Posts Tagged ‘travel and tourism marketing’

Travel and Tourism Industry: Can Internet Marketing Hold The Decline In Business Trips?

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

The graph of travel industry trends for the last five years show the key travel-segment changes that are reshaping the travel industry landscape. The mid-level and economy segments have seen the most growth.  On the other hand, leisure oriented groups that form the core of travelling and tourism business has shown slower growth in some phases.

Business trips and related tourism, which is an important segment of travel industry has shown a certain decline since the last year. Following data supports this fact.

  • Globally, domestic business trips declined by 3.2% in 2009 while international business arrivals plunged by 7.2%
  • Spending by domestic business travelers fell by 6.2% while spending by international business travelers plunged 14.6% in 2009
  • Germany, United States and United Kingdom accounted for 41% of the decline in international business departures.
  • The Middle East was the only region to experience moderate growth (4.6%) in business arrivals in 2009, mainly in Saudi Arabia.

However, the blame of decline in business trips is generally fixed on the advent of electronic media in business arena. Video conferences, teleconferences, video calls and online chats have vanished the distance between the people and merged the globe more smoothly as a single marketing platform that is approachable anytime from anywhere. Also, electronic media has proved effectiveness in instant communication that is turning to be the key differentiator in business success. This has curtailed the business travelling need to the bare minimum.

How can internet marketing help?

This is the most proper time to give the electronic media the dose of its own medicine. Internet technology that has applied brakes on business related travel can be successfully utilized to put life back into it and compel more businessmen to go touring.

Reach out to maximum business clients: Internet marketing can reach a large number of prospects without causing a much dent in your marketing and advertising budget. Once your target client is reached, it becomes easy to undertake various tools that will help you to understand the business travelers’ pulse and preferences.

Explain advantages: You can explain the advantages of holding a conference at a venue. Emphasis may be laid upon the facilities and business related infrastructure available at the venue, personal interaction, network buildup, mass approach, etc.

Offer discounts: To pull businessmen out of their cubicles and make them travel across, emails can be sent to offer discounts in travel, accommodation, dining and other hospitality gestures. Banner ads are effective in attracting attention to the offers.

Offer memberships: Extend memberships of your agency and hotels to the business traveler. This may entice them to undertake travelling to avail membership benefits. Special benefits may be offered to business travelers if they travel with family and without business motive. Co-relating business trip with other tourism and travel types will benefit the industry and boost the number of business trips. Internet marketing can certainly accelerate the process.

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Multilingual Marketing Strategy: The Cutting Age of Travel & Tourism Industry

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Modern day tourists ride around on technology and rely heavily on the internet for seeking information and planning tourism related activities viz. traveling, staying, shopping and dining. Extensive use of internet by the tourists makes it imperative for travel and tourism industry to up their ante and embolden their presence on the internet to reach out to maximum number of tourists.

It doesn’t need a mention that tourists belong to the multilingual fraternity spread across the globe. While planning to boost internet presence, the industry players must be careful in selecting the language that will establish an instant bond with the tourists. If travel and tourism industry is thinking in English, it must rethink in other global languages.

Tourists speak different tongue

Latest survey has revealed that 75% of the internet users browse non-English pages and 98% conduct search in their native languages. As tourism and travel industry is getting out of the shadow of recession and hogging fresh positive look, the industry needs to cater to every little need of the tourist.

Attracting foreign tourists is important for any player in travel and tourism industry. The efforts of the operators must reach not only the local tourists but also it should pull out the foreign tourist by innovative approach and strategies. Internet marketing via newsletters and emails is very effective in this respect. However, all these methods will bear more fruits if conducted in the tourists’ native language.

Verbal or otherwise, language creates an instant bond with the tourists, makes them comfortable and creates a leeway for further discussions.  Not only that, while the tourists are on the go, creating interactive travel counseling in their native language can prove to be very handy. Such user friendly methods can fetch more business to the operators and satisfaction to the tourists.

Tourists are observed to have more loyalty to websites and services offered in their native languages.  Industry operators must consider this aspect seriously and switch over to multilingual marketing strategy.

  • Websites designed in local languages are more user-friendly and has better conversion rates.
  • Internet marketing in local language has proven deep impact.
  • Advertises in local languages finds an easy connect with the tourists.

Keeping the above points in view,

  • Travel and tourism related website should offer information in different languages.
  • Information should take into consideration the cultural aspects of each region and language.
  • Emails and newsletters should be drafted in regional languages, preferably.
  • The staff employed by the industry should be well conversant with more than one language.

Laying more importance on regional languages and imbibing them in every internet marketing aspect will certainly take the operators closer to the tourists and make their business more successful.

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