about doing that? Create a guest persona!

What’s a guest persona?

A guest persona is a detailed description of a fictional character that represents your ideal guest. It answers who they are, where they’re from, what matters to them, and where they hang out online. 

Thinking of them as a real person before check-in will make it so much easier to craft personalized marketing messages they won’t be able to resist. Plus, you’ll know the best way to reach them. No more unanswered ads!

To create a guest persona:

• Start by combing through your booking data for common demographics like age, gender, geolocation, and language
• Refer to Facebook Audience Insights for psychographics, such as interests and hobbies, lifestyle, and online spending behaviour
• Send out a guest survey to get more details

Then, compile all of your information into a guest persona template with a stock image to put a face to the data. As well as a fun and fictional name — like Solo Travel Sarah , Corporate Catrina , or Vacation Dad Victor . 

Now, you might only require one guest persona, but if you offer multiple experiences that appeal to different types of people, like tourism products for senior citizens , it’s best to segment your guests into a few personas seeing as your marketing tactics will change accordingly.

4. Create a competitor profile

The travel industry is tight-knit, so much so that you can even turn your competitors into partners. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still keep tabs on them.

Knowing what your rivals are doing is the best way to gain a competitive edge. Not only does it give you valuable insight into their strengths and weaknesses so that you can see how you stack up, but it also helps you stay one step ahead since you can spot potential threats and opportunities before they happen.

Similar to a guest persona, you can create a profile for your top three competitors, which should include the following marketing information:

• Their value proposition
• The experiences they offer and what they charge
• Who their target audience appears to be
• Unique features and benefits they highlight
• Overall rating on review sites, along with what their guests say about them
• The social media channels they dominate and the type of content they post
• What distribution channels they rely on
• Their domain authority score and top ranking keywords (use a tool like Moz Keyword Explorer to get this information)

It doesn’t stop there. After you’ve built your competitor profiles, you can monitor what they get up to in real-time by:

• Setting up Google Alerts to track mentions of them online
• Following their social media accounts
• And subscribing to their newsletter if they have one

You can always use a fake email address or Instagram account (AKA a Finsta) if you don’t want them to know you’re spying.

5. Develop a tourism marketing mix

A tourism marketing mix is a combination of factors you can control to influence a guest’s decision to book with you. Think of it as a broad guideline for how to market travel and tours so that everything works together seamlessly. 

Historically, there are 7ps of tourism marketing, but since tourism operators are unique in the products and services they provide, we’ve stretched it to include eight. 

What is a tourism marketing mix?

The experiences you offer and what’s included. Take note of everything that would go into the product description, such as duration, itinerary, special features, and other important details. 

Where people can book your experiences. Traditionally, that would be your ticket office or travel agents, but there are now countless ways people can book — OTAs, email, chatbots, Facebook, your website. Figure out the number one place you want to direct prospects. 

The price guests will pay based on the perceived value. Factor in what your competitors charge, how much it costs you to provide the experience, your revenue target, and where the market is heading.  

4. Promotion

How you’re going to get the word out. Look at what has worked well in the past, where you already have some traction, new social media opportunities, and the best content format for your target audience. 

The people who facilitate the experience. What are the standout qualities your staff has that align with your brand? What skills do your guides have that make the experience memorable, entertaining, and informative?

6. Planning

The measures you take to keep guests in the loop. How do you ensure they show up prepared? How do you tell them about your flexible cancellation policy? Are there any tactics you use to prevent refunds? What if you have to make unwanted changes?

7. Processes

The processes you have in place to guarantee guests get the experience they expect. Everything should run smoothly from the get-go. Consider ways to shorten check-in, stay on schedule, and make them feel valued.

The physical evidence that proves your guests had the best time. This could be in the form of professional photos or merchandise. But it can also be online reviews you encourage them to write on popular platforms. 

6. Factor in budget and resources

Everyone wishes they could have marketing clout like the big-name online travel agencies. But the reality is you might never have the same budget and resources to run global campaigns. And that’s okay.

You don’t need deep pockets to make an impact. Thanks to the internet, you can use plenty of cheap marketing ideas to generate buzz around your brand. You just have to channel your creativity. 

That said, be sensible with what you take on. For example, if you want to start a blog but don’t have time to commit to a regular publishing schedule, see whether someone on your team has the skills and bandwidth. If not, it isn’t in the cards for you right now. 

So, check in with your budget for how much you can reasonably put towards various marketing activities while keeping in mind the software tools and staff you’ll need to execute successfully. 

7. Pinpoint goals, metrics, and activities

Now that you know all that you know, give yourself something to work towards by determining what you want to achieve this year and how you’re going to make it happen. We suggest starting with the arbitrary number of four goals and key activities. Why?

Because if you chase too many rabbits at once, you won’t get the results you want. Instead, it’s better to prioritize goals that make sense for your business right now. That way, you can focus on doing a few things well, rather than lots of things badly that’ll only hurt your brand in the long run, which you’ll end up having to fix later anyway.

When it comes to setting marketing goals , it’s important to be SMART . Don’t just put your finger to the wind and say, “I think we should go this way.” Your goals should be:

• S pecific: clearly explains what you want to achieve
• M easurable: has a metric you can objectively measure
• A ttainable: something you have to stretch for, but still within your reach
• R ealistic: relevant to your business and where you want to go
• T ime-bound: when you want to accomplish the goal by

Here’s an example using the SMART method: 

Increase organic website traffic 40% by the end of 2021 from getting 1000 visitors per month from Google.  

How are you going to track your progress? As you can see in the above example, the number of website visitors is the primary metric. Now, many people will tell you to steer clear of vanity metrics — like traffic, followers, and shares — because they don’t directly impact your bottom line. 

We couldn’t agree less. Marketing is about the long-game. While those metrics don’t always translate into transactions, they do strengthen brand equity, which in turn drives bookings over time because guests gravitate towards operators with extra oomph online.

The Content Marketing Institute puts it best : think of vanity metrics as optimization metrics. Instead of tying them to ROI, consider their overall value for better understanding your audience on specific channels.

For instance, if a particular social media post generates way more likes than average, it indicates something about that content resonates with your audience. You can pinpoint what that may be and replicate it in future posts or use it as a blueprint for creating effective Facebook ads . 

For each goal you set, figure out one key activity that’ll help you hit it. Don’t be afraid to think big here. By that, I mean, come up with a significant marketing project that you and your team can chip away at — more on that in the next step.

8. Plan your marketing roadmap

After you’ve assigned an activity per goal, break each one down into smaller, manageable tasks to complete from quarter to quarter. Using the example above, let’s say you decide to start a blog as your key activity.

In Q1, you’d get the ball rolling with a few foundation tasks. So, for building a blog, you might start with the following:

• Set up the blog on your website 
• Develop a content strategy
• Research topic and keyword opportunities
• Create an editorial calendar

Then, you’d build from there for Q2 and so on. 

Try starting with four tasks per activity. Unless you have a marketing team, it’s best not to bog yourself down with a marketing plan that will either a) pull your team away from other responsibilities or b) feel so overwhelming that you abandon it altogether. 

With a list of tasks, you can then organize everything onto a visual roadmap however you see fit — just so long as it includes a way to assign staff and track work progress. For instance, you can create a makeshift roadmap if you’re savvy with Google Sheets or use a project management tool like Trello and set-up a kanban board workflow. 

Where to go from here?

It’s time to go after it, of course! Just remember that your marketing strategy isn’t set in stone since anything can happen to derail your plans — as we learned the hard way in 2020. So check in with your marketing strategy workbook from time to time to make any necessary adjustments.

Ready to write down your marketing strategy and make it real?

Download the 8-Step Marketing Strategy Workbook

And take command of your brand with a well-thought-out marketing strategy that’s bound to get you results.

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How To Create a Tourism Marketing Plan That Works

• December 2021

Brian Nicholson

Step 2: Collect Information

As you collect information, you’re going to come up with several things you want to start doing, stop doing, or keep doing. You could maintain a Start/Stop/Keep list.

Mine Your Data For Insights

See what your data tells you about what’s worked and what hasn’t. An entire series of articles could be dedicated to how to mine your data, but here are a few sample questions to ask:

• Is our website traffic profile healthy? Are we too dependent upon paid traffic? Do we have a good amount of referral traffic that converts at a decent rate? 
• Is our website converting at a good rate? Are there opportunities to be aware of on a per-page basis? 
• What advertising channels worked and didn’t work? ROAS is a good metric to watch, but sometimes you also need to look at call tracking data, cost per group form submission by advertising campaign, etc. For example, if our client placed a $1000 ad in a print publication, we’ll want to know how many calls came from that ad, and how much revenue came from those calls (both possible with call tracking services). It won’t be a perfect indicator of value, but it will be a useful signal. 
• Where are the strong and weak points in our marketing funnel? Are we having difficulty getting people to our site? Getting people to start the booking process? Complete their bookings? Return as a customer? 
• What was our churn rate , and how does it compare to previous years?
• What was our cost of acquisition (COA) , and how has it changed? 
• What was our average order value (AOV) , and how has it changed?
• What is our lifetime value of a customer (LTV) , and how has it changed? (This significantly impacts what an acceptable COA would be.)
• How did each of our offers do this year? Which ones should we drop, keep, or modify? 
• What was our gift card breakage rate , and how might that impact our gift card marketing in the future? 

Take Note of What’s New

Ask the following questions to ensure that you’re staying up-to-date.

• Have we seen consumer behavior shift recently? How should we adapt our product or marketing? Example: When consumers are pulling back on spending, a zipline company may need to find a way to make a short version of their tour available at a lower price point. 
• Has the competitive landscape changed? Are there new direct or indirect competitors in the market? Has a new opportunity or threat emerged?

Example: Your competitor was more aggressive with discounts last season, and you noticed that when their promotions were running, your ROAS and yield dropped. You’ll need to decide how to respond (and following their lead on discounting may be the wrong answer for your brand).

Take Stock of Your Company and Marketing

Your audience

This is fundamental and should already be well known by you and your entire team, but it’s worth keeping at the forefront of any planning. If you don’t have this documented yet, create a simple audience table, and keep it up-to-date every year. (You can also do this through personas, with much more detail.)

Adventure park example (with just one audience shown):

• Is our visual expression on-brand and compelling? This includes your logo, website, ads, photos, videos, etc.
• Is our verbal expression on-brand and compelling? (Not sure? Shop the competitors like a prospective customer would. See what everyone’s saying about themselves, and ask yourself whether you stand out in the right way.)

Adventure park example:

Your products, services, and pricing

• Is there anything we should drop (based on low margin, low demand, and/or logistical challenges)  in order to allow us to focus on more-profitable offerings?
• Is there anything we should add? Do we have any holes to fill in our offerings that might appeal to our target market? Example: An adventure park with a current minimum age of 8 could add experiences that allow families with children as young as 4, instantly increasing their addressable market. 
• Should we adjust our pricing? Does the market support price increases? Should we run any pricing tests this year? (Watch conversion rate and yield.) 

Your operations

• What operational bottlenecks are blocking our growth? Staffing shortage? Cumbersome check-in process? Walk-in traffic making it difficult to predict staffing needs? 
• What opportunities exist based on our operational strengths? (Example: “Jessica has been leading our group experiences, and she’s started structuring some activities to help address the needs of our corporate clients. Maybe it’s time to offer team building.)
• Are there ways to increase profit per employee by streamlining operations? 

Your customers’ experience

• Conduct a voice-of-customer analysis to find strong points and weak points. Look at survey results, reviews, complaints, questions, etc.
• Consider customer journey mapping . This takes some time, but can be a powerful tool for identifying any weak points in the customer’s experience that might be causing friction or frustration, leading to a loss of revenue, reputation, or referrals. 

Step 3: Create the Plan

You now know what you want to accomplish as a company; you’ve identified what’s been working; and you’ve surfaced several opportunities. Now it’s time to make some decisions and put them into a plan.

Goals → Objectives → Tactics (and KPIs)

This is one of your main brainstorming sessions. For each goal, identify measurable objectives that will support that goal. Then for each objective, create the tactics that will help you achieve that objective. (You can also tally costs for each tactic here, but we’ve removed that column for simplicity.) This example shows the start of the development of a single goal’s plan. 

As you get into this process, have your tactical backlog handy. We maintain a backlog (or “opportunities list”) of ideas that we’re constantly adding to. And because our backlogged tactics are already grouped by objectives such as Improve Conversion Rate, it’s very easy to pick from the list without feeling overwhelmed.

As you’re doing this, you’re selecting the key performance indicators you’ll be watching, so you’ll be well-positioned to track your progress during the year (assuming your measurement system already accurately measures those KPIs).

Check The Funnel

During your tactical planning, this funnel grid can be useful to remind you of when and where your marketing can have an impact. This can be done on a per-audience and per-tour/activity basis. 

For example, you may find that you’re using ads effectively for driving awareness (discovery campaigns) and staying top-of-mind during the consideration phase (using basic retargeting), but you haven’t yet developed a campaign specifically for those who abandoned their cart. Or you might find that you’ve been addressing families with your social media posts, but not corporate customers. This exercise helps you ensure adequate coverage throughout your funnel.

