By Blake Ng — 13 Jul 2017

In order to succeed as a tour and activity operator, you need to attract travelers who are interested in visiting your destination. Whether you’re based out of a well-known vacation destination such as the Grand Canyon, or you offer authentic experiences in a quiet ranch town in Wyoming, you need to work together with other suppliers to promote your destination as a whole. Destination marketing is a critical component of your overall marketing strategy, and these are the best practices that you need to implement in your destination marketing strategy:

#1 Go Mobile

In the year 2016 alone, Google noted that travel industry mobile searches increased by more than 50 percent! This astounding increase is great news for your destination marketing plan — as long as you’re running a mobile-friendly website. You need to be able to accept direct bookings on your website from any mobile device. Mobile bookings used to be solely made up of spontaneous travelers who make last-minute bookings, but even those who plan ahead are relying on their smartphones and tablets for the sake of convenience.

#2 Remember These 3 Components: Person, Time and Message

When you are promoting your destination as an ideal travel locale, you need to know who you are marketing to. If your destination is a great place to enjoy an adventure, then targeting Millennials, solo travelers and couples is your best bet. Conversely, if your destination is geared toward relaxing activities and quiet evenings, then you might want to target retirees and luxury travelers. Getting the right message to the right market segment at the right moment is critical to the success of your destination marketing strategy.

#3 Create Fresh, Valuable Content

You know that fresh content is a critical component of remaining visible online, but content doesn’t always have to mean written posts. Blogs are a great way to give your target market more insight into your destination, but visual content is becoming increasingly powerful. Videos and high-resolution photographs are absolutely necessary to promoting your destination to travelers who are searching for their next vacation spot.

#4 Dabble in Virtual Reality

Marketers in all industries are quickly realizing the power of VR. The travel industry, in particular, is well suited to VR marketing techniques. Destination marketing organizations who take advantage of VR technology now will be at the onset of this trend, and will be able to launch their destination to new heights amongst the tech-savvy travelers who already love these immersion opportunities.

#5 Innovate Rather Than Promote

If your destination marketing organization can offer something completely new and different from anyone else, then you will be able to stand out in a crowded and competitive travel industry. People of all ages are placing a higher priority on experiences rather than collecting stuff, which means they are looking to spend more money on travel. Be creative and showcase something no one has ever seen before.

Find out more about destination marketing and how it applies to your destination by downloading the Rezdy distribution ebook now.

 

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