For those more technically inclined, our guest blogger, Mark Brown from U.S. Department of Commerce, National Travel and Tourism Office, talks about one of the consistent data analysis mistakes he has seen over and over in his 30 years as a travel researcher. We met Mark at the Travel and Tourism Research Association International Conference in Vail earlier this month. One of the joys of being in the travel research industry for nearly three decades is seeing really good travel marketing decisions and advertising campaigns based on sound … [Read more...]
Archives for 2016
Let Young People’s Ideas in Tourism Research and Marketing Grow
Bronwyn White of MyTravelResearch.com reflects on the Travel and Tourism Research Association Annual Conference that concluded in Colorado last week. What three insights were your key takeaways from the conference? The digital landscape means there is no excuse for DMOs marketing blindly without an evidence base Many problems and opportunities we face as an industry are similar in each country. I found this, particularly with the Visitor / Welcome Centers stream. I am going to listen more to some of our younger tourism professionals. I … [Read more...]
The science of why you need consistency in tourism branding
One of the coaching calls for our Tourism Marketing Plan Blueprint™ addresses the topic of how to talk about your brand. On the call, our geek-in-chief Bronwyn talked about how consistency enables search engines like Google recognise your brand. That builds Trust, Reputation, and Authority (TRA) which come together in search to put you in front of customers at the right point to make their decision. In this article, we will discuss the vital role that consistency plays in tourism branding. Google famously does this through its algorithms. … [Read more...]
Developing and managing dark tourism
Late last year I spent a few days in Medellin (Colombia). For many people, the name Medellin will be associated with the ultra-violent rule of the cocaine cartel chief Pablo Escobar. In fact, over the last 20 years, Medellin has undergone a remarkable and heartwarming transformation. But that link to Escobar remains through the emergence of tours to key sites associated with him - dark tourism. What is Dark Tourism? The tour is one of a growing body of experiences. Dark tourism is defined as any travel associated with death, suffering, … [Read more...]
How To Measure ROI in Travel & Tourism Digital Marketing
Return on Investment or ROI in Travel and tourism digital marketing is one of the biggest mysteries we are facing collectively as an industry today. Our recent Tourism Marketing Plan Blueprint questionnaire confirmed that it is one of the main issues many of us in the travel and tourism industry are struggling with. At MyTravelResearch.com, we advocate evidence-based marketing practice, and ROI in travel certainly comes under this banner. You should not be spending money on marketing where you do not track your spending. Metrics are not … [Read more...]
Tourism Marketing Plan Blueprint™ Research Snapshot
Wow, thanks to everyone who answered our 2 quick questions to help shape our up and coming product the evidence-based Tourism Marketing Plan Blueprint™. What an amazing result. We had nearly 200 separate answers on those 'top 2 questions' from you.If you didn't get a chance to fill out the survey , our question was: "What are your two top questions about marketing planning for travel and tourism in 2016 that we absolutely NEED to answer in our Tourism Marketing Plan Blueprint™?"I love doing these exercises. They are so insightful and … [Read more...]
Riding the Google Travel Roller Coaster
Last week I came across an article that reported how Google had had virtually made organic search results irrelevant on mobile. This of course threw me into a bit of a spin. Did it mean that we all had to pay to be shown on Google these days? It is what we all fear, deep down. However, there was a mention at the end of this article that it was an experiment and that we were not sure if this was going to be the status quo forever. So I contacted David Amerland over the weekend to get some clarification. He also said that Google is always … [Read more...]
The Traveller Path To Purchase
Does your brand connect with your potential customer at each stage of the Traveller Path to Purchase? … [Read more...]
Mobile Travel Research Statistics
I have just completed a round road-trip if from Sydney to Melbourne and back to Sydney over the Christmas Holiday period. It made me realise that many travel and tourism operators are still NOT mobile-optimised. I also noticed this in the USA a few months ago. It drives me crazy. Imagine what it is doing to your customers. Google will now penalise your website if it is not mobile-friendly. So this means, if your competitor is mobile-friendly and you are not, your competitor will be presented before you, no matter how fancy your site is on … [Read more...]