Build Your Calendar(s)

You’ll want to map out promotions, events, major campaigns, seasonal changeovers (e.g., seasonal outdoor adventure companies should update their website and Google My Business profile), etc. 

You may have multiple calendars, depending on your plan. For example, you may have a content calendar for blog posts, social media posts, etc. 

The key is that as you build out your calendars—as with every step of this planning process—don’t become untethered from your key goals and objectives. Even your content calendar should have clear connections to your goals and objectives.

Now Execute, Measure, and Win

There’s still a lot to do from this point forward. For example, if you decide to pilot a membership program, someone needs to figure out the pricing, terms, target audience, promotion opportunities, website landing page, etc. And I didn’t get into media planning, which is one of the next logical steps in many plans. But now you have a list of specific things you need to execute in order to reach your business goals, and you can confidently release your team to execute on those tactics. You know what you’re spending time and money on, and why; and you can track whether you’re reaching the targets you set. This clarity, and this level of alignment between marketing and business goals, will keep your marketing on track throughout the next season so that you create the outcomes you’re looking for.

Looking for help growing your tourism company? Contact us at Blend Marketing; we help tour and activity companies with $2-20 million revenue grow their businesses through a strong brand, good data, and smart marketing .

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Brian is a partner at Blend Marketing. He focuses on brand strategy, positioning, and analytics for the tourism industry.

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The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Travel & Tourism Marketing Strategy

Creating a marketing strategy for your travel and tourism company can help set you apart from the competition! If you need some guidance on how to begin and where to reach new customers, continue reading!

The COVID-19 pandemic placed an extreme burden on the travel and tourism industry. Between government-mandated shelter-in-place orders and individuals’ reluctance to venture far from home, Forbes estimates that travel and hospitality businesses worldwide lost an estimated $935 billion in 2020. The OECD estimates that international travel revenue decreased 80% . Shoring up travel and tourism is going to take a multi-pronged approach of restoring travelers’ confidence, offering clear information to domestic and international travelers, and building more resilience into your business through diverse offerings and quality services. Another way your hospitality business can build back is through thoughtful marketing.

Preparing to meet the pent-up demand for travel and tourism means being ready with an updated travel and tourism marketing strategy. Why have one? Marketers with a documented marketing strategy are 313% more likely to achieve their business goals. Just as keeping a planner helps individuals stay organized, having a marketing plan maps out the inputs your travel business will need to achieve its goals and how to put them in motion to enjoy the success you dream about.  

A marketing plan can also help you remain competitive. It will assist you with identifying target markets and understanding their wants. Marketing plans help you set measurable goals for sales and finances, and map out how you’ll reach customers and prospects with information about your offerings. In short, a travel and tourism marketing plan shows how you’ll tell the world how awesome your properties and services are. 

In this guide, we offer a basic flow for developing a marketing plan as well as strategies and tactics to consider. With a little planning and creativity, you can market your travel business like a pro!

Step 1: Conduct Market Research Among Key Stakeholders

Before you can begin creating a marketing strategy, you need to understand the why behind your need for one. You also need to understand where your brand has been… where it currently is… and where you want to take it. To do this, you need to sit with key stakeholders and identify:

• What is your unique value proposition - the thing that truly separates you from your competitors. 
• Who are your top competitors?
• If your brand were a person, what five words would you use to describe them?
• What are the top challenges you face when it comes to growing your business? 
• Who are the dream clients you aspire to work with?
• Who are your advocates? 
• What social media channels do your audiences hang out on? Are you on them?
• What is your goal for a marketing strategy? To grow brand recognition, gain clients, establish thought leadership opportunities for your executive team? All of the above?

You could find answers to these questions through focus groups, phone or online surveys, one-on-one interviews, or a combination of all. It’s best to employ a mix of quantitative and qualitative research when setting a marketing strategy for travel. Quantitative travel research will give you the “what” of your strategy while qualitative travel research will tell you the “why.”

Step 2: Establish Your 4 ‘Ps’ of Marketing

Having a marketing strategy means having plans in place to deal with both expected and unexpected situations. A marketing strategy helps you position your product to the right audience, at the right time for the right price. You should build your marketing strategy around the “Four Ps” of marketing:

• Product: The goods or services you offer.
• Price: The amount of money you charge for your product.
• Placement: Where or how your product is available for purchase.
• Promotion: What you do to communicate your product’s features and benefits to your target audiences.

Many variables affect your business success in the travel and tourism industry: competition, climate, current events. But you can control the four Ps.

Once you have decided on the four Ps for your product, one very important part of a marketing strategy that every business should establish early on are goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). What do you hope to achieve through your offerings? Increased sales? Higher volume? More frequent repeat business? And how will you know you’re getting there? KPIs are any metric that indicates success for your business. Ten businesses could designate 10 different KPIs for measuring their success and they would all be correct. 

Spend some time creating meaningful goals and KPIs that will define success for your travel business before you start working on tactics.

Step 3: Know Your Customers

It’s imperative to be close to your data when developing a marketing strategy. In order to do this, you need a customer relationship management system (CRM). A CRM will help you accurately track your company’s interactions with a current or potential customer. Every phone call, email, and website page visit gives you incredible insights into who your customers are and what they are interested in. And with 80% of consumers more likely to purchase from brands that provided personalized experiences, you’re leaving big money on the table by not using a CRM. 

What’s more, CRMs allow you to track the entire customer journey. There are five main stages in a typical travel customer’s lifecycle:

• Acquisition

At each stage, a CRM can help you serve the customer through:

• Generating brand awareness
• Acquiring leads
• Converting leads into customers
• Providing superior support
• Driving upsells and referrals

Successfully navigating leads and customers through these stages results in more business and profits for you, and a more customized experience for your customer. 

You’ll want to integrate your CRM with your other business tools. Connecting your CRM to your ticketing system helps you track orders and deliver promptly. Integrating your CRM with your content marketing platform helps you see what content is resonating best with your customer base and what knowledge gaps you still need to fill to encourage leads to convert. Joining your CRM with your phone system makes it easy for your call center agents or sales representatives to offer better customer support by having quick access to a customer’s purchase history or a potential customer’s journey through your sales funnel.

Step 4: Break Down Your Strategy Into Execution Channels

Marketing covers a huge span of online and offline channels. And studies show that having a strategy that covers multiple channels greatly impacts the bottom line. The numbers don’t lie: 

• Brands experience a 287% higher purchase rate when using three or more channels
• Average SMS ROI of approximately 2755%
• The average order is 13% more per order with an omnichannel approach vs. single channel
• Customer retention rates are 90% higher for omnichannel vs. single channel

A website is a critical component to your business success. It’s the central hub where your guests find information regarding travel packages and services, booking and reservations, travel details, and more. It’s one of the main places where your prospects are going to convert. 

Your website is a reflection of your brand, and you want to convey a friendly, no-hassle experience to your travelers in the form of aesthetically pleasing imagery, captivating copy, easy-to-navigate site setup, branding, and phone numbers to direct your customers’ questions to the right place. 

Your website’s user experience (UX) must offer information that answers all sorts of questions your guests may have about your services: pricing, amenities, loyalty programs, housekeeping, shuttle service, meeting rooms, excursions, and more. Displaying those details on your website and keeping lines of communication open helps your guests have a better experience with your brand. To make your website stand out and attract customers, you’ll want to consider adding these features to enhance your ability to communicate all this information. 

Crystal-Clear Navigation

Travelers don’t have time to dig through the weeds of a complicated website. If they can’t find what they’re looking for in 15 seconds, about half of your visitors have no problem leaving your site and looking on a competitor’s page. 

You can make it easy on visitors just by creating easy-navigation menus to create siloed information around specific topics of interest. Some of these topics in your menus might include: destinations, limited-time offers or specials, book or reserve, flight status, help or contact us, travel information, COVID-19, etc.  

Top navigation is to help travel brands create a natural flow of progression and a good customer experience. If this is your first experience with building out a custom menu, a good rule of thumb to follow is to stick with a menu no more than two steps deep. If you need more, your setup isn’t offering an ideal customer experience.

Real, Professional Photos

People want to see real, professional images of your product or service. It conveys authenticity and adds value. Your prospects can sniff out a stock photo from a mile away - don’t do it. Give your website visitors a real taste of what they’ll get if they book their stay or travel with you. Invest in a professional photographer to take photos that show off your hospitality and the beauty of your destinations in the best light possible. Update them for the seasons as your business grows. It will be money well spent. 

Phone Numbers in Prominent Places

Phone calls are still one of the fastest ways to get specific information. And, it remains the most preferred method of communication . When talking with a live staffer, Newcastle Web Design notes that callers have a better user experience. They’re able to get urgent answers and can ask probing questions in real-time. And, posting a phone number on your website builds trust between you and your prospect. 

Easily accessible phone numbers for guests to contact you about sales and support information is essential to a good experience. This is where virtual numbers add value, providing reliability, exceptional call quality, and little to no cost towards the consumer. 

• Toll Free Phone Numbers . Guests can dial into your call center from one country for free.
• Vanity Phone Numbers . Similar to a toll free number, vanity virtual numbers can be dialed from one country but use numbers that are easy to remember or spell out a brand name.
• UIFN . A UIFN (universal international freephone number) is a global toll free number that can be dialed from multiple countries. 
• Local DID + Caller ID . Establish a local presence and engage more with customers with two-way voice services plus caller ID. 

People love chatbots on websites because much like phone calls, chatbots offer instantaneous answers to very specific questions, resolution support issues, updates to existing itineraries, reservations and bookings, etc. IBM estimates that chatbots can answer up to 80% of common questions. 

Chatbots are great tools to integrate with your global phone system. They can save your business time and money by automatically handling queries to questions that would otherwise fill up your call queues and overwhelm the staff. 

Similar to instant gratification phone calls and chatbots offer, an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page is a perennial favorite among travelers because they house quick answers to, well, the most frequently asked questions. 

This common feature of websites saves visitors time by signaling where they can find digestible, short-form information on hot topics. FAQ sections also save your agents time by heeding off individual questions you hear all the time in the call queue - giving your staff more time for more taxing customer support and conversion activities. 

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is strategically curating written articles, visuals, audio, and video to encourage conversions for your business. Essentially, it’s the process of providing your customers value in hopes that it will keep them informed and trusting of your brand so they will eventually buy, refer, and repeat. It means using a combination of the tactics below to promote your business across a variety of channels and touchpoints. Let’s look at the most common travel and tourism content marketing tactics. 

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the activities you can perform to ensure your targeted audience can find your website via search engines. This includes search engine marketing, improving your website’s content, using specially formatted text or coding to communicate directly with search engines, creating online business listings, and working with other websites to gain inbound links. 

SEO is important because search engines deliver a targeted audience to your site. People use search engines to find the information they need right then and there. The first page of search engine results gets 95% of all search engine traffic . Very few people click through to the second, third, or fourth pages. 

You want to optimize your travel and tourism website to be discoverable by search engines and ranked highly for the keywords of your choice. Unfortunately, there is no easy formula for getting your site on the first page of search results. Google, Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines constantly update and tweak their algorithms that respond to search queries and deliver search results. But there are a few things you can do to make your site more search engine- and user-friendly that will always count toward a better search engine ranking:

• Make your site relevant with engaging, thoughtful content . Sites that contain original, organized content centered around a well-defined topic (like your organization and its activities) will always outperform sites that are not well-organized or thoughtfully written. Take some time to review the text on your site, and ask yourself: Is it understandable? Is it grammatically correct? Is it non-repetitive? If the answer to any of these questions is no, revise it. 
• Use relevant images with alt text . Alt text is text that shows up in an image box when you hover your mouse over it or when the image does not load within your browser. This text tells search engines what the image is about, giving the engine a better idea of what your overall site is about.
• Make your site useful and current enough that other sites want to link to you . Although search engines no longer consider the number of outbound links you host when deciding how to rank you, they still consider inbound links – links on other sites that lead to your site. The best way to build your popularity is slowly, by encouraging related/similar sites to link back to you and by earning linkbacks through hosting updated, relevant content.
• Optimize your website for small screens .  79% of consumers used a mobile device in 2020 to make a purchase. Format your website to be more mobile responsive or risk discouraging visits. 
• Localize your content . Make sure your NAP is consistent across all your organic channels. NAP stands for name, address, and phone number, and it’s essential to ensure that every major search engine can verify your company’s existence. 
• 7-Day Italy Adventure > Book Now
• Atlanta Hotels > Check Rates
• Europe Cruise Fleets > Learn More
• Flight Details > Shop Now
• Travel Restrictions > Stay Updates 
• Track your website’s progress. Google Analytics helps brands track and report a myriad of website performance metrics. Coupled with call tracking software , companies can measure the reach and ROI of where their inbound calls are sourced from (direct website traffic or organic results) within Google Analytics or their VoIP provider dashboard. 

Once you’ve figured out what you want your travel and tourism website to be known for, support your SEO goals with rich content on a company blog. Use your keyword research to develop and execute an ongoing series of blog articles - with written word, images, video, and audio content - that feature those top-level keywords travelers use to find information about their next travel purchase. 

