| Article Index |
|---|
| Online Travel Market |
| Travel Booking |
| Travel Industry Online Developments |
|
View Entire Article |
Travel Planning
According to travel market research firm PhocusWright, social networking is one of the most powerful forces driving travel planning today. The firm found that social media use among travellers is growing far faster than the travel industry itself. Unique monthly visitors to social travel sites jumped 34% between the first half of 2008 and the last half of 2009.
comScore recently announced that TripAdvisor, with 35,382,000 unique monthly visitors, has become the #1 most popular travel website, surpassing Expedia by over 2 million visits.
PhocusWright also found that Facebook users who are referred to travel booking sites are far more likely to book travel than those who are referred via search engines like Google.
As many as 86% of travellers using search engines in their planning efforts, SEM and SEO still play a critical role in creating awareness and driving traffic to travel sites. But they are more of a gateway than a decision driver.
(Mediapost.com, August 2010)
A survey conducted by travel social network WAYN for the World Travel & Tourism Council shows an interesting picture of use of digital in travel. The study, carried out in conjunction with Frommer's Budget Travel magazine, asked nearly 3,580 people (780 US, 2800 non-US) a range of questions about how they plan, book and use technology with travel.
Which of the following do you use most frequently when travelling?
- Mobile maps: 56% (US) and 63% (non-US)
- Social networks: 38% (US) and 64% (non-US)
- Virtual/3D tourism: 30% (US) and 27% (non-US)
- Blogs: 32% (US) and 22% (non-US)
- Podcasts: 9% (US) and 7% (non-US)
- Virtual worlds: 0% (US) and 10% (non-US)
- RSS feeds: 7% (US) and 11% (non-US)
When planning a trip, how many websites do you usually visit?
- 1: 1% (US) and 5% (non-US)
- 2-5: 34% (US) and 48% (non-US)
- 6-10: 35% (US) and 27% (non-US)
- 11-15: 10% (US) and 7% (non-US)
- 16-20: 4% (US) and 3% (non-US)
- 20+: 16% (US) and 10% (non-US)
Which of the following do you use when travelling overseas?
- Onboard wifi: 11% (US) and 31% (non-US)
- Twitter: 3% (US) and 17% (non-US)
- Facebook: 21% (US) and 63% (non-US)
- Phone booking: 3% (US) and 16% (non-US)
- Metasearch engines: 41% (US) and 8% (non-US)
- Digital guides: 12% (US) and 24% (non-US)
- Location GPS apps: 12% (US) and 25% (non-US)
- Read/update blogs: 28% (US) and 22% (non-US)
Which of these services would you try with a trusted provider?
- Booking via mobile: 53% (US) and 76% (non-US)
- Paying for in-flight web: 37% (US) and 43% (non-US)
- Barcode check-in: 66% (US) and 43% (non-US)
One of the interesting elements of the survey is that the US respondents came from the Budget Travel audience, whereas the non-US were all WAYN members, perhaps signifying the differences in adoption on the social-type questions.
(tnooz.com, August 2010)
According to travel market research firm PhocusWright, social networking is one of the most powerful forces driving travel planning today. The firm found that social media use among travelers is growing far faster than the travel industry itself. Unique monthly visitors to social travel sites jumped 34% between the first half of 2008 and the last half of 2009.
The company found that Facebook users who are referred to travel booking sites are far more likely to book travel than those who are referred via search engines like Google. That's the power of "wisdom of friends," which was a key factor behind TripAdvisor's new Trip Friend initiative. TripAdvisor, which attracts 34 million unique users a month and houses more than 35 million traveler reviews, worked very closely with Facebook to create the Trip Friends application. Trip Friends harnesses the concept of Facebook's social graph to enable trip planners to get travel reviews and ask questions of trusted friends. The company reasoned that you'll pay a lot more attention to the advice of like-minded acquaintances than complete strangers.
(eTN eTurboNews - Global Travel Industry News, June 2010)
The team at Ideahatching.com has pull together the following quick tips for Twittering in travel and tourism.
The Twitter Do's:
1. Use Twitter. Google indexes Twitter Feeds and drives traffic to your website!
2. Strategize. Plan ahead with an editorial schedule to tie in with planned events, promotions, etc.
3. Be consistent with profile information i.e. using brand "http://www.twitter.com/acoupleofchicks" or "http://twitter.com/HfxNovaScotia" as name, URL, descriptor.
