Digital Marketing or "online marketing" for tourism has now become the key marketing focus at all stages of a traveller's interaction with your business.

If you think about this customer journey in marketing terms, and more specifically for tourism marketing, we talk about The 5 Stages of Travel which include: Dream, Plan/Research, Book, Experience and Share.

The 5 Stages of Travel

There's a lot of information about digital marketing and plenty of sources of advice - it can actually seem a bit over-whelming to try and figure out your own digital marketing strategy! This guide is aimed at providing an "overview" of all the different components that might make up your digital marketing plan, with links to information on topics you may want to delve into further.

Digital...

Selling private or “exclusive use” accommodation, tours, and activities is not a new concept in tourism, but it’s increasingly becoming a significant opportunity for tourism businesses.   

Selling your tourism product as a fully private experience is no longer just the domain of the luxury or VIP market. Businesses that have never considered or marketed this option before are now seeing a significant increase in enquiries.  

Across all sectors, the growth in demand is being driven from a broad range of travellers who are seeking a more private and meaningful experience principally because of the COVID pandemic and being more cautious about sharing spaces.  

What are the benefits?

People want to get away from the crowds and value more than ever before their own space....

Every tourism business owner knows that a great website means more direct bookings. So what makes a great website?  

We have broken it down to 5 key ingredients for you to focus on to please your potential customers while also ensuring you are pleasing Google too! 

It all comes down to great content and ensuring you follow the 5 Stages of Travel, especially in the dream, research, and book stages.  

Here are the five MUST HAVEs for any tourism website: 

1. Enticing & emotive images & video  

Images and video are your number one tool in your toolbox to attract and capture your target audience by creating an emotional connection in that key 3-second moment when your website opens.  

A picture speaks 1,000 words, so what words do your images say about your...

Are you using Online Travel Agents (OTA's) to drive bookings?

Today Rakeeb joins Monday Marketing Minutes and we talk about costs and benefits of OTAs.

What is your OTA experience?

#mondaymarketingminutes #betterneverstops

Tomahawk are pleased to announce their partnership with ADARA, the data solution for travel & tourism brands. ADARA’s travel data co-op, the world’s largest, connects over 200 leading travel brands to create the most comprehensive view of the world's travellers and their behaviours across brands, channels, and devices.
 
The tourism industry continues to call out for better tourism data and insights noting that the Tourism 2015 framework included data as an original pillar to unite New Zealand’s tourism industry and set it up for strong, economic growth. Charlie Ives, Executive Officer of Regional Tourism New Zealand declared in his 2018 Tourism Report Card that tourism data was “Not Achieved.” It is one of the missing puzzle pieces required to drive New Zealand Tourism...

Channel managers claim to be 95-97% accurate, depending on which one you talk to. So as channel management becomes the norm, with one of the busiest seasons in years in NZ, a number of double bookings are an unavoidable part of distribution. But don’t despair, there are ways to minimise them.
 

1. Education is Power

It is vital that you spend time to learn how your channel manager works - how to update rates, specials and how the connections with each Online Travel Agent (OTA) works. There is a learning curve but much stress and frustration can be mitigated by putting in the groundwork and time to understand the system.

2. Strategy

A recommended strategy is to leave one room off the channels in high season to kep for direct bookings and/or minimise double...