Getting content for your travel & tourism blog is easier than you might think when you view every marketing deliverable as potential content. Are you sending a promotional email to your contact database? Turn the email into a blog post. Have you created some print collateral recently? Pick content from those pieces to create several blog articles (and some even snappier social media posts). Everything and anything can be talked about from the right angle. 

Testimonial & Reviews

Word of mouth remains one of the most effective marketing tactics. In addition to friends and family sharing recommendations, we now have sites like Yelp, Google Reviews, TripAdvisor, and Travel + Leisure where travelers can share detailed experiences and recommendations for travel. Even short-term rental sites like Airbnb and VRBO act as de facto review sites because of the public reviews guests leave for each property. 

Be proactive about being visible on review sites. Ask your customers or guests to leave an online review about your business. Their testimonials will carry more weight than most, if not all, of your marketing. Place outstanding reviews in a prominent place on your website and within social media posts. Thank the people who offer a positive review and respond to any negative reviews with gratitude for their feedback and promise to do better going forward.

Video Creation

As tools like smartphones and video editing apps become more accessible, the popularity of video as a marketing tool is skyrocketing. Why use a still photo or words to describe your destination when you can show a viewer exactly what your destination looks and sounds like? As of last year, 86% of businesses used video as one of their marketing tools. Furthermore, among marketers promoting their business with video, 93% say it’s an important part of their strategy. 

If you’re not using video, what are you waiting for? Nowadays, brand loyalists and casual customers alike don’t always expect a company’s videos to be polished and slick. People value authenticity in marketing. They don’t necessarily care that a video was filmed on a smartphone as long as they perceive the story the video tells to be genuine. 

Some ideas for video marketing content:

• A tour of your property, cruise ship, leading travel destinations, etc.
• A walk-through of your services
• Interviews with internal advocates and customers

Remember to provide your viewers with a website domain and phone number at the end of your videos so they can reach out and engage with your brand. 

Social Media

Social media has become a ubiquitous part of travel planning because it’s so visual by nature - who can resist showing off photos of their latest dream vacation or swanky business trip? As part of your robust content marketing strategy, you’ll need to cultivate a social media presence on the platforms of your target audience’s choice. Items to consider:

• Where is your customer base gathering? Don’t bother spending time posting to LinkedIn if people are not talking about services or products related to your business there. You’ll probably want to focus on social media channels that are more visual, such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and TikTok. 
• What do your customers want to know more about? Post content that responds to their travel information needs that you identified during your stakeholder research. 
• How often do your customers want to hear from you? You don’t have to post multiple times a day or even every day to have a successful, engaging tourism social media strategy. You simply need to post shareable and digestible content consistently.
• What are your staff’s social content capabilities? Some platforms require specific types of content: videos for YouTube or TikTok, photos for Instagram. If you want to stand out on these platforms, not only will you need to know how to create videos or take compelling photos, but you’ll want to know the nuances of social media culture. TikTok has a very different vibe than Facebook, for example. Make sure someone on your staff understands how to culturally navigate platforms before you overextend your business or inadvertently commit a social media faux pas.

While we may sound like a broken record here, having consistent messaging is vital in content marketing. You want your brand presence to reflect that so your customers have a good experience engaging with your business. Make it a point to always ensure your brand description, website domain, name, address, and telephone numbers point back to the related location your customers are intending to visit. 

3. Email Marketing

Email is one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to reach your potential customer base. Even with an estimated 306.4 billion emails sent per day , people still prefer receiving news and other messages via email. 58% of people check their email before reading news or social media, and 60% want to receive promotional information via email rather than through other channels. 

Email is a great way to market your travel and tourism business because it allows you to send personalized messages. You can segment your customer list to send more relevant promotions and information to customer subgroups while allowing customers to segment themselves by signing up for certain types of emails they’re interested in. You can let customers control how frequently they hear from you by using automated email campaigns that run at designated frequencies. 

To be really effective at email marketing, you’ll want to first build an email list. You should start with existing customers. Collect new contacts everywhere you have a potential customer touchpoint: 

• Web-based subscription forms
• Gated online content and coupons
• Trade shows or expos
• Webinar registrations

What kinds of emails should you send? That depends on the exact nature of your travel business. In general, you’ll want to set up the following types of emails, many of which you can create in advance and tell your email marketing platform to automatically send when your CRM tells your email platform that a recipient has reached a certain milestone or completed a certain conversion:

• Welcome emails : when someone signs up to receive your emails.
• Follow-up emails : sent a few days to one week after someone signs up. These offer extended information about a topic or more detailed information about your offerings.
• Milestone emails : to recognize (sometimes with a discount) when someone has a birthday or reaches an anniversary of supporting your business. 
• Newsletters : to keep subscribers apprised of what’s new with your business, how to maximize their travel, and how to discover offerings they haven’t yet considered.
• Informational emails: including product explanations, trip updates, and responses to current events that affect your operations. 
• Confirmation emails : sent when someone makes a purchase or completes a conversion.
• Abandoned cart emails: sent when someone adds a trip to the online cart but then leaves your website without purchasing it. These emails should remind the recipient of the benefits of the service(s) they intended to purchase and offer customer service or tech support if needed.
• Thank you emails : sent when someone makes a purchase or converts.

There’s a lot to email marketing. Make sure that your email templates always point back to a relevant landing page to your website or customer support contact. For example, if you’re sending an informational email regarding new 2022 trips to Asia, be sure to include a CTA that links to a landing page where those newly-added itineraries live.

4. Advertising

Paid search ads.

When people are searching for specific information, one of the first places they go is an online search engine. Make sure your brand is included in their search results by bidding on paid search ad spaces. Paid search ads appear next to organic search results. They look similar to organic search links but are sold in instantaneous mini-auctions among companies vying for potential customers searching for related information. You only pay for the ad if someone clicks on it.

Your business can appear within search results about your niche of the travel and tourism industry when you run ad campaigns on search engine platforms like Google , Yahoo ! or Bing . With the free training those platforms provide, it’s easy to set up an ad campaign that targets people searching for a set of keywords you determine. You can also target client lookalike audiences based on their past searches and general demographics. Be sure to establish a reasonable budget for paid search campaigns and spend some time refining a tightly-focused keyword list that describes the core of your travel/tourism business. With millions of people using search engines each day, you could easily blow through hundreds or thousands of dollars every day in paid search ad clicks. At the same time, you want to bid competitively so your ads actually appear high up in search results and have the chance for potential customers to see them.

Programmatic Ads

Programmatic advertising is the use of technology and automation in the buying and selling of online media. Programmatic ad platforms track your site’s visitors as they surf the web, serving them ads in established display ad spaces relevant to what they’ve already viewed. These retargeted ads encourage the user to revisit past site pages and take action. 

So say you had visitors who viewed your website’s destination page but didn’t convert. Instead of relying on them to come back to that page, programmatic or retargeted ads pull through on their most visited third-party sites and social media platforms. This is a cost-effective way to advertise online and remind customers of your brand and the services you can provide. 

Metasearch Engines

These are price comparison websites that compare rates for major travel-related expenses like flights, hotels, rental cars, or cruises across several companies or brands. Several metasearch engines in the travel and tourism industry include Destinia, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Skyscanner, and Kayak. Travelers enjoy using metasearch engines because these sites save research time and money on their reservations. Consider purchasing display ads or digital retargeting ads on these sites to reinforce your brand when people search for related services or move on to other websites during their research. 

Direct Mail

Once the bane of homes everywhere, direct mail is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Consumers are more accepting of direct mailers for products and services, with open rates landing at 90% and 39% of consumers purchasing from a new business that sent a direct mailer. 

When creating a direct mailer, consider the shareability aspect. RetailWire has found that households collaboratively discuss 88% of key purchases, including travel. And it’s proven to be effective at generating sales: a study by Go Inspire Group found that people who received a direct mail piece spent five times as much on the advertised product as another group who only received emails about the same product. Even better, a third group who received emails and direct mail spent more than six times as much as the email-only group.

If you want to make direct mail a part of your marketing strategy, the U.S. Small Business Administration recommends these steps :

• Start with existing customers: Your customers remain loyal because they know the services you provide them. Two-thirds of people discard mail from companies they haven’t heard of. Don’t waste money on people who don’t care about you (yet).
• Target your direct mail: Beyond your customers, send promotional direct mail pieces to people potentially interested in your product. The USPS offers resident demographics through their Every Door Direct Mail program . You could also rent targeted mailing lists through a variety of list companies.
• Use thoughtful design: Mail pieces with interesting visuals, minimal, readable text, and a clear call-to-action perform the best.
• Extend a worthy offer: Speaking of calls-to-action, tell the recipient what you want them to do and make them a deal so sweet they can’t resist taking advantage of it. You’re already investing a fair amount of money in a direct mail campaign. If you want it to result in conversions, your offer must be great.

5. Public Relations

Public relations (PR) is the strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. It is about influencing, engaging, and building relationships with your key audiences across multiple platforms such as paid media (including advertising), earned media (media appearances), and owned media (like your website or social media pages). While PR has a reputation (and history) of being a bunch of spin, modern public relations is much more about telling your organization’s story in an honest way that responds to audience concerns so that your organization can succeed.

With that in mind, what stories about your travel or tourism company could you tell to respond to travelers’ concerns? What benefits of engaging with your company could you explain, and through which channels, to reach potential customers and get on their short list of travel-related companies to patronize?

To run a successful PR program, Aventur Marketing advises following a few key points:

Know Your Audience

Who are they? What are their demographics? What are their lifestyles like? What do they want from a travel or tourism company? Furthermore, where are they “hanging out” when it comes to the media? Do they watch television, or prefer to read newspapers and magazines? Do they frequent certain travel blogs? Do they congregate on Facebook, Twitter, or both? Meet your audiences where they are with your message.

Build Relationships With Key Travel Media Professionals

It’s not enough to distribute a press release about your new property or renovations and hope every publication you emailed will print it. Publishers receive hundreds of releases and media advisories weekly. They won’t pay attention to your press release unless it appeals directly to their readers, and they trust you to provide high-quality content.

Build relationships with travel writers and bloggers from a targeted list of travel and tourism publications you assemble that you know your audience consumes. Know what these writers enjoy writing about, and provide them with related, substantive content even if it doesn’t directly promote your business. They’ll come to trust you as a reliable source of information that makes their job easier. Then, when you do have an item to promote about your tourism company, they’ll be much more receptive to working with you to reach their audience.

Customize Your Pitches to Different Niches

You can’t pitch the same topic to every publication and expect them all to publish it. Customize your story pitch to the publication and medium. For example, your convention and visitors bureau’s (CVB) news about a new facility opening might easily win placement in your local newspaper because of the local business aspect. But to win placement in an out-of-state publication, you’ll have to explain why out-of-state visitors should stop at your shiny new facility.

Maybe it’s the free concierge services you offer for local attractions? Or maybe it’s the ticket discounts you can only get by visiting your new location? In addition, a travel-oriented Instagram account is going to want photos to accompany your written information. A travel sage YouTuber is going to want video B-roll, or the opportunity to visit and have your staff guide them around as they film for their YouTube channel. Customize the format in which you offer information to dramatically increase the chances different media will pick it up. 

Get to Know the Local DMOs & CVBs

Speaking of CVBs, make friends with these staff right away! Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and CVBs are groups whose job is to promote a local area to tourists, business visitors, and people thinking of relocating there. They know all the best information and movers/shakers related to travel and tourism in the area. If they come to know your business as an interesting, can’t-miss part of the local experience, they could provide very valuable paid or earned marketing for you that is backed by their authority in the local travel arena. They could also help boost your business by sending journalists assigned to cover your area to talk with you about your business. These connections can result in greater web visibility through increased SEO and exposure.

Again, travel publications receive hundreds, if not thousands, of pitches weekly. You have a few seconds to grab their attention with your email or phone call, so get to the point of your news quickly. One or two paragraphs is usually the maximum needed before a journalist or writer will decide to reach out to you for more information.

If you’re unsure about how to craft a winning PR pitch or how to start building relationships with journalists, check out Destination British Columbia’s excellent guide to travel media relations strategies and tactics.

Preparing for the New Travel Market

COVID-19 changed everything about the way travel and tourism brands need to market themselves to remain competitive as economies open back up.  It's more important now than ever for CMOs of travel and tourism brands to reevaluate their marketing strategies to accommodate growing customer expectations. And a “wait and see” approach won’t help you make up for lost dollars as people begin to travel again. 

We hope that this guide will help you to evaluate your current strategy and make the necessary changes that will help your organization thrive now and in the future. 

Deliver a 5-Star Guest Experience with Modern Cloud Communications

Stay connected to your guests with modern global communications software. Your marketing strategy brought them to you, now nurture and grow your relationship with excellent call quality, robust virtual number inventory spanning 170+ countries worldwide, and more - all on a reliable voice platform. 

Katharine Kellar

Katharine is the Director of Marketing Communications at AVOXI, bringing over 17 years of experience in nurturing B2B, e-commerce, SaaS, and global brands. Fueled by her relentless drive for growth and an unwavering optimism, she finds joy in every day's silver linings. Outside of her professional achievements, Katharine is a coffee aficionado, savoring the aroma and taste of a freshly brewed cup as she crafts compelling narratives that resonate across diverse markets.