4. Use your ‘brand' as graphic background; see ex: http://twitter.com/BayOfFundy.
5. Use 3&3 rule - three tweets and three re-tweets per day. (but make sure it is authentic)
6. Tweet smart; tweet at different times throughout the day; use ‘pending tweets' functionality to schedule tweets outside of your work day but in time zones relevant to potential target audiences.
7. Use auto-welcomes i.e. "Thank you for following Tourism Fredericton - your source for things to see and do in Fredericton, the Provincial Capital of New Brunswick. Want to find out even more about what's happening? Check out our other Twitter feeds...." note: auto follows are not always a "do" but for Destinations a good practice
8. Tweet using your targeted keywords.
9. Use pics and website URL's (remember to use URL shortener like tinyurl.com).
10. Proper Twitter etiquette is to follow those who follow you - but be cautious of "cleaning" your list of who you follow regularly.
11. Follow your competitors and their followers.
12. Speak and engage with your audience; Differentiate yourselves from being broadcasters (i.e. online newspapers on Twitter) to rich content providers. (this is a key point!)
13. Link to your Twitter feeds (& show them on your site) from all that you do online & offline; see: http://www.travelportland.com/visitors/twitter.html and http://www.halifaxsociable.com
14. Follow other DMO's or destinations and don't be afraid of some back and forth conversation - could spark something interesting!
15. Follow partners in your communities; Hotels, attractions etc already on Twitter and reach out and engage with them
16. Have fun! Bring out your inner quirky-self. (the Chicks certainly have!!!) Check out some of our other Chicks on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hrmchick - we are a quirky bunch!
Twitter Don't Do's:
PCMag's Top 13 Don'ts:
1. Don't live-tweet TV shows.
2. Don't say anything that could get you fired or prevent you from getting a job.
3. Don't be boring.
4. Don't forget the Twitter lingo: RT is retweet, and @name is how you respond or give props to someone.
5. Don't tweet more than ten times a day, or more than five times an hour.
6. Don't reply to every single tweet.
7. Don't tweet drunk.
8. Don't tell us about something cool or life-changing without a link or picture.
9. Don't retweet something and leave off the original Twitter poster.
10. Don't ignore people who send you a direct message or a reply.
11. Don't #hashtag every topic.
12. Don't whine about people not following you.
13. Don't tweet your bathroom habits.
Ideahatching.com also added the following other Twitter don't do's:
14. don't respond to everything too quickly (although tempting) think and then tweet.
15. don't twitter stalk (don't be offended if you don't get a response to every tweet you send or RT you offer up).
16. don't tweet and drive.
17. don't tweet marketing messages unless your audience is ready to receive them from you.
(Ideahatching.com, May 2010)
The future of online travel is that the industry is moving from a transaction fulfilment model to platforms, systems, content and technology that cover the whole spectrum of the travel cycle/funnel/bow tie, according to a Tnooz article by Tim Hughes. This is to incorporate inspiration, recommendation and discovery into the online consumer experience as much as transactions.
After 15 years of online travel being about online transactions, we are moving from answering closed questions ("How much for a ticket to New York?") to answering open ones ("Where should I go next?").
For consumers to get an answer to an open-ended question it will be necessary for them to use a booking or query widget that does not require the customer to know where they are going. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, May 2010)
For wired travellers everywhere, Twitter is increasingly becoming the go-to site for everything from getting hotel recommendations to finding midtrip dinner companions, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The travel industry, it seems, has good reason to count on tweeters; while only about 46% of all internet users report using social networks like Twitter, a recent survey by travel-research firm PhoCusWright found that the figure jumps to 60% when you count just people who buy travel online. With the economy still keeping many would-be vacationers at home, getting in front of so many proven travellers is a no-brainer for companies.
What's more, Twitter gives providers a chance to spot unhappy customers and, ideally, to fix the problem before their griping has a chance to spread through cyberspace.
But by all accounts, travelling by Twitter remains a bit unclear. To begin with, the technology is so new that travellers and companies alike are still working out the best ways to use it. Too many companies are missing the chance to engage travellers with tips or news, according to PhoCusWright, and instead are using the site only for self-promotion. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, April 2010)
Travellers conduct their travel research via the internet more than any other source, according to a study by Google and OTX published in 2009 and entitled "The Traveler's Road to Decision". Logically, these consumers are checking reviews before making reservations. The report finds that 41% make leisure travel plans and 50% make business travel plans according to the reviews they read. Taking it one step further, more consumers are now submitting their own reviews to share with others.
