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What is destination marketing.

In Blog , Travel Industry .

By Tom Mcloughlin, Founder, SEO Travel .

There are plenty of different tried-and-tested marketing strategies out there in the travel industry, from email campaigns to influencer collaborations and wacky PR stunts. If you’re a travel business that offers holiday experiences or services in one specific area, likely, you may already have heard of destination marketing, which is one targeted approach that can make a big difference to business growth.

In recent years, destination marketing has occasionally fallen out of favour as certain locations have become overcrowded or saturated with tourists to the point where local people can no longer enjoy their hometowns and cities in peace.

However, when done correctly, destination marketing is a very effective marketing approach that is particularly beneficial to smaller travel companies who are looking for a way to increase visibility and carve out a space in the market.

In this article:

Destination Marketing Defined

What are the benefits of destination marketing, 8 successful destination marketing strategies.

• Summary of Destination Marketing

Destination marketing is a marketing approach in the travel industry that involves promoting a specific location and its benefits instead of the product or service that a company offers. This could be a country, a town or city, or even a specific holiday resort or attraction.

The purpose of destination marketing is to increase customer awareness of a certain destination so that they start to think about visiting, or to help them remember the location when they are ready to book a holiday. By slipping in subtle calls to action and mentions of a brand’s offering, the idea is that potential customers will decide to book a holiday to that destination through the company that is promoting it.

Destination marketing is also often used by the tourist boards of certain countries or regions as a way to try and bring more visitors to the area to boost the local economy and establish themselves as a desirable holiday destination.

The main aim of destination marketing is to make the customer aware of and interested in the target location before they arrive. You want to spark an emotional desire to see and experience the place you are offering, as this makes the likelihood of paying for a holiday much higher.

One of the key benefits of destination marketing is that it tends to use an emotional hook to engage potential customers, which leads to much higher conversion rates. The whole approach is about selling the experience and benefits of a location by showing customers what their travel experience could be like if they visit, encouraging people to imagine a holiday there and planting a seed of intrigue in their minds.

Not only does engaging your target audience’s emotions make them more likely to convert, but it is also likely to build more affinity with your brand. Techniques used in destination marketing include things like video content, offering exclusive guides and recommendations and sharing customer testimonials, all of which will make your company seem more ‘human’ and build a relationship of trust with your audience.

Another benefit of destination marketing is that it focuses on the offering of a location instead of the specific holiday packages or travel experiences that your brand sells. By producing marketing material that is not explicitly pushing a product, your target audience will trust the recommendations and advice you share and view you as a true expert for your target destination, instead of just a company trying to sell holidays.

Finally, a wider benefit of destination marketing is that it improves the reputation and increases the interest in the location that you offer travel experiences. This will encourage more tourism and boost the area’s local economy, which in turn will create more business for your company.

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Whilst the majority of marketing techniques can be used as part of a destination marketing strategy, several approaches work particularly well. Here are 8 strategies to consider if your brand decides to focus on promoting a destination as part of its marketing plan.

1. Understand Your Target Audience

This is a piece of advice that you’ll likely have heard countless times when it comes to successful marketing in the travel industry. If you want to get your target audience’s attention, you need to understand what they care about and what they want to engage with.

In destination marketing, this approach is particularly important. If you just highlight generic benefits or features of your target destination, you’re not going to appeal to anyone in particular and your advertising material is going to have much less of an impact.

Before you think about what attractions and experiences you’re going to focus on in your destination marketing strategy, first go back to the segments of the audience that your travel brand targets. Identify what they’re looking for from travel and holiday experiences, whether that’s specific activities or personal benefits.

Then, use these focal points to decide what elements of the destination you’re going to highlight in your marketing campaigns.

2. Target Pain Points

Leading on from that last point, you should also ensure that you’re using the benefits of your destination to solve your target audience’s pain points.

This is a particularly successful approach because destination marketing is a strategy that engages potential customers’ emotions by tapping into their desires and offering an experience instead of just a product. You can take this emotional response even further by targeting their pain points and offering a solution through the destination.

An example of this may be that a key pain point for your target audience is finding holidays that include meaningful experiences instead of just mindless rest and relaxation. You could target this by creating advertising content that showcases the different cultural attractions in your destination or the opportunities to learn about the area’s history, promising a holiday that is enriching and enlightening.