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Destination Marketing 101: Your Ultimate Guide

In an era where travel has become more accessible than ever, businesses and marketers are increasingly turning their attention to the art and science of promoting destinations. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes into the travel industry, understanding the nuances of destination marketing can significantly impact your success. 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll navigate the landscape, exploring the definition, benefits, and proven strategies to make your destination stand out.

What is Destination Marketing?

At its core, destination marketing is a specialized form of marketing that promotes a specific location to attract visitors and boost the local economy. This type of marketing goes beyond conventional tourism marketing efforts, aiming to create a compelling narrative that captivates potential travelers. The focus is on crafting an identity for a destination, transforming it from a spot on the map to a must-visit experience.

What are the Benefits of Destination Marketing?

Destination marketing isn’t just about increasing tourist footfall; it’s about creating sustainable growth and fostering a positive impact on the local community. These are some of the main benefits:

• Economic Growth : Successful destination marketing can lead to increased spending by tourists, benefiting local businesses and creating job opportunities.
• Cultural Exchange : By showcasing the unique aspects of a destination, marketing efforts contribute to cultural exchange, fostering a deeper understanding between visitors and locals.
• Community Development : A thriving tourism industry often leads to improved infrastructure, public services, and community well-being.

Now that we’ve covered why destination marketing matters, let’s shift gears and dive into the practical strategies to make it work seamlessly.

What Are The Best Strategies for Destination Marketing Success?

Embarking on successful destination marketing involves employing a set of strategic moves that go beyond the basics, ensuring your efforts resonate with your audience and leave a lasting impact. Let’s dive into these key strategies and see what they entail.

1. Understand Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is the foundation of any successful destination marketing campaign. Dive deep into demographics, interests, and behaviors to create detailed buyer personas. For instance, if your destination is a paradise for adventure enthusiasts, consider age groups, preferences, and online behaviors associated with this demographic.

To illustrate even further, imagine your analysis reveals a significant interest in eco-friendly travel among your audience. Tailor your marketing messages to highlight sustainable practices and the environmental initiatives your destination supports.

2. Target Pain Points

Addressing the pain points of potential travelers is a strategic move that builds trust and connection. Identify common concerns, such as safety, accessibility, or language barriers, and showcase how your destination mitigates these issues.

Create content addressing safety measures, accessible infrastructure, and language support in your destination. Implement customer service initiatives that directly tackle concerns raised by previous travelers.

For example, if safety is a concern, feature testimonials from solo travelers who felt secure during their visit. Highlight security measures and partnerships with local law enforcement to reassure prospective visitors.

3. Identify USPs (Unique Selling Points)

USP is a distinctive and compelling characteristic or benefit that sets a product, service, or brand apart from its competitors in the eyes of the target audience. Every destination has unique features that make it uniquely attractive to visitors. 

Identifying and using these USPs is crucial for creating a compelling narrative that resonates with your target audience. Conduct surveys and interviews to discover what visitors find most memorable about your destination. Showcase unique attractions, experiences, or cultural elements that differentiate your destination from others.

4. Analize Your Competitors

A thorough analysis of competitors in the travel industry can provide valuable insights into market trends, successful strategies, and areas for differentiation. By understanding what works and what doesn’t, you can refine your destination marketing plan.

Get started by monitoring competitors’ social media channels, websites, and marketing materials. Then, find gaps in their strategies and capitalize on areas where your destination excels. 

If your competitors primarily focus on luxury experiences, consider targeting a niche market, such as budget travelers, or emphasize unique cultural aspects that others haven’t extensively promoted.

5. Craft a Compelling Destination Brand

Developing a compelling brand is about more than just a visually appealing logo; it’s about creating a holistic brand identity that resonates with your audience. Let’s see what goes into it.

Logo and Visual Elements

Invest in a professional logo that encapsulates the spirit of your destination. The logo should be versatile and easily recognizable. Extend the visual identity beyond the logo. Consistent color schemes, fonts, and imagery across all marketing materials contribute to a cohesive and memorable visual brand.

Brand Personality

Define the personality of your destination as if it were a person. Is it adventurous, relaxed, or culturally vibrant? Align your marketing messages, visuals, and tone with this personality. Create content that reflects the desired personality, whether it’s through adventurous activity guides, serene landscapes, or cultural anecdotes.

For example, if your destination has a laid-back beach vibe, your brand personality may be casual, easy-going, and carefree. Emphasize leisurely activities, sunsets, and relaxation in your marketing materials.

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Creating a Memorable Tagline

Craft a tagline that encapsulates the essence of your destination in a few words. The tagline should be catchy, easy to remember, and evoke the emotions you want associated with your brand. Keep it concise and impactful, and test it with a focus group to ensure it resonates with your target audience.

Consistency is Key

In the end, ensuring you maintain consistency across all platforms is crucial for brand recognition. Whether it’s social media, print materials, or your website, a cohesive brand identity builds trust and familiarity. 

Create brand guidelines to ensure consistency in visuals, tone, and messaging. Regularly audit your marketing materials to ensure they align with the established brand identity.

6. Focus on Video and Visuals

In today’s digital world, catching the eye is all about the visuals. Think of it like a visual feast – you want potential travelers to savor the experience before they even arrive. Let’s break it down:

Video Content

Videos are like a magic carpet ride, giving viewers a taste of the adventure, beauty, and vibe of your destination. Picture this: clips of local life, thrilling activities, and stunning landscapes, all in motion. A good video can transport people and make them feel the excitement, making them want to pack their bags pronto.

Stunning Images

Invest in top-notch photos that capture the heart of your destination. Whether it’s a jaw-dropping view or a candid moment of local life, these images should make potential travelers daydream about being there.

Virtual Reality Tours

Virtual reality tours are like having a personal tour guide without leaving your couch. Use VR tech to create virtual adventures, letting people explore your destination from the comfort of their homes. These virtual tours are like a teaser, sparking excitement and making them want to see more.

7. Work With Influencers

Engaging with influencers can significantly boost your destination’s visibility. These social media figures have large followings, making them effective messengers for your brand. Partnering with influencers aligns your destination with trusted voices in the digital space, reaching audiences that value their recommendations. 

Encourage influencers to share genuine experiences , adding authenticity to your marketing efforts. Choose influencers whose style resonates with your destination’s vibe, creating a natural and effective partnership. It’s about leveraging their influence to narrate your destination’s story in a way that feels both honest and appealing.

8. Create Collaborations and Partnerships

Other than influencers, explore diverse partnerships that can elevate your brand and enhance the overall appeal of your destination. Connecting with local businesses is a smart move to enhance your destination’s charm. 

By teaming up with nearby spots, you’re not just supporting the community but also giving visitors a richer experience. Work with restaurants, shops, and attractions to create packages that add value for travelers. These local partnerships boost your destination’s local ties and create a more complete experience for visitors.

Also, collaborative campaigns , whether with nearby destinations or brands that complement yours, spread your message to a wider audience. Think of joint promotions, shared content, and events that bring more eyes to your destination.

Find partners who share your values for a seamless collaboration that benefits everyone involved. Through these campaigns, you’re not just marketing a place – you’re crafting a story that captures a broader audience’s attention and interest.

9. Create And Optimize Your Destination Website

Your destination’s website is the virtual gateway for potential travelers. Ensure it’s user-friendly, visually appealing, and provides all the necessary information. Then, optimize it for search engines to increase its visibility. This includes keyword optimization, local SEO, and creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.

10. Start Blogging

Content marketing is a powerful tool in destination marketing. And the good news is – there are so many topics to cover! Start a blog on your website to share engaging stories, travel tips, and insider information about your destination. This not only attracts organic traffic but also positions your destination as an authority. Ensure that you keep this content in line with your SEO strategies, targeting the right keywords and optimizing it to rank well in search engines

11. Social Media Strategies

Harness the power of social media to connect with your audience on a personal level. Here’s how:

• User Reviews and Testimonials : Encourage visitors to share their experiences on social media platforms. User-generated content adds authenticity and serves as valuable social proof.
• Running Social Media Contests : Engage your audience with contests that encourage participation. Whether it’s photo contests or travel stories, these initiatives create a buzz and attract attention.
• Showcasing Authentic Experiences: Use your social media channels to showcase authentic experiences. Share real stories from visitors, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and captivating visuals that convey the essence of your destination.

12. Online Advertising Strategies

Use online advertising to broaden your destination’s visibility across digital landscapes. This strategic approach involves deploying different types of ads tailored to meet the varied online behaviors of your potential visitors.

Here are the types of online ads you can use: 

• Display Advertising : Think of this as your digital billboard. Display ads utilize captivating visuals strategically placed on websites, drawing attention to the unique features of your destination.
• Search Advertising : Have you ever noticed the label “Ad” at the top of your search results? That’s search advertising at work. It ensures your destination stands out when users actively seek travel options.
• Social Media Ads : Picture your destination seamlessly integrated into users’ social feeds. Social media ads act as tailored narratives, showcasing your offerings based on users’ interests and demographics.

Overall, online ads cast a broad net, extending your destination’s reach to a diverse audience. Tailor your ads to specific groups, addressing the preferences of adventure seekers, food enthusiasts, or cultural explorers. This ensures a more personalized and impactful engagement.

13. Events and Promotions

When it comes to creating buzz around your destination, events and promotions are your dynamic duo.

Hosting Destination Events

Imagine your destination as a vibrant host of engaging events that not only showcase its uniqueness but also foster a sense of community. Here are the types of events that will make your destination an easy-to-market, attractive place for travelers: 

• Festivals : Dive into the heart of your destination’s culture by organizing festivals. These celebrations not only embrace local traditions but also draw in a diverse audience, adding a lively touch to your community.
• Cultural Events : Elevate the allure of your destination through culturally rich events – from captivating art exhibitions to the rhythm of music festivals and captivating performances. It’s not just an event; it’s an invitation to experience the soul of your locale.

Limited-Time Promotions and Discounts

Now, let’s talk about creating a buzz that’s quick and effective – limited-time promotions and discounts. This strategy not only lures budget-conscious travelers but also amps up the overall curiosity about your destination. It’s like an exclusive invitation to a fantastic deal that can’t be missed.

Stay on Top of Your Destination Marketing Strategies

On a final note, once you start with destination marketing, you need to know how your efforts are performing and how you can improve in the future. Consider website analytics – it’s like peeking at a map to see where visitors are coming from, what they’re interested in, and where they’re spending the most time. 

Additionally, stay informed about industry trends—like virtual experiences or niche travel—to keep your marketing strategy relevant and appealing. This helps you adjust your marketing strategy, keeping it fresh, interesting, and in tune with what travelers are looking for. 

Wrapping It Up: Your Destination’s Next Chapter

And there you have it – a journey through destination marketing strategies that goes beyond the mundane. We’re not just talking about selling a place; we’re talking about creating connections, sharing tales, and building a community.

Now that you’ve got these strategies under your belt, your destination is more than a spot on the map; it’s a living, breathing experience waiting to captivate.

Are you curious about how Play Media can enhance your destination’s narrative? Let’s chat! Contact us for a consultation, and let’s turn your destination into a must-visit chapter in every traveler’s journey. 

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A Closer Look at the Impact of Tourism Marketing

Hospitality business review | saturday, december 02, 2023.

A message's delivery is as important as its content. In the modern era, this includes utilizing e-marketing tourism strategies, such as search engine optimization, social media marketing, and content marketing.

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How is Tourism Marketing Unique?

Digital Marketing , Experience Marketing , Tourism Marketing Blog

• Marketing for the travel industry , marketing strategy
• April 23, 2019

There are some near-universal marketing truths, but let’s just say that tourism world has its quirks. A “one size fits all” messaging strategy isn’t going to cut it in this industry. In tourism – specialization is key, and this holds true to everything from sales, to operations, to absolutely every aspect of marketing.

A few of our clients have asked us what makes tourism marketing different from regular marketing. The unique strategies and tactics are boundless! However, we’ve drilled down the top key reasons.

Seasonality plays a huge role in media planning.

Most travelers look to their calendar before making a purchase decision. As a marketer, you have to plan months, quarters, even a full year before they do.

Tourism brands should aim to get the most out of peak season (and this speaks heavy to data), create a large push during shoulder seasons, and plan for creativity throughout non-peak (time to use that data now!)

Seasonality can control your marketing and command buys, so it is your job to do the bidding first! Think: Are my print ads running when I need the brand recognition, or are they out there when people will buy tickets anyway? Do I need to give OTAs so much inventory during peak if I am getting direct bookings anyway? Is my digital marketing heavy enough during non-peak when everyone else is also clamoring for business?

Every ad campaign needs to be geo-targeted.

In-destination decision making is far different from feeder market inspiration branding. The latter is a much longer game and in turn, much more expensive. Tour companies, attractions, and hotels should look to their CVB’s to lead a location’s brand inspiration. From there, it’s either about piggy backing, partnerships, and in-destination emotionally based ad campaigns with strong senses of urgency entailed.