The study also finds that slightly more travellers use general search engines, instead of travel search sites or online travel agencies, when planning trips. 64% of consumers surveyed use search engines for personal travel and 56% for business travel. The travel sites also fared well, but don't have quite the traffic, with 52% using them for personal travel and 55% for business travel. Talking hotel specifics, 81% of business travellers depend on the search engines, compared to 67% of leisure travellers.
The study indicates that YouTube is the most used site for travel videos, with 81% looking there for business travel and 79% for personal travel. Yahoo was second with business at 44% and personal at 32%. At every step of travel research, consumers are turning to online videos to help them make decisions. When considering a trip, 63% watch videos for personal travel and 66% for business travel. And as much as consumers are creating reviews, they're also starting to upload their own travel videos - personal at 6% and business at 16%. A picture is worth a thousand words, and online hotel videos can help your property capture more guests.
For the last few years now, the research to booking window has expanded, but the booking to travel timeframe has significantly decreased. While travellers are often holding out until the last minute for the best deals, thanks largely in part to the poor economy, Google's tools indicate that it doesn't mean hotel internet marketing efforts are failing. Another study by Google supports this finding by showing that average research to booking time runs as far out as 18 weeks out, especially with leisure travellers.
Every area of travel was included in the study, including hotels, flights, business, leisure and more, with over 5,000 consumers, who travelled at least once during a six-month period, surveyed. (TravelDailyNews, January 2010)
A new report by Amadeus has identified the emergence of the "Amateur-Expert Traveller" - who is more knowledgeable, more adventurous and more likely to live in an emerging economy than ever before - and whose rise coincides with innovations in the trip experience and the growth of niche travel in the post-recessionary environment.
Based on primary research with 2,719 travel professionals and 30 thought-leaders and senior executives worldwide from companies such as Kayak, Forrester and Qatar Airways, Amadeus' report highlights three significant developments:
- The Amateur-Expert Traveller: the average consumer has been empowered by the internet, and the dynamic of the relationship between travel companies and their customers is changing. 73% of industry professionals welcome the greater knowledge brought by user-generated content, which drives up customer expectations and creates new opportunities for travel agents to share their expertise with increasingly adventurous travellers.
- The responsive journey: 62% of those surveyed think that the journey experience is ripe for technological innovation. The maturing of the mobile internet will give rise to massive innovation around the trip itself.
- All niches great and small: travel companies' revenue streams are becoming more evenly spread over a wider range of products. The traditional 80/20 sales distribution curve no longer applies to 38% of respondents, for whom 80% of their revenue was contributed by 60% or more of their products. Similarly, niche travel offers present opportunities for travel companies. Those surveyed identified adventure travel (83%), religious travel (55%), and weddings (45%) as key growth areas for specialist holidays. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, November 2009)
Smart phones are becoming a traveller's preferred tool for managing post booking activities and finding relevant information, according to a survey by the Sabre Travel Network.
The Sabre Travel Network indicates that this trend has seemingly penetrated all ages across all continents, highlighting the tremendous opportunity for travel agencies and suppliers to leverage mobile solutions to demonstrate value to their customers and creatively reach target audiences.
The findings of the survey show that:
- The majority of travellers surveyed had a smart phone (more than 2/3), with North American travellers most likely to own one (78%) and APAC travellers least likely (46%).
- Daily usage is highest for e-mail at 63% with the internet not far behind at almost half.
- Nearly half of all travellers are 40 years old or older, demonstrating that the exploding use of mobile services is not strictly the domain of younger travellers.
- All travellers surveyed are willing to accept advertising with free use of travel applications.
(Travelmole, November 2009)
2010 will be another bumper growth year for online marketing spend in travel, according to a survey of 225 travel companies, initiated by Frommer's Unlimited in conjunction with TravelMole. The survey found that over half of those surveyed indicated they plan to increase spending in 2010. Of that group, half plan to increase their budgets by 11-50%.
The survey also revealed that engaging with social media is the biggest priority for travel marketers, followed by search engine optimisation, and content as the next largest areas of increasing spend. Two thirds of respondents plan to increase spending on content. Social media marketing is gathering attention and budget share with 60% reporting that they plan to increase spending this year.