3. Identify USPs

The start of every destination marketing campaign should begin by listing all of the unique selling points of wherever you are focusing on. This approach is all about standing out from other popular destinations, and the only way to do this is to shout about what makes your location so special.

You don’t need to be subtle about showcasing the unique qualities of a destination either. In fact, many well-known travel marketing campaigns have been so successful because they’ve taken a specific and often bizarre quality about a location and turned it into the key attraction for visiting wherever they are promoting.

For example, the Faroe Islands tourism board capitalised on the destination’s remote quality, and the fact that it has such a high population of sheep, to create the ‘ Sheep View ’ marketing campaign, which massively boosted the islands’ popularity with travellers.

4. Analyse Your Competitors

We’re not just talking about analysing other destinations that are frequently pitted against yours when we talk about competitors, although this is something to consider when analysing the business landscape. We suggest going even more specific and identifying other travel brands that market your chosen destination, particularly ones of a similar size to your business.

If you want to stand out in the industry and build a customer base of dedicated travel enthusiasts, you need to ensure that your marketing content is advertising a totally unique experience. Before you come up with a destination marketing strategy of your own, take time to see what’s already out there and ensure that you’re not going to be targeting a niche that has already been taken care of.

5. Use Video

This is one of the most common techniques used in destination marketing, but for good reason. There’s no better way to showcase a destination and give a glimpse of the kinds of experiences on offer than through video content, whether you’re making full-length guides to a place or just adding little snippets of video to your website and social media profiles.

Sometimes, it can be enough just to shoot stunning visuals of a location, accompanied by simple captions or overlayed text, to catch potential customers’ attention and start to inspire their wanderlust. Or you can take a more direct approach and create video testimonials from previous customers, introductions to attractions or accommodation from staff, or even vlogs and short video diaries illustrating a first-hand experience of a trip to your destination.

6. Focus on Visuals

Whilst video is probably the most effective content format you can use in destination marketing, anything visual is going to have an impact. From the photos you use on your website to the images shared on social media and graphics included in press releases or email newsletters, having a strong visual identity is a key part of marketing for a specific destination.

Not only do you want to inspire and engage your audience with every piece of visual content you share, but you also want to establish a “look” that becomes synonymous with your brand. That way, potential customers are more likely to remember you and start associating your company with a particular destination, which means they’re more likely to think of you first when it comes to booking a holiday there.

7. Collaborate With Influencers

Influencer marketing has taken off in the travel industry in the last couple of years, and it’s a technique that works really well as part of a destination marketing campaign. There’s no better way to showcase what a trip to a location is really like than showing a real person’s experience, and working with an influencer is perfect for this.

The type of influencer campaign you run will depend on the kind of travel business you are part of, your brand’s offering and your target audience. Some companies offer free holidays in exchange for an influencer to share their experience across their own channels, whilst others will work with influencers to create informative, promotional content that is shared by the brand themselves.

8. Go Beyond Stereotypes

When coming up with ideas for destination marketing campaigns, it can be tempting to fall back on stereotypes of what locations in certain parts of the world are like, or what the benefits of popular holiday experiences are. Whilst these kinds of stereotypes tend to be based on truth, they are much less likely to make an impact on potential customers, as they’re likely just showcasing features that have been seen before.

Instead of relying on predictable visuals, formats, and slogans, try and offer your audience something genuinely valuable and unique with your content. Don’t fall into predictable patterns with what you advertise (eg: safaris in Africa, beach holidays on tropical islands, winter holidays in classic ski locations) and instead think about undiscovered areas of the market you can conquer.

Destination marketing is an essential part of the travel industry and is an approach used by everyone from large tourism companies to small travel brands. By focusing on the benefits and offering of a location instead of a specific holiday package or travel deal, businesses can build up more authority as an expert provider for a specific destination — also appealing to a wider audience with marketing content that inspires and engages instead of steamrolling with a hard sell.

If you need more information or help with your travel marketing strategy or want to find out more about approaches like destination marketing, get in touch with SEO Travel for a chat and to find out more about the range of marketing services that we offer.

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• Digital Marketing

Destination Marketing 101: Your Ultimate Guide

In an era where travel has become more accessible than ever, businesses and marketers are increasingly turning their attention to the art and science of promoting destinations. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes into the travel industry, understanding the nuances of destination marketing can significantly impact your success. 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll navigate the landscape, exploring the definition, benefits, and proven strategies to make your destination stand out.

What is Destination Marketing?