Print ads in local publication are effective, but if you’re trying to keep costs down, digital is the way to go.  PPC (pay per click) advertising   allows you reach people during a transactional mindset – AND it allows for almost “up to the minute” data testing and perfecting. (We call this optimization.)

You can earn local, organic traffic by incorporating your destination into the alt text on your website photos and social posts. Auto-generated alt text like “hotel bar” is better than nothing, but not nearly as effective as “Boutique Hotel in Pensacola, Florida.”

Finally, maintain personal connections in your community. Networking events that draw in meeting planners and sales teams are a cost-effective way to gain local sales channel flow, especially if you’re a relatively new brand. Now is the time to order extra business cards and practice the wine-and-cheese juggle.

There’s an eye for new customer acquisition.

Okay, this is where it gets weird. Normally, keeping an existing client is far cheaper than earning a new one. That’s not the case in tourism.

Repeat business is fantastic, but it’s hard to come by in the travel industry. Tourists like trying new experiences, no matter how funny their last tour guide was. So keep in touch, encourage reviews and Instagram follows – but turn your acquisition efforts to new faces.

Make sure your website and social feeds create a memorable first impression. Your “brand promise” should be clear and specific, so new travelers know what you stand for and why you’re unique. When potential new customers do find you, you’ll want to capture their attention quickly – and keep it.

Emotion leads the way.

Unlike traditional marketing for products and home services, the fine details like pricing and capacities don’t always need to be center-stage (although they should be easy to find when customers get closer to making their purchase).

Marketing through travel sites and social media is all about communicating an experience. If you’re selling jet ski rentals, share vibrant images and first-hand videos. New customers should feel the waves lapping their feet and the salt in their hair before even clicking Book Now.

Social proof is priceless.

The #1 most influential advertising is the kind you can’t buy: personal recommendations.

When planning a vacation, people want to make sure they’re getting an authentic, unique experience. It’s not enough to click on the first listing they see in a Google search. They’re increasingly turning to their friends and Instagram feeds for firsthand accounts of the best views, meals and attractions.

So provide an experience that makes it into your customers’ live videos, Facebook photos and Pinterest boards. List your social media handles on your website, in email campaigns, and even on printed materials. This way your customers have a subtle reminder to write a TripAdvisor review or tag you in their photos when they get back to the hotel.

Cross-marketing can be a game changer.

We talk a lot about competition, but there’s also a major teamwork element in travel marketing. Strong partnerships with other attractions benefit everyone involved. These relationships are key in surviving non-peak season.

Come up with creative ways to offer packages with nearby businesses. If you cross-promote your brand in other businesses, then any traffic that comes through their door is likely to visit you, too. To maximize sales, give customers some added value, like discounts or convenient transportation between attractions.

When you do initiate partnerships with other travel companies, don’t forget to ask for a link to your site. It’s added visibility for your brand, and gives you a little SEO boost.

What digital marketing strategies have worked best for your travel brand? We want to hear your insight! Share your success stories with us on Facebook @vonmackagency.

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Information and communication technologies have contributed significantly to the development and growth of the tourism industry. Tourists use the Internet in all phases of the customer journey. In 2020, the typical user spent on average 6 h and 43 min online each day, which was about 40% of their waking life. Mobile devices account for more than half of all the online time, but most Internet users still use a combination of mobiles and computers to access the Internet. Therefore, digital marketing offers great opportunities for tourism organizations and suppliers to promote and sell their offers and to establish long-lasting relationship with their customers. This chapter discusses the development of digital marketing in tourism and illustrates the evolution over various steps. A brief history of the development of digital marketing for tourism businesses and an outline of its benefits and challenges will be provided. This chapter focuses on website publishing, traffic building, and digital marketing campaign planning. Challenges and future developments of digital marketing conclude this chapter.

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Christian Maurer

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Zheng Xiang

Department of Tourism Studies and Geography, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden

Matthias Fuchs

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Ulrike Gretzel

Department of Business Informatics, University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, Weingarten, Germany

Wolfram Höpken

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Department of Economics, Geography, Law and Tourism, The European Tourism Research Institute, Mid-Sweden University, Östersund, Jämtland, Sweden

The Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

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Maurer, C. (2021). Digital Marketing in Tourism. In: Xiang, Z., Fuchs, M., Gretzel, U., Höpken, W. (eds) Handbook of e-Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05324-6_82-1

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How To Market A Tourism Business

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by Ingeberg Carpio

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Introduction

Welcome to the world of tourism marketing! In an era where travel has become more accessible and the desire for unique experiences is on the rise, marketing your tourism business effectively is key to attracting and retaining customers. Whether you run a hotel, a tour company, a travel agency, or any other type of tourism business, implementing strategic marketing techniques can help you stand out from the competition and reach your target audience.

Marketing a tourism business requires a combination of creativity, data-driven strategies, and a deep understanding of your customers’ needs and desires. It’s not just about promoting your services; it’s about delivering an unforgettable experience and building a strong brand that resonates with travelers.

In this article, we’ll explore various marketing strategies and techniques that can help you market your tourism business effectively. From understanding your target audience to leveraging the power of digital marketing, we’ll cover a range of methods to boost your visibility, attract more customers, and ultimately grow your business.

Before diving into specific strategies, it’s important to note that marketing is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring, analysis, and adaptation. What works today may not work tomorrow, so it’s essential to stay up-to-date with industry trends, consumer behaviors, and emerging marketing channels.

Now, let’s embark on a journey to discover the key elements of successful tourism marketing and explore how you can apply them to your own business.

Defining Your Target Audience

One of the fundamental steps in marketing your tourism business is defining your target audience. Understanding who your ideal customers are will allow you to tailor your marketing efforts to reach and engage with them effectively. To define your target audience, consider the following factors:

• Demographics: Age, gender, location, income level, and other key demographic factors can help you identify the characteristics of your target audience.
• Psychographics: Dive deeper into your audience’s interests, lifestyles, values, and behaviors. This will enable you to create messages and experiences that resonate with them on a deeper level.
• Travel Preferences: Understand the type of travel experiences your audience is looking for. Are they adventure seekers, luxury travelers, or budget-conscious explorers?
• Reasons for Travel: Examine the motives behind their travel decisions. Are they seeking relaxation, cultural immersion, or educational experiences?

Once you have defined your target audience, create buyer personas to embody the characteristics of your ideal customers. Give these personas names and specific traits to humanize them and better understand their needs and desires. This will serve as a reference point for your marketing strategies.

Keep in mind that your target audience may evolve over time, so it’s essential to regularly reassess and refine your target audience as you gather more data and insights.

By understanding your target audience, you can create tailored marketing campaigns that effectively communicate the value your tourism business brings to their travel experiences. This will help you connect with them on a deeper level and differentiate yourself from competitors who may have a more general approach.

Developing a Unique Value Proposition

In the competitive tourism industry, it’s crucial to have a unique value proposition (UVP) that sets your business apart from the rest. Your UVP is what differentiates you from your competitors and clearly communicates the unique benefits and value your tourism business provides to your target audience.

To develop a compelling UVP, follow these steps:

• Identify Your Competitive Advantage: Determine what sets your tourism business apart from others in the industry. Is it your location, personalized customer service, exclusive partnerships, or exceptional amenities? Focus on identifying your strengths and what makes you unique.
• Understand Your Customers’ Pain Points: Conduct market research and gather feedback from your customers to understand their pain points and challenges when it comes to travel. This will help you tailor your UVP to address their specific needs and concerns.
• Highlight the Benefits: Clearly articulate the benefits and value that your tourism business brings to your customers. Whether it’s the convenience, unforgettable experiences, or time-saving solutions, emphasize how your services enhance their travel experiences.
• Be Clear and Concise: Craft a clear and concise UVP that is easy to understand and remember. Avoid using industry jargon and focus on communicating your message in a way that resonates with your target audience.
• Consistency Across Channels: Ensure that your UVP is consistently communicated across all marketing channels, including your website, social media, and offline advertising. This will help reinforce your unique positioning in the minds of your target audience.

A strong and compelling UVP will not only attract potential customers but also foster loyalty and repeat business. It should leave a lasting impression and make your tourism business the obvious choice for travelers seeking a memorable and exceptional experience.

Building a Strong Online Presence

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for marketing your tourism business. A robust online presence allows you to reach a broader audience, engage with potential customers, and establish credibility and trust. Here are some key strategies to build a strong online presence:

• Create an Engaging Website: Your website serves as the virtual storefront for your tourism business. Ensure it is visually appealing, user-friendly, and optimized for mobile devices. Include relevant and captivating content, attractive visuals, and clear calls-to-action to encourage visitors to take the desired actions.
• Optimize for Search Engines: Implement search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results. Research and incorporate relevant keywords into your website’s content, meta tags, and page titles. Ensure your website’s structure, navigation, and page load speed are optimized for a better user experience and search engine rankings.
• Utilize Content Marketing: Develop a content strategy that focuses on providing valuable and informative content to your target audience. Create blog posts, videos, and infographics that are relevant to travel and tourism. Share this content on your website, social media platforms, and other relevant online channels to showcase your expertise and engage with your audience.
• Build a Strong Social Media Presence: Leverage popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to connect with your target audience. Share engaging content, run promotions, and encourage user-generated content to increase brand visibility and build a loyal following. Interact with your audience by responding to comments and messages promptly.
• Utilize Online Travel Agencies (OTAs): Partner with reputable online travel agencies to gain exposure and attract bookings from a wider audience. Optimize your listings on these platforms, showcase your unique offerings, and provide compelling descriptions and visuals to entice potential customers.

Remember, building a strong online presence takes time and effort. Regularly monitor your online channels, analyze user data, and adapt your strategies accordingly. Interact with your customers, gather feedback, and respond to reviews promptly to establish a positive online reputation.

By following these strategies, you can build a strong online presence that positions your tourism business as a trusted and reputable provider in the industry, attracting more customers and driving growth.

Utilizing Social Media Marketing

Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and connect with others, making it a powerful tool for marketing your tourism business. By leveraging social media platforms, you can reach a vast audience, engage with potential customers, and build brand awareness. Here’s how to effectively utilize social media marketing:

• Choose the Right Platforms: Identify the social media platforms that align with your target audience and business goals. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest are popular platforms for the tourism industry. Each platform has its own unique features and strengths, so choose wisely based on your target audience’s preferences.
• Create Compelling Content: Develop content that captures the attention and interest of your target audience. Utilize captivating visuals, videos, and informative posts to showcase your tourism business and the experiences you offer. Share user-generated content and encourage customers to share their travel experiences with branded hashtags.
• Engage with Your Audience: Social media is an interactive platform, so actively engage with your audience. Respond to comments, messages, and reviews in a timely and friendly manner. Encourage dialogue, ask questions, and run contests or polls to foster engagement.
• Run Targeted Ad Campaigns: Utilize the advertising features of social media platforms to reach a wider audience. Create targeted ad campaigns based on demographics, interests, and behaviors to reach potential customers who are more likely to be interested in your tourism services.
• Collaborate with Influencers: Partner with social media influencers who have a significant following and align with your brand values. Collaborate on content creation, sponsored posts, or influencer takeovers to leverage their reach and influence, reaching a wider audience and building trust.
• Monitor and Analyze Results: Use social media analytics tools to track the performance of your social media marketing efforts. Monitor engagement, reach, click-through rates, and conversion metrics to assess the effectiveness of your strategies. Use these insights to refine your social media marketing campaigns.

Remember to maintain a consistent brand voice across all social media platforms and align your content with your overall marketing strategy. Be authentic, interactive, and value-driven in your social media efforts to build a loyal community of followers.

Social media marketing has the potential to significantly enhance your brand exposure, engage with your target audience, and drive traffic to your website. By utilizing these strategies, you can harness the power of social media to boost your tourism business and stay ahead of the competition.

Implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategies

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical component of marketing your tourism business online. By implementing SEO strategies, you can improve your visibility in search engine results and attract targeted organic traffic. Here are some key SEO strategies to consider:

• Keyword Research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the search terms and phrases that your target audience uses to find tourism-related information. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your website’s content, meta tags, headings, and URLs.
• Optimize Website Structure and Navigation: Ensure that your website has a clear and logical structure that is easy for both users and search engines to navigate. Use descriptive and keyword-rich page titles, headings, and subheadings to guide users and improve search engine crawlability.
• Create High-Quality Content: Develop informative, engaging, and user-friendly content that aligns with the search intent of your target audience. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally and focus on providing value through guides, articles, videos, and blog posts that address their travel needs and interests.
• Optimize Website Load Speed: Page speed is a crucial factor in both user experience and search engine rankings. Optimize your website’s load speed by compressing images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, and utilizing caching techniques.
• Build High-Quality Backlinks: Earn reputable and relevant backlinks from other websites in the travel and tourism industry. Focus on acquiring backlinks from authoritative sources through guest blogging, partnerships, and content collaborations.
• Local SEO: If you have a physical location, optimize your website for local search. Claim your Google My Business listing, include your contact information, address, and operating hours. Encourage customers to leave reviews, and ensure that your website and content are optimized for local keywords.
• Mobile Optimization: With the increasing use of mobile devices for travel planning, it’s crucial to have a mobile-friendly website. Optimize your website’s design, layout, and content for a seamless mobile experience.