Among the other areas respondents ranked as growing in importance are destination content (70% this year as compared to 20% last year) and addressing international markets with investment in multilingual content as a priority.
In terms of cost per visitor, 76% reported a cost per visitor across their online marketing mix of under $5 with 36% being less than $1 and 39% falling between $1 - 5.
Spending for online content continued to track closely to online marketing budget trends this year; however, there was a higher priority on content than online marketing. There was an increase in the percent of respondents that plan to increase spend on content or keep it at the same level, 95% this year compared to 90% last year. The majority this year (66%), plan to increase spending with an increase of 11-50% being the most common in this group. Only 5% planned to decrease their online content budget this year, compared to 10% last year.
Overall, there seems to be a much higher interest in improving the broad range of content offered by travel sites. Search engine optimisation continues to be a top priority for web content budgets this year, selected by over 84% of respondents (up from 67% in 2008). In tandem with this spending, unique content has shown a dramatic increase now being included in 81% of people's plans, nearly double last year's of just 41%. Adding destination content was in the plans of 80% of responders, up from 57% last year, as were adding events content up from 26% to 70%. There is evidence that companies are looking to international markets more this year, with the number planning to invest in multi-lingual content up from 13% to 79%. Adding to or improving hotel and property descriptions is also up from 26% to 76% and image galleries increased from 28% to 75%.(EyeForTravel, November 2009)
Destination marketers aren't taking full advantage of the web's potential to attract travel consumers, according to 'Building a Destination Website' in the Wanderlust Report, Volume 1, Number 2. In a recent issue of their online newsletter, destination branding agency Wanderlust shared best practices for building a website that both travellers and search engines will love.
Mark D. Shipley, President and Chief Strategic Officer of Wanderlust, commented that considering the maturity of the industry's online presence compared to most other categories, he was continually amazed at how few resort, destination and attraction websites follow best practices for site design, content strategy and search engine optimization.
Wanderlust indicated that in the old web 1.0 days, marketers used websites as 'brochureware'; a place to point campaigns in other media, a place to close the deal.
But things have changed. Today, it's perfectly reasonable to expect your website to attract travellers early in the buying process through inbound links, organic searches and paid searches, which are often necessary to gain traction. At the same time, your website should help nurture consumers until they're ready to buy. To accomplish these aggressive goals, websites must offer content that is compelling - not just to humans seeking travel information at all stages of the buying process, but also to search engines on a quest for relevance.
Why cater to two such diverse audiences? Upwards of 70% of all travel planning begins online. The place most people start? While Bing has made inroads recently, it's still Google. The position of Google as the de facto search engine of choice rests squarely on the company's ability to deliver the most relevant search results. Google goes to great lengths to evaluate every page on every website, indexing and ranking each based on its relevance to a particular search term.
Shipley walked through an example of online search functionality. When you search for 'family-friendly resort in the Poconos,' Google wants to make sure that you get what you're looking for, so the search engine carefully screens sites for content that matches your keywords. Unfortunately, the resorts aren't doing their part to facilitate successful searches. On the first page of results from this sample search, only one in ten listings is actually a resort. The other nine are aggregators and repackagers who make my search more difficult and commodify the resorts competing for my business.
Clearly, developing a successful and attractive travel website for today's sophisticated internet marketplace requires more than a flashy interface or a repurposing of resort collateral. It requires an understanding of what consumers are searching for and how you can leverage Internet search technology to maximize site traffic. Shipley concludes that the effectiveness of your site hinges on the strategies and decisions you make right from the beginning. (Travel Industry Wire, October 2009)
Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) are among the strongest presences in the travel Twitterverse. Some estimates suggest that more than 300 CVBs have Twitter accounts, according to a study by Development Counsellors International. The company examined how those bureaus are using Twitter.
The study analysed nearly 3,000 tweets from the largest CVBs in the US over a 30-day period in May 2009. The results showed that Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, San Francisco and Tampa Bay are the top US destinations to market their cities via Twitter.