At its core, destination marketing is a specialized form of marketing that promotes a specific location to attract visitors and boost the local economy. This type of marketing goes beyond conventional tourism marketing efforts, aiming to create a compelling narrative that captivates potential travelers. The focus is on crafting an identity for a destination, transforming it from a spot on the map to a must-visit experience.

What are the Benefits of Destination Marketing?

Destination marketing isn’t just about increasing tourist footfall; it’s about creating sustainable growth and fostering a positive impact on the local community. These are some of the main benefits:

• Economic Growth : Successful destination marketing can lead to increased spending by tourists, benefiting local businesses and creating job opportunities.
• Cultural Exchange : By showcasing the unique aspects of a destination, marketing efforts contribute to cultural exchange, fostering a deeper understanding between visitors and locals.
• Community Development : A thriving tourism industry often leads to improved infrastructure, public services, and community well-being.

Now that we’ve covered why destination marketing matters, let’s shift gears and dive into the practical strategies to make it work seamlessly.

What Are The Best Strategies for Destination Marketing Success?

Embarking on successful destination marketing involves employing a set of strategic moves that go beyond the basics, ensuring your efforts resonate with your audience and leave a lasting impact. Let’s dive into these key strategies and see what they entail.

1. Understand Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is the foundation of any successful destination marketing campaign. Dive deep into demographics, interests, and behaviors to create detailed buyer personas. For instance, if your destination is a paradise for adventure enthusiasts, consider age groups, preferences, and online behaviors associated with this demographic.

To illustrate even further, imagine your analysis reveals a significant interest in eco-friendly travel among your audience. Tailor your marketing messages to highlight sustainable practices and the environmental initiatives your destination supports.

2. Target Pain Points

Addressing the pain points of potential travelers is a strategic move that builds trust and connection. Identify common concerns, such as safety, accessibility, or language barriers, and showcase how your destination mitigates these issues.

Create content addressing safety measures, accessible infrastructure, and language support in your destination. Implement customer service initiatives that directly tackle concerns raised by previous travelers.

For example, if safety is a concern, feature testimonials from solo travelers who felt secure during their visit. Highlight security measures and partnerships with local law enforcement to reassure prospective visitors.

3. Identify USPs (Unique Selling Points)

USP is a distinctive and compelling characteristic or benefit that sets a product, service, or brand apart from its competitors in the eyes of the target audience. Every destination has unique features that make it uniquely attractive to visitors. 

Identifying and using these USPs is crucial for creating a compelling narrative that resonates with your target audience. Conduct surveys and interviews to discover what visitors find most memorable about your destination. Showcase unique attractions, experiences, or cultural elements that differentiate your destination from others.

4. Analize Your Competitors

A thorough analysis of competitors in the travel industry can provide valuable insights into market trends, successful strategies, and areas for differentiation. By understanding what works and what doesn’t, you can refine your destination marketing plan.

Get started by monitoring competitors’ social media channels, websites, and marketing materials. Then, find gaps in their strategies and capitalize on areas where your destination excels. 

If your competitors primarily focus on luxury experiences, consider targeting a niche market, such as budget travelers, or emphasize unique cultural aspects that others haven’t extensively promoted.

5. Craft a Compelling Destination Brand

Developing a compelling brand is about more than just a visually appealing logo; it’s about creating a holistic brand identity that resonates with your audience. Let’s see what goes into it.

Logo and Visual Elements

Invest in a professional logo that encapsulates the spirit of your destination. The logo should be versatile and easily recognizable. Extend the visual identity beyond the logo. Consistent color schemes, fonts, and imagery across all marketing materials contribute to a cohesive and memorable visual brand.

Brand Personality

Define the personality of your destination as if it were a person. Is it adventurous, relaxed, or culturally vibrant? Align your marketing messages, visuals, and tone with this personality. Create content that reflects the desired personality, whether it’s through adventurous activity guides, serene landscapes, or cultural anecdotes.

For example, if your destination has a laid-back beach vibe, your brand personality may be casual, easy-going, and carefree. Emphasize leisurely activities, sunsets, and relaxation in your marketing materials.

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Creating a Memorable Tagline

Craft a tagline that encapsulates the essence of your destination in a few words. The tagline should be catchy, easy to remember, and evoke the emotions you want associated with your brand. Keep it concise and impactful, and test it with a focus group to ensure it resonates with your target audience.

