The following is a guest blog piece by Australian Regional Tourism Network (ARTN) Chairman David Sheldon who is also the owner/operator of Elm Cottage in Tumut. We are proud to be affiliated with them through our sponsorship of the ARTN Young Tourism Professional award Over 45% of the Visitor Expenditure is currently in Regional Australia. That means our network needs to begin updating its practices to fit the current climate. Today’s ever-changing economic challenges should be seen as opportunities as opposed to roadblocks. Tourism is a … [Read more...]
Building Digital Assets For Tourism Businesses And Destinations
The last year (2014) has been a rocky road for those in the industry who have put all their social media eggs in the Facebook basket. Many tourism businesses and destinations saw a dramatic drop in their organic Facebook reach last year. This impacted many. This meant that fans were not seeing posts. Then it became official that this was is a deliberate move as part of Facebook’s revenue-generating strategy by making businesses pay more for fans, exposure to fans, and the opportunity to engage with fans. As a result, less than 4% of fans … [Read more...]
How VFR Hosts Can Turbo Charge Your Visitor Economy
In this video we talk about how visiting friends and relatives (VFR) hosts are largely ignored when it comes to marketing efforts, yet they represent an extraordinary opportunity. The latest research from Tourism Research Australia tells us that 48% of the domestic travel industry is VFR. This market is the low hanging fruit of domestic tourism. If you want to see a gold star campaign for VFR hosts in action, check out Destination Southern Highlands, My Southern Highlands campaign, created with the help of creative agency Wisdom. To … [Read more...]
Your Tourism Marketing Resolutions
As a Tourism Marketer, it is time to resolve to adopt five marketing practices if you want to achieve digital breakthrough in 2015. While some of these things we have heard before, we still don't see a lot of 'action'. Mobile digital technology and apps have led to a crowd-sourced democratisation of the web where ordinary people become tourism industry suppliers. We've seen this in sites such as AirBnB, BeMyGuest, Uber, EatWith, and Bookalocal. In 2014 we saw a sharp rise of peer-to-peer dining and accommodation sites, also poshtels and … [Read more...]
Toilet Tourism: Make a Marketing Splash
At MyTravelResearch.com we often see a disconnection between what travellers want and what the travel industry delivers. Destinations obsess about their product or service in a way that customers don’t. They lose sight of the basics and what is important to customers. Perhaps the ultimate basic experience that unites all tourist experiences is the loo. Yes, toilets, bathrooms, lavatories, restrooms, bogs, dunnies and loos are a constant source of traveller apprehension and must be included in your toilet marketing. Clean, reliable, functioning … [Read more...]
Get More Local Customers With Google Maps
MyTravelResearch.com was lucky enough to be invited to Google as one of their Sydney City Experts to the Google Sydney MapUp where the shared goal of the room became to add as many businesses on Google Maps as we could. I guess Google is asking us to help them do the work. But there is definitely a mutual benefit for us all especially for local destinations that could get more local customers through Google Maps. … [Read more...]
What Made This The Best Holiday Ever
Sorry for the gap in communication. But I am just back from the best holiday I have had in years. What made it the best holiday? Aside from a bee sting on miss 7 year old and Mum apparently squeezing the venom sack injecting more sting, everything was perfect. Everyone was happy and catered to. Service was faultless. And what's more, it was right here in Australia. … [Read more...]
Visiting Friends and Relatives Travel Research – Coffee Break Insight
In this video, we give you a 4-minute insight into one of the key findings of our VFR Research - the information void. VFR hosts and visitors rarely see marketing targeted at them and their pain points. We need to go back to basics - marketing 101 and learn how to talk to the VFR persona and start helping them with the information they need to have a great stay. … [Read more...]
Are Tourism Websites Suffering at The Expense of Time Spent on Social Media?
If you are marketing your tourism business or destination on Facebook, you may have seen a drop in your organic reach in the past few months. And now, it is official. Facebook is acknowledging this is a deliberate move as part of its revenue generating strategy by making businesses pay more for fans, exposure to fans and the opportunity to engage with fans. … [Read more...]
How Travel Market Research Can Increase Revenue And Visitation
Incorporating market research in your marketing planning is absolutely crucial to success for both destinations and businesses. A travel market research provides a platform to move forward in your decision making allowing you to be armed with the knowledge of variants that will play a vital part in your future. … [Read more...]