The study also documents what, exactly, these travel marketers are tweeting about, though not necessarily how effective those tweets are at strengthening business. The breakdown is as follows:
- Announcements about upcoming local events and news: 54%
- Social tweets: 28%
- Replies to followers: 20%
- Deals (both travel and non-travel related): 17%
- Re-tweets from community partners: 13%
The study's authors suggest that marketing effectiveness goes beyond the amount of followers or updates a CVB makes. While the bureaus the study ranked as successful, or the "Tweet Elite," did have large numbers of followers and updates, they also ranked highest in connecting with potential visitors, community partners and other important constituents. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, July 2009)
With the rapid expansion of the internet and online marketing, the vacation rental market is one of the hottest growing sectors in travel and tourism. Previously hampered by the highly fragmented industry, a lack of brand awareness and misconceptions ranging from pricing to security, vacation rentals are now becoming a considerable force in the online travel arena. Some experts say that the total spent on vacation rentals is equal to that of the cruise industry, but nobody really knows for sure because at least half the properties are owned and marketed by individuals and families, leaving no central source of data. What is certain, however, is that many of these owners are potentially prime customers for companies offering marketing and sales assistance.
HomeAway was founded just four years ago, but has already grown to become the leading vacation rental marketplace with more than 425,000 property listings worldwide. Recently ranked seventh largest travel website in terms of traffic by ComScore, the company reports 25 million visits each month across its global network of vacation rental Web sites.
Europeans are much more familiar with the concept of renting a holiday home than Americans. Unlike Europe where traditional offline companies such as James Villas, Interhome and others have been involved in the market for decades, North America was slow to notice the growth in this travel sector. So when it did start, it went straight to the World Wide Web. (EyeForTravel, July 2009)
Information acquisition has been identified as the main reason why tourists participate in online communities, according to research, aimed at enhancing tourism-related organisations' understanding of social networking and overseen by Bournemouth University academics.
The research, recently published in the Information Technology & Tourism Journal, also identified Social-Psychological and Hedonic (enjoyment) benefits as key influencers in the participation and attitude towards sites such as Tripadvisor.com, VirtualTourist.com and LonelyPlanet.com.
eTourism expert Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, from BU's International Centre for Tourism & Hospitality Research, and Jin Young Chung from the Texas A&M University, USA, examined the perceived benefits and participation in online travel communities to help tourism-related organisations utilise online communities for their marketing strategies.
Results showed that Information Acquisition (obtaining up-to date information) was found to be the most influential factor for users of tourist social networks, followed by Social-Psychological factors such as seeking identity, forming relationships and seeking a sense of belonging, and Hedonic benefits including having fun with content, entertainment and being amused.
The research was carried out on internet users in South Korea, which has one of the largest populations of internet users in the world. A questionnaire, posted on the Korean online survey website World Survey Inc, was divided into five sections: benefits from online community activities; level of participation in an online travel community; attitude toward an online travel community; frequently used information sources and demographic information.
Out of 419 internet users who completed the survey, 217 were found to be online travel community users. The majority of these users were students or full-time employed groups in their 20s to 30s.
The authors believe that tourism is one of the highest involvement industries, which means potential tourists want to get as much knowledge as they can to reduce risk. Sufficient information and up-to-date content might help the online travel community to attract internet users, including potential tourists, and allow community users to make a repeat visit. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, June 2009)
European online marketing company Xotels have listed their top 20 best practices for destination marketing organization (DMO) websites and destination marketers.
Tourism Board, Convention Bureau and Tourist Office websites can be improved quite a lot, says European online marketing company Xotels. Most of them need a makeover to be able to compete with commercial travel and tourism websites. A local or regional DMO website should help to promote not only the destination as a whole, but also hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, theatre, sports, activities in the destination itself. Ideally it would be possible to buy or reserve this through the DMO website.
But how can a DMO compete against commercial giants? Below are Xotels' top 20 best practices for DMO websites and destination marketers.
1. Sell Experience: Your destination website need to sell the experience of your city or region. The design needs to be of todays day and age and include multimedia and interactive modules. A great example of this is NYC's Official Tourism Bureau website www.nycgo.com.
2. Quality and Relevant Information: This is logical no? But too often vital information is missing, like a complete listing of restaurants and shops. The most important thing here is how to display the information. Lists or tables with names of establishments and attractions with their address phone number and website Url is not enough anymore. We need to go beyond!
3. Map Mash-up: This is a very effective way to spice up your site and give it a user friendly experience. Map mashups with filters depending on what you are looking for. A nice example is Visit Sweden.
4. Event Calendar: What is going on in your destination? When is it going on? Is your website showing all the upcoming events like races, concerts, festivals, local holiday's traditional festivities, expositions? Not only in a calendar, but also highlighted on the home page, like on www.nycgo.com for the Summer Stage concerts in New York's Central Park.