Consistency is Key

In the end, ensuring you maintain consistency across all platforms is crucial for brand recognition. Whether it’s social media, print materials, or your website, a cohesive brand identity builds trust and familiarity. 

Create brand guidelines to ensure consistency in visuals, tone, and messaging. Regularly audit your marketing materials to ensure they align with the established brand identity.

6. Focus on Video and Visuals

In today’s digital world, catching the eye is all about the visuals. Think of it like a visual feast – you want potential travelers to savor the experience before they even arrive. Let’s break it down:

Video Content

Videos are like a magic carpet ride, giving viewers a taste of the adventure, beauty, and vibe of your destination. Picture this: clips of local life, thrilling activities, and stunning landscapes, all in motion. A good video can transport people and make them feel the excitement, making them want to pack their bags pronto.

Stunning Images

Invest in top-notch photos that capture the heart of your destination. Whether it’s a jaw-dropping view or a candid moment of local life, these images should make potential travelers daydream about being there.

Virtual Reality Tours

Virtual reality tours are like having a personal tour guide without leaving your couch. Use VR tech to create virtual adventures, letting people explore your destination from the comfort of their homes. These virtual tours are like a teaser, sparking excitement and making them want to see more.

7. Work With Influencers

Engaging with influencers can significantly boost your destination’s visibility. These social media figures have large followings, making them effective messengers for your brand. Partnering with influencers aligns your destination with trusted voices in the digital space, reaching audiences that value their recommendations. 

Encourage influencers to share genuine experiences , adding authenticity to your marketing efforts. Choose influencers whose style resonates with your destination’s vibe, creating a natural and effective partnership. It’s about leveraging their influence to narrate your destination’s story in a way that feels both honest and appealing.

8. Create Collaborations and Partnerships

Other than influencers, explore diverse partnerships that can elevate your brand and enhance the overall appeal of your destination. Connecting with local businesses is a smart move to enhance your destination’s charm. 

By teaming up with nearby spots, you’re not just supporting the community but also giving visitors a richer experience. Work with restaurants, shops, and attractions to create packages that add value for travelers. These local partnerships boost your destination’s local ties and create a more complete experience for visitors.

Also, collaborative campaigns , whether with nearby destinations or brands that complement yours, spread your message to a wider audience. Think of joint promotions, shared content, and events that bring more eyes to your destination.

Find partners who share your values for a seamless collaboration that benefits everyone involved. Through these campaigns, you’re not just marketing a place – you’re crafting a story that captures a broader audience’s attention and interest.

9. Create And Optimize Your Destination Website

Your destination’s website is the virtual gateway for potential travelers. Ensure it’s user-friendly, visually appealing, and provides all the necessary information. Then, optimize it for search engines to increase its visibility. This includes keyword optimization, local SEO, and creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.

10. Start Blogging

Content marketing is a powerful tool in destination marketing. And the good news is – there are so many topics to cover! Start a blog on your website to share engaging stories, travel tips, and insider information about your destination. This not only attracts organic traffic but also positions your destination as an authority. Ensure that you keep this content in line with your SEO strategies, targeting the right keywords and optimizing it to rank well in search engines

11. Social Media Strategies

Harness the power of social media to connect with your audience on a personal level. Here’s how:

• User Reviews and Testimonials : Encourage visitors to share their experiences on social media platforms. User-generated content adds authenticity and serves as valuable social proof.
• Running Social Media Contests : Engage your audience with contests that encourage participation. Whether it’s photo contests or travel stories, these initiatives create a buzz and attract attention.
• Showcasing Authentic Experiences: Use your social media channels to showcase authentic experiences. Share real stories from visitors, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and captivating visuals that convey the essence of your destination.

12. Online Advertising Strategies

Use online advertising to broaden your destination’s visibility across digital landscapes. This strategic approach involves deploying different types of ads tailored to meet the varied online behaviors of your potential visitors.

Here are the types of online ads you can use: 

• Display Advertising : Think of this as your digital billboard. Display ads utilize captivating visuals strategically placed on websites, drawing attention to the unique features of your destination.
• Search Advertising : Have you ever noticed the label “Ad” at the top of your search results? That’s search advertising at work. It ensures your destination stands out when users actively seek travel options.
• Social Media Ads : Picture your destination seamlessly integrated into users’ social feeds. Social media ads act as tailored narratives, showcasing your offerings based on users’ interests and demographics.