Regularly monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools to track organic traffic, keyword rankings, and user behavior. Make data-driven decisions and continuously improve your SEO strategies to ensure optimal results.

Implementing effective SEO strategies will help your tourism business rank higher in search engine results, attract qualified leads, and ultimately drive more bookings and revenue.

Creating Engaging Content

In the highly competitive tourism industry, creating engaging content is crucial for capturing the attention and interest of your target audience. Engaging content not only helps you stand out from the competition but also builds brand awareness, establishes credibility, and fosters customer loyalty. Here are some strategies to create engaging content for your tourism business:

• Understand Your Audience: Take the time to understand your target audience’s preferences, interests, and pain points. Use this knowledge to create content that resonates with them and addresses their needs and desires.
• Tell Stories: Storytelling is a powerful tool to engage your audience. Share captivating and authentic stories about your destination, experiences, or satisfied customers. Paint a vivid picture and evoke emotions to create a deeper connection with your audience.
• Use Visuals: Humans are visual creatures, so incorporate high-quality photos, videos, and infographics into your content. Visuals not only enhance engagement but also make your content more shareable on social media platforms.
• Provide Value: Focus on providing valuable and informative content that educates, inspires, or entertains your audience. Offer travel tips, destination guides, packing lists, or insider insights to establish your authority and position your business as a valuable resource.
• Encourage User-Generated Content: Motivate your customers to share their travel experiences and adventures by using branded hashtags, running contests, or featuring user-generated content on your website and social media platforms. User-generated content not only increases engagement but also builds social proof and trust.
• Personalize the Experience: Tailor your content to the individual preferences of your audience. Use personalization techniques to deliver targeted messages and recommendations based on their previous interactions or interests.
• Be Interactive: Engage with your audience through comments, polls, quizzes, or interactive features. Encourage feedback, respond to comments, and create a sense of community and dialogue around your content.
• Experiment with Different Formats: Vary your content formats to keep your audience engaged. Consider creating podcasts, virtual tours, live videos, or interactive quizzes to offer unique and immersive experiences.

Regularly monitor the performance of your content using analytics tools. Analyze engagement metrics such as views, shares, and comments to understand what resonates with your audience. Use these insights to refine and optimize your content strategy over time.

By creating engaging content, you can captivate your audience, foster a deeper connection, and drive more engagement and actions, ultimately leading to increased conversions and business growth.

Collaborating with Influencers and Partners

Collaborating with influencers and partners is a powerful strategy to amplify your tourism business’s reach, build credibility, and attract a wider audience. By partnering with influential individuals or complementary businesses, you can leverage their existing audiences and tap into new customer segments. Here’s how to effectively collaborate with influencers and partners:

• Identify Relevant Influencers and Partners: Research and identify influencers in the travel and tourism industry who align with your brand values and target audience. Look for influencers who have a significant following and engagement on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, or travel blogs. Also, consider partnering with complementary businesses, such as local tour operators or accommodations.
• Build Authentic Relationships: Approach influencers and partners with authenticity and a genuine interest in their work. Personalize your outreach and explain how working together can benefit both parties. Build a long-term relationship based on mutual trust and shared values.
• Create Compelling Collaborative Content: Collaborate with influencers and partners to create engaging and compelling content that showcases your tourism business. This can include sponsored posts, vlogs, reviews, or joint promotional campaigns. Ensure that the content aligns with your brand messaging and provides value to their audience.
• Encourage User-generated Content: Inspire influencers, partners, and customers to generate user-generated content that promotes your tourism business. Encourage them to use specific hashtags, tag your social media accounts, or participate in challenges or contests. This not only increases brand visibility but also creates social proof and credibility.
• Measure Impact and Results: Track the performance and impact of your collaborations. Monitor metrics such as engagement, reach, website traffic, and conversions. Analyze the success of each collaboration and make data-driven decisions on future partnerships.
• Offer Exclusive Promotions or Discounts: Provide influencer-specific or partner-specific promotions or discounts to incentivize their followers and customers to engage with your tourism business. This can help drive traffic, bookings, and conversions.
• Provide Exceptional Experiences: Ensure that the influencers and partners you collaborate with have a memorable and positive experience with your tourism business. Offer exceptional customer service, personalized experiences, or VIP treatments to create a lasting impression.

Remember, the key to successful collaborations is authenticity and relevance. Choose influencers and partners who genuinely align with your brand values and can effectively reach your target audience. Cultivate strong relationships, create engaging content, and measure the impact of your collaborations to maximize their effectiveness.

By collaborating with influencers and partners, you can extend your reach, build brand credibility, and attract new customers to your tourism business.

Utilizing Email Marketing

Email marketing is a highly effective tool for promoting your tourism business, nurturing customer relationships, and driving conversions. By utilizing email marketing strategies, you can engage with your audience directly, deliver personalized content, and keep your brand top-of-mind. Here’s how to effectively utilize email marketing:

• Build an Engaged Email List: Build a quality email list by capturing opt-in subscribers through your website, social media, or offline events. Offer incentives such as exclusive discounts, travel guides, or free resources to encourage sign-ups.
• Segment Your Email List: Segment your email list based on demographic information, interests, past interactions, or purchase history. This allows you to send targeted and personalized emails to specific segments, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of your campaigns.
• Create Compelling Email Content: Craft engaging email content that grabs attention and encourages action. Use enticing subject lines, personalized greetings, and captivating visuals to make your emails stand out in crowded inboxes.
• Provide Value in Every Email: Deliver valuable content to your subscribers in every email. This can include travel tips, destination guides, special offers, exclusive promotions, or informative blog posts. The goal is to provide content that your subscribers find useful and relevant to their travel interests.
• Automate Your Emails: Utilize email automation to send timely and relevant messages to your subscribers. Set up automated welcome emails for new subscribers, abandoned cart reminders, or personalized birthday offers. Automation saves time and ensures consistent communication with your audience.
• Test and Optimize: Experiment with different email elements such as subject lines, calls-to-action, or visual layouts. A/B test your emails to identify what resonates best with your audience and continuously refine your email marketing strategy based on the results.
• Personalize Your Emails: Use data to personalize your emails and make them feel more personalized to the individual recipient. Address subscribers by their name, recommend personalized travel experiences based on past bookings or preferences, and use dynamic content to tailor the message to their specific interests.
• Monitor and Analyze Metrics: Track key email marketing metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Analyze the performance of your campaigns and use the insights to optimize future emails and improve engagement.
• Comply with Data Privacy Laws: Ensure that you follow data privacy regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the CAN-SPAM Act. Obtain proper consent from your subscribers, provide an easy way to unsubscribe, and handle personal data securely.

Email marketing allows you to establish a direct line of communication with your audience and nurture relationships over time. By providing valuable content and personalized offers, you can increase engagement, drive bookings, and foster loyalty among your subscribers.

Remember to monitor the performance of your email campaigns and adapt your strategies based on the feedback and data you receive. With effective email marketing, you can harness the power of personalized communication and drive the success of your tourism business.

Implementing Online Advertising Campaigns

Online advertising campaigns are a powerful way to promote your tourism business, increase brand visibility, and attract potential customers. With the wide range of digital advertising platforms available today, you can effectively target your desired audience and drive traffic to your website. Here’s how to implement successful online advertising campaigns:

• Set Clear Advertising Goals: Determine your advertising goals and objectives. Whether it’s increasing website traffic, generating leads, driving bookings, or raising brand awareness, having clear goals will help you tailor your advertising strategies and measure the success of your campaigns.
• Identify Your Target Audience: Define your target audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This will allow you to create targeted and relevant advertisements that resonate with your potential customers.
• Choose the Right Advertising Platforms: Consider the different online advertising platforms available, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, or display advertising networks. Select platforms that align with your target audience’s preferences and have the potential to reach your desired customer base.
• Create Compelling Advertisements: Craft attention-grabbing and persuasive ad copy, headlines, and visuals. Highlight unique selling points, promotions, or special offers to entice potential customers. Use compelling calls-to-action to drive them to take the desired action.
• Use Effective Landing Pages: Ensure that the landing pages you direct your ads to are relevant, user-friendly, and optimized for conversions. Align the messaging and visuals of your ads with the landing page content to provide a consistent user experience.
• Monitor and Optimize: Regularly monitor the performance of your online advertising campaigns. Track key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS). Test different ad variations, keywords, targeting options, and bidding strategies to optimize and improve the performance of your campaigns.
• Retarget Your Audience: Implement retargeting strategies to re-engage users who have previously visited your website or shown interest in your tourism services. Show personalized ads to these individuals to remind and persuade them to convert.
• Utilize Remarketing Emails: Integrate your online advertising campaigns with remarketing emails. If users have abandoned their booking process or shown interest in specific offers, utilize email marketing to retarget them and remind them of the benefits of booking with your tourism business.
• Allocate Budget Wisely: Evaluate the performance of your online advertising campaigns and allocate budget based on the return on investment (ROI) of each platform or campaign. Continuously optimize your budget allocation to maximize the effectiveness of your advertising spend.

Online advertising campaigns provide a targeted and measurable way to reach potential customers and grow your tourism business. By implementing these strategies and continuously optimizing your campaigns, you can increase brand visibility, drive website traffic, and generate bookings or leads in a cost-effective manner.

Engaging in Local Marketing Efforts

Local marketing is a crucial aspect of promoting your tourism business, especially if you cater to a specific geographic area or destination. Engaging in local marketing efforts allows you to connect with the local community, attract nearby visitors, and build a strong presence in your target location. Here are some strategies to effectively engage in local marketing:

• Build Local Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, or tour operators, to cross-promote each other’s services. Offer special packages or discounts when customers book multiple services from complementary businesses.
• Showcase Local Expertise: Position your tourism business as a local expert by sharing insights and recommendations about the area. Create informative blog posts, videos, or social media content that highlights local attractions, hidden gems, or unique experiences.
• Participate in Local Events: Engage with the local community by participating in events, festivals, or trade shows related to tourism. Set up a booth, offer special promotions, or sponsor a local event to increase brand visibility and connect with potential customers.
• Create Local Content: Develop content that specifically targets the local audience. Provide city guides, itineraries, or recommendations tailored to visitors exploring the local area. This demonstrates your understanding of the destination and helps position your business as a trusted resource.
• Optimize for Local SEO: Implement local search engine optimization strategies to improve your visibility in local search results. Include local keywords in your website’s content, meta tags, and headings. Claim and optimize your business profiles on local directories and review platforms.
• Get Involved in Community Initiatives: Support local nonprofit organizations, charities, or environmental initiatives. Sponsor community events, volunteer, or organize clean-up campaigns to demonstrate your commitment to the local community.
• Collect and Display Local Reviews: Encourage your customers to leave reviews and testimonials about their experiences with your tourism business. Display these reviews on your website, social media platforms, and review sites to build trust and credibility among potential customers.
• Offer Special Local Promotions: Create exclusive promotions or packages for residents of the local area. This can incentivize them to experience their own city as a tourist and increase word-of-mouth recommendations within the local community.
• Utilize Local Influencers: Collaborate with local influencers or bloggers who have a strong presence in the area. Partner with them for sponsored content or reviews to leverage their local influence and reach a wider local audience.

Engaging in local marketing efforts allows you to tap into the local market, generate repeat business, and build a strong reputation within the community. By showcasing your local expertise, participating in local events, and fostering partnerships, you can position your tourism business as the go-to choice for both visitors and locals alike.

Leveraging Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Customer reviews and testimonials are a powerful marketing tool for your tourism business. They provide social proof, build trust, and influence purchasing decisions. Leveraging customer reviews and testimonials can significantly impact your reputation and attract more potential customers. Here’s how to effectively utilize them:

• Encourage Reviews: Request feedback from your customers after their experience with your tourism business. Set up automated email campaigns or provide incentives for customers to leave reviews on platforms such as TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, or social media.
• Showcase Reviews on Your Website: Feature customer reviews and testimonials on your website’s homepage, dedicated reviews page, or booking confirmation emails. Display a diverse range of reviews to highlight different aspects of your services and the overall positive experiences of your customers.
• Highlight Positive Reviews on Social Media: Share positive reviews and testimonials on your social media platforms. Create visually appealing graphics or quote cards that highlight the customer’s feedback. Tag and thank the customer for their kind words, increasing engagement and encouraging others to leave reviews.
• Respond to Reviews: Engage with your customers by responding to their reviews, both positive and negative. Address concerns, express gratitude for positive feedback, and highlight actions you have taken based on feedback. This shows your commitment to customer satisfaction and builds trust with potential customers.
• Use Video Testimonials: Request satisfied customers to provide video testimonials about their experiences with your tourism business. Feature these videos on your website and social media platforms to add a personal touch and increase credibility.
• Include Testimonials in Marketing Materials: Incorporate customer testimonials in your brochures, flyers, online advertisements, and email marketing campaigns. This helps potential customers see real-life experiences of others and reinforces the value and quality of your services.
• Share Case Studies: Create case studies that highlight specific customer success stories or unique experiences they had with your tourism business. Showcase the challenges they faced, how your services solved those challenges, and the positive outcomes they achieved.
• Monitor and Respond to Online Reviews: Regularly monitor and respond to reviews on third-party platforms. Address any negative feedback promptly and professionally, showing your dedication to resolving issues and improving the customer experience.
• Offer Incentives for Reviews: Consider offering incentives such as discounts, loyalty rewards, or exclusive content for customers who leave reviews. This encourages more customers to share their experiences and have a positive impact on your brand’s online reputation.