5. Search Engine Saturation: Building DMO websites we tend to put all listings of restaurants, tourist attractions etc in tables. Also hotels directories are being pulled in through an iframe quite often. Here we will have to think a step further. Ideally we would come up on the top of the first pages of search engine like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Bing even if someone is searching for anything in the destination. Each click is another vote to the credibility of your site. It will help us build more authority on the more competitive searches and key words. Part of the strategy hence should be to saturate the search engines, and create a single page for each restaurant, museum, neighbourhood, beach, event, theatre play etc. It is just a matter of configuring the importation of the content from your database correctly. And it will give great results.
6. SEO and Meta-Tags: Another weakness with many destination marketing websites. They tend to have one title for the whole site. And sometimes even use the same meta description and keywords. Each page is a unique marketing opportunity to appear in the search engines. So they should individually target unique searches. If you are not experienced, don't try to guess. Use an expert to identify the best combination and order per page. It will pay itself back in no time with a very healthy ROI.
7. Languages: Where are people your city, village or region coming from? What language do they speak? You need to cater to them in their local language when it comes to your website. Not because they would not understand English or another language. Keep in mind that search engines will always show first sites in local languages, so if you want to penetrate potential markets translation is the name of the game.
If we look at the European market you should at least have your website in 7 to 10 languages. Of course this seems like a lot of work. We know this cannot be accomplished in one day of work. But you have to get at least the main structure of your site with the most important information translated. In time you can work on the more detailed pages.
8. SEO Longtail: The Long Tail was first coined by Chris Anderson (see his blog at http://www.longtail.com) to describe the niche strategy of businesses, such as Amazon.com, that sell a large number of unique items, each in relatively small quantities. The same thought process can be applied to internet marketing or search engine optimization. We should not only focus on high traffic keyword searches like ‘hotel+destination' or ‘destination+holidays'. There is a lot of traffic volume hidden in the sum of multiple keyword or niche searches. Think of combinations like ‘family friendly hotel + destination', ‘romantic getaway+destination', ‘short vacation + destination' or ‘Easter weekend + destination'. There are many variations you can think of. Use Google Adwords to identify them, see where there is some traffic, and where there is none.
For each search you should be building pages with relevant content to this potential niche tourist or visitor market. You can use components from your database to complement a 1 or 2 paragraph introduction. Yes it is not so much extra work; you already have most of the content in terms of attractions. It is just a matter of writing a page intro and meta-tags and adding some suggestions.
The conversion ratio on average of these niche searches is higher than the general ones. So again the potential ROI will justify the effort.
9. Import Content: We all know the saying work smart, not hard. The same applies when trying to develop a tourism or convention bureau website for your destination. For instance, hotel reviews can be pulled though RSS feeds from TravelPost.com and TripAdvisor.com. Why would you try to reinvent the wheel? Use the information available to you on the internet. You have to make sure you follow their guidelines and give the appropriate credits.
Navigation: The tourists' preference of information content varies across different levels of DMO websites (country, state/province and city). So we really have to make sure navigation is well optimized and the site stays user friendly. Ease of use can be achieved with filters, text and visual navigation. It is important to keep the site well organized and intuitive.
10. Distribute Content: We have to step beyond the point that the content we develop is only for our own website. Just like importing content by using hotel review RSS Feeds, we can make our content available for other websites to use. For instance hotels could use our maps through GEORSS feeds for a tourist guide section on their own website. They could pick and choose what they would like to display by applying filters. It is also useful for tour operator and travel agency websites. It will save them the time to write this content once again. Using the RSS feeds they will create links pointing back to your site. Once again an effective search engine optimization strategy to improve your website's positioning.
11. Convert: As your website will become the undisputed expert and resource of your destination you should also focus in converting lookers into bookers. We are talking not only about hotels but you should also sell tickets to cultural events, tourist attractions, museums, sport activities etc. You can use your own booking technology for this or use an affiliate partner to provide you with the inventory. Charge hotels a small commission; let's say 5% to 8% for arguments sake, or an annual fee. Any revenues generated can be reinvested in maintaining and updating technology and in online or search engine marketing. You could also redirect the consumer to the hotel website to book directly once they have made their choice.
12. No Double Work: Too often we see Tourism Offices, Convention Bureaus and Hotel Associations building the same destination content, and compete for ranking in search engines. We suggest more cooperation between the different institutions to avoid duplicate efforts, reduce cost and multiply results for the destination.
13. How to get here? Yes you should not only promote what to do in your destination but also make it easier to get there. You should provide more information than close airports, train stations and motorway exits. Think about integration booking engine of train and bus companies. Make an affiliate page with www.skylow.com, www.skyscanner.com or www.kayak.com. Also consider advertising pages for tour operators and travel agencies to promote their special offers. Anything to make it easier for people to book, and Book Now!
14. Integrate a Blog: If you are considering featuring a destination blog, you should consider integrating it into your site. It just makes sense from an SEO perspective. It adds to your page volume and overall search engine authority. Also it will be easier to turn lookers into bookers if you don't have to refer them to another website later on.
Don't forget to tell a story if you want to interest people. Don't push your destination, but pull them in!
We also recommend making use of local residents who are passionate about their local town or citizen journalists, or like to visit your destination. You can feature a main article once per 2 weeks for instance and have a bunch of guest writers in multiple languages helping you to reach a global audience. It will also add more credibility and a feeling of authenticity to the site. Putting a face to the bloggers will help.
15. Social Network Strategy: Many organizations are attempting to build their own communities or networks and to have people communicate on the stories they want or choose. We are of the opinion this is the wrong approach. It is much more effective to participate in the discussion consumer driven groups or networks. Of course create your destination profile on FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter and travel communities. This is jump board from where you can do recommendations on people doing research on your destination. A simple example of people talking about Holiday+Barcelona on Twitter:
It is important not to be intrusive or to dominate a forum. Advice has to be objective and useful.
From your site you allow people to bookmark your url, share it with friends or become a fan of your FaceBook profile. Stories from your Blog can be distributed through RSS feeds and re-published on FaceBook, Twitter and FriendFeed. This is step 1 in viral marketing.
16. Photo and Video Sharing: Make some videos and put them on YouTube. Create your own channel as well. Do the same on Flickr with images and videos and create a stream. Search engines, and especially Google is showing images more and more in universal search results: berlin+brandenburg+gate or Amsterdam+red+light+district
Take it a step further and make a photo or video wall using the www.cooliris.com piclens. You can simply use the Flickr stream or YouTube Channel with you images and videos. You can also browse you tube and add user generated content or videos made by others to your channels favourites to also feature in your site. This way you can nicely mix up UGC with material created by you to well position your destination.
You can again consider making use of local residents and turn them into ambassadors and stakeholders in the success of your destination. Work together with a local photography club or school to get pictures and videos of local events and every day life in your destination. CNN http://www.ireport.com is a beautiful example of how citizen journalism can work well.
17. Post Trip Engagement: Now that you have built a solid infrastructure on your own site and have a following on social communities and a network of tourism blogs. Ask people for their feedback on their vacation or weekend trip. Request them to post their images and videos so you can publish them.
All their activity in relation to your destination will be noticed by their friends and connections on social networks and communities. The trick to viral marketing is to have the FaceBook generation doing the work for you.
18. Scan the Web: Set-up alerts and RSS feeds for people writing about or doing research on your destination. Using a reader like Netvibes you will avoid having to visit individual sites constantly. The search on Holidyas+Barcelona from Twitter we showed above can be turned into an RSS Feed. You can also set alerts through Google blog search or Google alerts. So many ways you can find information you want to react to or share with other potential travellers.
19. Plan First: Do your research up front. Find out what it is you want. Set some objective. Sketch it on paper to make it more visual. It will help you to figure out what it is you truly want and need.
20. International Strategy: Ensure you do not limit yourself using a local web designer. To develop a proper international destination internet marketing strategy you have to work with a company that understands multiple languages and has international experience in tourism marketing. Ask yourself the question if the local company is really the right one. You might also note my focus on marketing more then on the word design. Because the objective is promoting your destination, design is one of the tools. Design has to be driven by overall objective and SEO guidelines to ensure we get the required result.
Unfortunately we see often the choice being made for the cheaper local provider. But in the end this usually turns out costly as ROI is low. Remember you are competing in the international tourism market, so you will be better for working with experts. (HOTELMARKETING.COM, June 2009)
52% of potential travellers search 3 or more sites before booking their airfare, according to a recent survey by Bing Travel. 42% of travellers spend between 1 and 4 weeks weighing their travel options, and 17% spend more than a month. Bing Travel aims to dramatically reduce the amount of time consumers spend searching for travel information by presenting comprehensive results in one place, and to help consumers make more informed decisions with tools such as Price Predictor and Rate Indicator.