Remember, customer reviews and testimonials are influential in shaping the perception of your tourism business. By showcasing the positive experiences of your customers, addressing feedback, and continuously seeking reviews, you can build trust and confidence among potential customers, ultimately driving more bookings and revenue.

Offering Special Promotions and Packages

Offering special promotions and packages is an effective strategy to attract new customers, drive bookings, and increase revenue for your tourism business. By providing unique incentives, discounts, or bundled experiences, you can entice potential customers and differentiate yourself from competitors. Here’s how to effectively offer special promotions and packages:

• Create Limited-Time Offers: Generate a sense of urgency by offering promotions and packages for a limited time. This encourages customers to take action and book their travel experiences sooner rather than later.
• Bundled Packages: Combine multiple services or experiences into attractively priced bundles. For example, create a package that includes accommodation, tours, and meals, providing customers with a comprehensive and convenient travel solution.
• Seasonal Discounts: Offer discounts or promotions that are tied to specific seasons or holidays. This can attract travelers looking for special deals during peak or off-peak seasons, encouraging them to choose your tourism business over others.
• Early Booking Incentives: Encourage customers to book in advance by offering early booking incentives, such as reduced rates, upgrades, or additional amenities. This rewards customers for their commitment and helps you secure bookings ahead of time.
• Last-Minute Deals: Fill any remaining availability by offering last-minute deals. This appeals to spontaneous travelers or those with flexible travel plans, and can help maximize revenue during periods of low occupancy.
• Group Discounts: Offer special rates or discounts for group bookings. This incentivizes families, friends, or organizations to choose your tourism business for their group travel needs, increasing the number of people and revenue per booking.
• Loyalty Programs: Implement a loyalty program to reward repeat customers. Offer exclusive discounts, complimentary upgrades, or VIP experiences to incentivize their continued loyalty and encourage repeat bookings.
• Collaborate with Partners: Partner with other businesses in the tourism industry to create joint promotions or packages. This cross-promotion can expand your reach, attract new customers, and provide added value by combining complementary services.
• Social Media Exclusive Offers: Reward your social media followers with exclusive promotions or offers. This not only encourages engagement and loyalty but also creates a sense of exclusivity among your online community.
• Upselling and Add-Ons: Offer additional services or experiences as upsells or add-ons to complement customers’ main bookings. This can range from spa treatments or airport transfers to special excursions or customized amenities.

When offering special promotions and packages, ensure that you clearly communicate the value and benefits to potential customers. Utilize compelling visuals, persuasive copy, and effective calls-to-action to capture their attention and encourage immediate bookings. Regularly evaluate the performance of your promotions and packages, making adjustments and optimizations based on customer feedback and market trends.

By offering special promotions and packages, you can attract new customers, drive bookings, maximize revenue, and create memorable experiences that keep customers coming back.

Networking and Participating in Tourism Events

Networking and participating in tourism events are valuable opportunities to connect with industry professionals, showcase your tourism business, and build collaborative relationships. By actively participating in relevant events, you can enhance your visibility, gain industry insights, and establish yourself as a key player in the tourism sector. Here’s how to effectively network and participate in tourism events:

• Research and Identify Relevant Events: Research and identify industry-specific events, conferences, trade shows, or exhibitions that align with your target audience and business goals. Look for events that attract tourism professionals, travel enthusiasts, or potential customers.
• Create an Engaging Booth or Stand: If the event allows for booth or stand setup, create an eye-catching and visually appealing display that showcases your tourism business. Use high-quality signage, visuals, and interactive elements to attract attendees and create a memorable experience.
• Prepare Engaging Promotional Materials: Develop informative brochures, business cards, flyers, or promotional items that effectively communicate your unique selling points and contact information. Ensure that your materials are visually appealing, concise, and aligned with your brand identity.
• Attend Seminars and Workshops: Take advantage of the educational opportunities provided by the event. Attend seminars, workshops, or panel discussions related to the tourism industry to gain valuable insights, stay updated on industry trends, and enhance your knowledge.
• Engage in Networking: Actively network with other attendees, industry professionals, and potential partners. Approach conversations with a genuine interest in learning about others’ businesses and objectives. Exchange contact information and follow up with personalized messages after the event.
• Participate as a Speaker or Panelist: Enhance your visibility and establish yourself as an industry expert by participating as a speaker or panelist at relevant sessions or discussions. Share your knowledge, insights, and success stories to position yourself as a thought leader in the tourism field.
• Sponsor or Host an Event: Consider sponsoring or hosting a segment of the event to further increase your brand’s exposure. This can include sponsoring a session, hosting a networking event, or providing branded merchandise. Collaborate with event organizers to explore partnership opportunities.
• Engage on Social Media: Utilize event hashtags, share real-time updates, and engage with event attendees on social media platforms. This allows you to extend your reach and connect with a wider audience, even beyond the physical event itself.
• Follow Up and Maintain Relationships: After the event, follow up with the contacts you made to nurture those relationships. Send personalized emails, connect on professional social media platforms, and explore potential collaboration opportunities.
• Evaluate the ROI: Assess the return on investment (ROI) of your participation in the event. Measure the number of connections made, leads generated, partnerships formed, and collaborations secured. Analyze the impact of your participation and adjust your strategy for future events.

Networking and participating in tourism events provide valuable opportunities to connect with industry professionals, secure partnerships, and gain exposure for your tourism business. By actively engaging in these events, you can propel your business forward and stay ahead in the competitive tourism landscape.

Measuring and Analyzing Marketing Efforts

Measuring and analyzing marketing efforts is essential for understanding the effectiveness of your strategies, optimizing your campaigns, and making data-driven decisions. By analyzing key metrics and gathering valuable insights, you can refine your marketing approach and maximize your return on investment (ROI). Here’s how to effectively measure and analyze your marketing efforts:

• Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Establish clear and specific KPIs that align with your marketing goals. These can include website traffic, conversion rates, email open rates, social media engagement, or booking inquiries. Clearly defining your KPIs ensures focus and provides a benchmark for measuring success.
• Utilize Analytics Tools: Implement robust analytics tools such as Google Analytics, social media analytics, or email marketing platforms. These tools provide valuable data on user behavior, demographics, referral sources, and engagement metrics to track the performance of your marketing efforts.
• Analyze Website Metrics: Dive into website analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns. Monitor metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, page views, and conversion rates. Identify areas for improvement and optimize your website based on user behavior and conversion data.
• Track Conversion Rates: Measure conversion rates for key actions, such as booking inquiries, newsletter sign-ups, or brochure downloads. Analyze the conversion funnel to identify areas where visitors may be dropping off and optimize those steps to increase conversion rates.
• Evaluate Social Media Engagement: Monitor social media analytics to assess the reach, engagement, and interaction with your content. Measure metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and click-through rates. Identify the types of content or campaigns that resonate most with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Analyze Email Campaign Metrics: Evaluate the performance of your email marketing campaigns by analyzing metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and unsubscribe rates. Test different subject lines, content formats, and CTAs to optimize your email campaigns and improve engagement.
• Assess ROI: Calculate the return on investment for your marketing campaigns by comparing the costs incurred to the revenue generated. This enables you to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of your strategies and allocate resources to the most profitable channels.
• Monitor Online Reviews and Feedback: Regularly monitor and analyze online reviews, feedback, and customer surveys. This provides qualitative insights into the perception of your brand, customer satisfaction levels, and areas for improvement. Use this information to enhance the customer experience and address any issues raised.
• Conduct A/B Testing: Test different variables (such as headlines, visuals, calls-to-action, or landing page layouts) through A/B testing to understand what resonates best with your audience. Analyze the results and implement the winning variations to optimize your marketing campaigns further.
• Stay Updated and Adapt: Continuously stay informed about industry trends, emerging platforms, and changes in consumer behavior. Adapt your marketing strategies accordingly, integrating new tactics to reach and engage with your target audience effectively.

By consistently measuring and analyzing your marketing efforts, you can identify strengths, address weaknesses, and refine your strategies to drive better results. The insights gained from data analysis will guide your decision-making process and empower you to allocate resources effectively, ensuring the long-term success of your marketing campaigns.

In the dynamic and highly competitive world of tourism, effective marketing strategies are essential for attracting and retaining customers. By implementing a comprehensive and targeted approach, you can set your tourism business apart from the competition and reach your desired audience.

Defining your target audience and developing a unique value proposition are fundamental steps in crafting a successful marketing strategy. Understanding your audience’s demographics, psychographics, and travel preferences allows you to tailor your messaging and experiences to their specific needs and desires. Building a strong online presence through SEO optimization, engaging content, and social media marketing helps increase your visibility and connect with potential customers.

Collaborating with influencers, partners, and local businesses can unlock new opportunities and broaden your reach in the tourism industry. By leveraging customer reviews and testimonials, you can build trust, establish credibility, and influence purchasing decisions.

Furthermore, offering special promotions and packages creates incentives for customers to choose your tourism business over competitors, while participating in tourism events and networking facilitates industry connections and enhances your reputation.

To ensure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, it is crucial to consistently measure and analyze your performance. Tracking relevant metrics, such as website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement, and ROI, provides valuable insights to optimize your strategies and foster continuous improvement.

As the tourism industry evolves, staying up-to-date with emerging trends and adapting your marketing strategies is essential. By being innovative, customer-centric, and adaptable, you can position your tourism business for long-term success.

In conclusion, by implementing the strategies and techniques outlined in this article, you can effectively market your tourism business, attract more customers, and thrive in the ever-evolving travel industry.

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Creating a successful tourism marketing campaign.

Looking to craft the perfect tourism marketing campaign? Read through our helpful tips and tactics to successfully promote your tourism business.

Tourism marketing is a dynamic field vital in promoting destinations, attracting travelers, and boosting local economies. In today’s digital age, tourism marketing has evolved to encompass various strategies and tactics.

Join us as we explore the ins and outs of tourism marketing, why it’s essential, best practices for crafting effective campaigns, common challenges marketers face, and inspiring examples of successful marketing campaigns.

What is Tourism Marketing?

Tourism marketing is a specialized branch of marketing that focuses on promoting destinations, attractions, accommodations, and other tourism-related products or services to travelers and tourists. Its primary goal is to attract visitors to a particular location, region, or destination, and it plays a crucial role in driving economic growth for tourism-dependent areas.

For example, Kate Cox, Marketing Coordinator for Cochise Country Tourism and Economic Council, created a cross-channel marketing campaign with TEGNA’s 12 News to attract new visitors to Cochise County , a unique set of communities in the southwest corner of Arizona.  

“The communities I represent through the council are very unique. They all have different multi-faceted opportunities and events for people to come and enjoy,” says Cox. “My goal is to get people to come down to the county and have a great time and really see what we’re all about,” says Cox.

With this campaign, Cox was able to accomplish a common goal in the travel and tourism industry: Creating awareness and building the brand by showcasing a destination’s unique features, attractions, experiences, natural beauty, cultural heritage, historical sites, recreational activities, and culinary offerings that a destination has to offer.

Why Are Tourism Marketing Campaigns Important?

Not only do campaigns play a pivotal role in attracting travelers, both domestically and internationally, by showcasing the distinctive features, natural beauty, historical treasures, and unique experiences that destinations have to offer, but they can also be a driving force behind: 

• Economic Growth: Tourism generates revenue and can significantly boost a region’s economy.
• Job Creation : New job opportunities in local communities come with a growing
• Sustainable Development: Promoting responsible travel practices that protect the environment and preserve local cultures.

However, for Cox, the  Cochise County campaign is near and dear to her heart because it’s where she lives, is passionate about the area, and personally wants to see it thrive.

“I may be partial, but I think Cochise County is really an unsung part of Arizona,” says Cox. “By the end of this campaign, I want folks to come out and visit Cochise County and see why I love to live here.

How to Craft a Strong Tourism Marketing Campaign

In a world where travel enthusiasts seek authentic experiences and breathtaking destinations, rest, relaxation, and reunions with loved ones, the art of tourism marketing has evolved into a vital skill. From selecting the right target market to harnessing the potential of video content, here are a few strategies that can help beckon wanderers to embark on unforgettable journeys.

1. Select Your Markets and Audience

Identify your target audience and their preferences. You can use insights gathered from drawing insights from our e-book, “ Understanding Today’s Leisure Traveler ,” to tailor your marketing efforts to appeal to specific demographics, such as families, adventure seekers, or luxury travelers. For example,

• Millennials and Gen Z are most likely to visit trendy locations
• Older generations tend to travel to check places off a bucket list
• Younger generations are driven by experiences that contribute to their overall identity
• Relaxation is a priority for Americans and the top motivator when planning a vacation
• Millennials/Gen Z is +9% more likely to prioritize spending on experiences, like traveling, over goods
• Audiences resonate with a few creative elements showcased in travel ads : cinematic escapism, realism, and details to spark planning ideas.