Some of Bing Travel's key features include the following:
- Price Predictor: Bing Travel uses Farecast technology to analyse more than 175 billion airfare observations and predict whether the price of a flight is going up or down. It offers people a recommendation of "Buy Now" or "Wait", including a confidence level and expected price increase or decrease over the next seven days.
- Rate Indicator: How does someone know if the rate for a hotel is a deal or not? The Rate Indicator analyses historical rate data from thousands of hotels to determine whether the current price is a good deal, or not a deal at all.
- Travel Deals: Bing Travel features up-to-the-minute flight and hotel deals for nearly 40 cities around the world.
- Comparison Flight & Hotel Search.
- Fare Alerts. Most airfare price drops last less than 48 hours, so people need to be ready to jump when a fare falls.
- Original travel editorial content.
- Deals
(EyeForTravel, June 2009)
New benchmark data shows that hospitality sites are losing 50% of potential bookings, as usability hurdles and price sensitivity take a toll on the online customer experience, according to a report by iPerceptions Inc. entitled "Hospitality Industry Report Q1 2009" (http://www.iperceptions.com/en/resource-center). The report analyzes user-generated feedback from more than 137,000 visitors to more than 100 hospitality sites from January through March 2009.
Major structural shifts are under way in the hospitality industry, according to Duff Anderson, vice president of research and development at iPerceptions. Merrill Lynch projects that 45% of hotel bookings will be made online by the end of 2010. At the same time, social media is morphing the traditional relationship between hotel and patron. In addition, economic jitters pose a systemic challenge to the industry. The Hospitality Industry Report series is designed to provide the benchmarks and hard data that marketers need to navigate these changes and make the most of emerging opportunities.
According to the iPerceptions Hospitality Industry Report Q1 2009, booking is the leading preoccupation of hotel website visitors, who are primarily arranging leisure travel (70%) rather than business travel (30%). Also directly relevant to marketers and site operators are these key findings:
- Price Sensitivity Hurts Satisfaction Scores: cost sensitivity is already having a negative impact on hospitality website satisfaction scores. The report isolated and evaluated the ten key elements of the visitor experience on a satisfaction scale of 0 to 10. Of the ten, the lowest marks went to Bottom Line (this site supports my budget goals) and Starting Point (this site is an effective starting point for my travel plans). The weak performance of these attributes, which pertain directly to price and perceived sense of value, stood in contrast to other attributes like Convenience and Discovery, and brought down the collective satisfaction rates with hospitality sites.
- Usability Pitfalls Drive Down Bookings: visitors have real trouble completing basic tasks at hospitality sites. Most noticeably, 1 of every 2 visitors who came to a site to make a reservation reported being unable to do so. While some of the reasons underpinning this low rate lie outside the purview of the web experience, the top barriers reported by visitors were problems with site navigation, the booking flow, and insufficient hotel and room information, all of which fall squarely on the plate of interactive marketers and website developers.
- The First Time Is the Worst Time: 47% of site visitors were onsite for the first time and thus not acclimated to site navigation, architecture, and functionality. Hotel websites find it difficult to cater to this segment, as evidenced by first-timers' collective iPerceptions Satisfaction Index score of 6.85, notably lower than the score of 7.51 posted by the most frequent visitors.
(Travel Industry Wire, May 2009)
An analysis has been carried out by Amadeus into how far out from their departure date travellers purchase the different elements of their trip. The results compiled from 80 travel websites showed that customers purchased their flight 44.1 days from departure, their hotel 41.7 days from departure and their car hire 19.4 days out from departure. (EyeForTravel, April 2009)
Google recently stated that the average number of terms in a travel-related search phrase has increased from 2.5 to 4+. Consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated searchers, and it is important for search marketers to embrace this opportunity to provide more relevant ads for long tail keywords, according to Kayak.com's manager search marketing Shehzad Daredia.
These longer, more specific keywords tend to be less competitive and hence less expensive; they also tend to convert better for advertisers, thus allowing advertisers to bid more for them accordingly. (EyeForTravel, April 2009)
Last Updated on Thursday, 02 September 2010 15:37