2. Partner with Local TV News Stations

“ Understanding Today’s Leisure Traveler ” found that tourists and travelers rely on local news stations to educate and inform them of nearby tourist activities and the latest travel trends. Collaborate with local news stations to promote your destination. Local media can provide valuable exposure and credibility. A halo effect also comes with local TV advertising , and tourism brands should incorporate local TV news into their media plan .

3. Focus on Deals and Staycations

As inflation concerns continue to linger for American consumers, they aren’t cutting travel budgets altogether. They’re just shifting how and where they’re traveling. “ Understanding Today’s Leisure Travele r ” reveals that hometown tourists and staycations are rising. Attract locals looking to get away while staying closer to home and highlight cost-effective travel options and staycation opportunities within your region.

4. Take Advantage of Influencer Marketing

We found that social media have inspired 75% of our survey respondents to travel to a specific destination. Collaborate with travel influencers – such as those on a local lifestyle show –  who can authentically showcase your destination to their engaged followers. It’s a tactic that worked great for Cox and Cochise County, as she could showcase her destination on Arizona Midday and benefit from the show’s hosts and its credibility.

5. Leverage Video

Based on our travel survey, 83% of consumers actively engage with travel-related content, underscoring the indispensable role of video content in your marketing and advertising strategy. Furthermore, 79% of respondents find travel videos engaging, and 66% rely on such videos to aid in their vacation planning. In comparison, 60% appreciate staying up-to-date with the latest travel trends through this medium.

Harness the power of visually captivating video content to showcase your brand’s overall tourism experience. Focus on the unique experiences travelers can have in your destination, whether culinary delights, outdoor adventures, or cultural destinations. Immersing viewers in high-quality visuals and videos can leave a lasting impression, igniting their imagination and fostering a genuine connection with your destination.

6. Create a Cross-Channel Campaign

Embracing cross-channel marketing opens up a spectrum of advantages that can ultimately enhance customer engagement, boost conversion rates, foster loyalty, and propel your business toward resounding success. Consider crafting a cohesive and seamless customer journey through the following channels:

• TV Advertising: TV advertising is an effective tool for broadcasting promotional messages, commercials, or content to reach a wide and diverse audience.
• CTV/OTT Streaming: Deliver promotional content through online streaming platforms to extend reach, leverage targeting and retargeting, and use reporting data to optimize campaigns.
• Geotargeting: Utilize geotargeting to reach potential visitors in specific geographic areas, ensuring your marketing efforts are highly relevant.
• Contextual Advertising: Use contextual advertising to deliver personalized messages to potential travelers based on their interests and online behavior.

Common Challenges of Tourism Marketing Campaigns

While tourism marketing can be highly rewarding, it also comes with its share of challenges:

• Seasonality: Many destinations experience peak and off-peak seasons, challenging managing demand year-round.
• Competition: The tourism industry is competitive, and standing out can be tough.
• Budget Constraints: Allocating budgets for marketing can be tricky, especially for smaller destinations.
• Changing Consumer Preferences: Travel trends evolve, and keeping up with shifting consumer preferences is vital. Unpack the latest trends in our e-book here.

Examples of Tourism Marketing Campaigns

Kate Cox and Cochise County is just one example of a tremendous cross-channel marketing campaign in partnership with TEGNA’s 12 News in Phoenix. The campaign leveraged TV, streaming, and digital elements to attract visitors from near and far.

These elements included content featured on Arizona Midday to engage a wide and diverse audience, including their target audience of foodies and wine lovers, outdoor adventurists, young families, and culture and history buffs.

The campaign was also bolstered through strategic streaming and retargeting efforts, resulting in impressive Video Completion Rates (VCR) of 97% and retargeting click-through at nearly three times higher than industry averages, affirming the partnership’s success and paving the way for future collaboration.

Get Your Tourism Marketing Campaign Off the Ground with TEGNA

Ready to launch your tourism marketing campaign? Successful tourism marketing requires the right marketing partner to help unleash your creativity, understand your target audience, and create the right media plan to generate results.

TEGNA delivers proven results through simplified multi-platform advertising solutions that connect your business to the audiences that matter most via Broadcast TV , OTT Streaming Advertising , and Digital Solutions , including Targeted Display and retargeting well as campaign measurement ​and optimization with ​ TEGNA Attribution . 

Let’s get in touch to explore how we can help your tourism brand attract travelers, boost your local economy, and create unforgettable experiences for visitors to your destination.

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Destination marketing in tourism: what brands need to know.

In Blog , marketing .

By Tom Mcloughlin, Founder, SEO Travel

When it comes to booking a travel experience, what drives you to visit a new destination? Have you been given a recommendation by a friend? Was the location promoted by a publication or influencer whose judgement you trust? Or have you seen the destination promoted in video ads, on billboards or in print, and been inspired by the captivating visuals and promise of a unique travel experience.

If your answer is the latter, then you’ve had a firsthand experience of the impact of destination marketing.

From promoting an entire country to trying to get more people to visit an unheard-of town or village, destination marketing uses a range of engaging techniques to sell the benefits and features of a location to inspire more people to visit it. This post discusses the use of destination marketing in the tourism industry , explaining how this approach impacts tourism and what brands need to know to make an impression in this sector with their destination marketing campaigns.

What is Destination Marketing?

Destination marketing is a specific approach used by brands in the travel and tourism industry to promote a specific location. Whilst more conventional travel marketing tends to showcase the service or product of a travel company, destination marketing illustrates the features and benefits of a place to get more people to come to it.

The overall aim of destination marketing is to increase customer awareness of a location. By promoting it as a desirable place to visit, the idea is that travellers will think of that destination when they decide to plan a holiday and want to go there. And if it’s a travel company that is promoting a destination, the idea is that the customer will be motivated to book their trip through this brand.

Whilst destination marketing is used by plenty of travel brands as a way of promoting the tours, accommodation or services they offer in specific countries, it’s also a key method of marketing in the tourism industry. Tourist boards and local authorities often rely on destination marketing as a way to promote their town, region or even country with the intention of getting more travellers to visit to boost the local economy and improve their reputation as a holiday destination.

How Does Destination Marketing Impact Tourism?

When used as part of a tourism marketing strategy, destination marketing can have a big impact on how many people visit a location, the kind of travellers that book trips there, and the overall image and reputation of a place.

The goal of this approach is to generate more interest in visiting a location, which increases tourism by bringing more people to an area on holidays and day trips. When done successfully, this can impact a range of factors.

Perhaps the biggest impact that destination marketing has on tourism is that it can massively boost the local economy. Bringing more tourists to an area is better for all kinds of businesses, not just ones providing accommodation and food, and enough growth in popularity also means that there’s the capacity for more businesses to open or expand to meet increasing demand.

Having more people visit a location because of successful destination marketing has the potential to improve its reputation through word of mouth, as if tourists have a good time during their trip they’re likely to recommend a visit to others. This increases interest in a destination further, helping a positive reputation to reach a wider audience and bring in even more tourists.

Destination marketing can also have an impact on the kind of tourism that a location receives, depending on the approach used in marketing campaigns and material. For example, if a destination is advertised as a prime place to visit for outdoor pursuits like hiking or cycling, the majority of the tourists that are going to visit will be interested in these kinds of activities. This means that the location’s most successful attractions and facilities will appeal to this demographic, which may lead local businesses to change their offering to remain relevant.

A more negative impact that destination marketing may have is that it can lead to over-tourism. There are many recorded instances where the popularity of a particular destination has led to environmental damage, locals getting driven out by rising living costs, and overcrowding to the point where the destination gains a negative reputation for being too busy.

This isn’t an issue that many destination marketing companies have to deal with, but it is a potential outcome to bear in mind.

How to Make It Work for Your Brand

Whether you’re a marketing agency working with a tourism board or as part of a travel and tourism marketing campaign, or a travel brand wanting to take a ‘tourism’ angle in your destination marketing approach, here are some of the most important things to remember when it comes to delivering a successful destination marketing campaign.  

Find What Makes You Unique

When you’re marketing a destination with the aim of attracting more visitors, what’s going to have the biggest pull is the appeal of a unique attraction or experience. Therefore, all of your destination marketing content should revolve around this unique selling point so that you have the best chance of standing out against competitive destinations.

The more specific your destination, the easier it will be to draw out a unique quality. When marketing a country or a region to increase tourism this can be harder, so instead of trying to identify an attraction or feature that stands out, think about advertising a unique travel experience that the location can provide.

Build your entire destination marketing campaign around this unique selling point, even if it’s not that explicit in some approaches. It will help to deliver a much more cohesive campaign overall and ensure that your location sticks in potential visitors’ minds .

Choose a Traveller Demographic

Any kind of marketing campaign works best when you have a specific audience in mind. Advertising a location is no different.

Whilst you may think that promoting a location as part of tourism efforts should try and target as many potential visitors as possible, it also means that a lot of your marketing efforts are going to be quite vague as they try to appeal to numerous different groups. Sure, you’ll still get a reasonable response from some people that are engaged by your promotion of the place, but conversion rates tend to be lower when you don’t have a specific demographic in mind.

After you’ve identified what it is that makes your destination unique, establish the kind of traveller to whom this unique factor is going to appeal. You should create profiles for typical people within this demographic, detailing the kinds of travel experiences they enjoy, their pain points when visiting new destinations, and any particular content formats or marketing techniques they respond well to or frequently engage with.

Once you have this target audience in mind, try and shape your destination marketing around them. You may be appealing to a smaller group, but you’re likely to get a much higher percentage of them to engage with what you’re sharing.

Make it Personal

One of the most effective techniques you can use in a destination marketing campaign is using a personal hook to make your content more engaging. 

This is particularly useful when you’re simply promoting a location, as your main intention is to get your target audience to start picturing themselves there so that they develop the desire to visit. It’s much easier for them to do this when you present a personal, relatable experience with your content, be that in text, video or audio format.

One of the simplest ways to make destination marketing personal is to capture real people experiencing the location, focusing on finding the best ways to present different sensory elements. Video is one of the best formats to do this, especially when you create content with lots of stunning visual elements that elicits an emotional response.

Getting local people to tell stories about a destination is also a brilliant technique for making your destination marketing content more personal, which also works really well in a written or audio format. This also allows you to share exclusive insight into a place, giving a more authentic feel to your marketing material.

Recognise Trends, but Think Long-Term

The popularity of plenty of destinations is affected by travel trends. Whether your destination offers a desirable climate, activity or cultural experience, responding to trends to capture audience interest as it peaks can seem like the ideal marketing strategy.

The thing to remember with trends however is that they don’t often last for long. Your destination may be all the rage for a single season, but hype often quickly dies down as travellers find something new to get excited about, meaning that what was once ‘trendy’ about your location may not stay that way for long.

Acknowledging and capitalising on trends as part of your destination marketing campaign is a good idea, but it’s important not to put all of your eggs in this brand new basket and keep long-term planning in mind as well. The last thing you want is to splurge all your resources on an approach that’s only going to be relevant for a few months. So use more instant channels like social media and email to respond to trends, and ensure that things like written and video content and advertisements are more evergreen.

Utilise Reputation and Association

Influencer marketing is an incredibly useful approach to include in your destination marketing strategy if possible. A key objective for destination marketing companies is to increase awareness of a location, and having an affiliation with a well-known figure can have a really positive impact on this.

The more famous or recognized the person you work with is, the more attention your marketing campaigns are going to get. But whilst we’d all like to dream of partnering with an A-list celebrity to promote our target destination, this probably won’t be a reality for most brands, which is where working with influencers comes in.

Whether they’re known for their presence on social media, in print or on a video channel like YouTube, we recommend working with either a travel influencer or someone who has a following that overlaps with the demographic you’re trying to appeal to. Having your destination endorsed and associated with someone that already has a trusted reputation will bring positive associations to your location and increase the reach of your promotional material.

Deliver What You’re Advertising

This last piece of advice might seem obvious, but it’s very important not to oversell your target location in any of your marketing material. You’re obviously going to promote the best version of your destination to catch as much attention as possible, but when people do actually visit you need to ensure that they’ll experience what they were promised.

If the place you advertise is nothing like the place visitors arrive, your destination marketing campaign is quickly going to stop bringing in any kind of tourism. It’s okay to romanticise and glamourise aspects to engage your target audience, but ensure that you’re promising an experience that you can deliver on if you want word to spread about your location in a positive way.

Whilst destination marketing was initially just associated with tourist boards and adverts for different countries, it’s an approach that has been used by a wide variety of travel brands as a new way to reach customers and subtly promote their services. It’s still important to understand the best practices and the potential impact if you’re using destination marketing in tourism to help raise awareness and improve the image of a location, and we recommend you check out our other posts in the destination marketing series if you’re looking for more information and inspiration.

If you need more information or help with your travel marketing strategy or want to find out more about approaches like destination marketing, get in touch with SEO Travel for a chat and to find out more about the range of marketing services that we offer.

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