Overall, online ads cast a broad net, extending your destination’s reach to a diverse audience. Tailor your ads to specific groups, addressing the preferences of adventure seekers, food enthusiasts, or cultural explorers. This ensures a more personalized and impactful engagement.

13. Events and Promotions

When it comes to creating buzz around your destination, events and promotions are your dynamic duo.

Hosting Destination Events

Imagine your destination as a vibrant host of engaging events that not only showcase its uniqueness but also foster a sense of community. Here are the types of events that will make your destination an easy-to-market, attractive place for travelers: 

• Festivals : Dive into the heart of your destination’s culture by organizing festivals. These celebrations not only embrace local traditions but also draw in a diverse audience, adding a lively touch to your community.
• Cultural Events : Elevate the allure of your destination through culturally rich events – from captivating art exhibitions to the rhythm of music festivals and captivating performances. It’s not just an event; it’s an invitation to experience the soul of your locale.

Limited-Time Promotions and Discounts

Now, let’s talk about creating a buzz that’s quick and effective – limited-time promotions and discounts. This strategy not only lures budget-conscious travelers but also amps up the overall curiosity about your destination. It’s like an exclusive invitation to a fantastic deal that can’t be missed.

Stay on Top of Your Destination Marketing Strategies

On a final note, once you start with destination marketing, you need to know how your efforts are performing and how you can improve in the future. Consider website analytics – it’s like peeking at a map to see where visitors are coming from, what they’re interested in, and where they’re spending the most time. 

Additionally, stay informed about industry trends—like virtual experiences or niche travel—to keep your marketing strategy relevant and appealing. This helps you adjust your marketing strategy, keeping it fresh, interesting, and in tune with what travelers are looking for. 

Wrapping It Up: Your Destination’s Next Chapter

And there you have it – a journey through destination marketing strategies that goes beyond the mundane. We’re not just talking about selling a place; we’re talking about creating connections, sharing tales, and building a community.

Now that you’ve got these strategies under your belt, your destination is more than a spot on the map; it’s a living, breathing experience waiting to captivate.

Are you curious about how Play Media can enhance your destination’s narrative? Let’s chat! Contact us for a consultation, and let’s turn your destination into a must-visit chapter in every traveler’s journey. 

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Destination Marketing Strategies that Attract Attention

Marketing is integral to any business strategy, but targeted advertising is essential in hospitality and tourism. Although repeat guests and loyal customers provide critical revenue streams for local economies, locations must continually expand their audience reach to remain competitive and capture the attention of new visitors. The right destination marketing strategies can generate more interest in travel to your region, driving valuable tourism dollars into the local economy and the businesses in it.

Discover the value of location-based marketing and how every town, regardless of landscape or population size, can profit from strategically promoting its destination. Whether you’re by the beach, in the city, or just off the highway in a small town, we’ll show you how locations everywhere can use destination marketing strategies to boost business.  

Destination marketing strategies that drive tourism dollars

What is a destination marketing strategy.

Destination marketing is a form of advertising designed to attract customers to a particular place. Instead of focusing on a distinct product or service, it centers around the unique atmosphere and experiences a specific location provides visitors.

From vacation hot spots to remote getaway locations, destination marketing strategies captivate consumers and promote travel to desirable places.

Who benefits from destination marketing?

Many businesses benefit from the revenue and tourist traffic destination marketing generates. Various hospitality and service-based companies use location-based advertising to attract the attention of potential travelers, including:

• Destination management organizations and convention and visitors bureaus
• Travel agencies
• Transportation services (e.g., airlines, car companies, bus tours)
• Entertainment and event venues (e.g., concert halls, wedding venues)
• Attractions (e.g., amusement parks, museums, recreational facilities)
• Service-based businesses (e.g., restaurants and retailers)
• Lodging partners (e.g., hotels, resorts, convention centers)
• Local and state governments (e.g., parks or historical sites)

Why do destination marketing strategies matter?

Destination marketing showcases what sets your destination apart from other enticing locations. It creates an immersive experience for consumers that enables them to imagine what it’s like to actually be in a particular place—to see the sights and smell the scents.

From corporate flyers and digital nomads to vacationers and off-the-grid adventure seekers, travelers turn to destination marketing to get an idea of what to expect from a particular location. Your marketing strategy helps lay the foundation of consumer expectations. For example, if your destination marketing focuses on luxurious tropical getaways, that’s what guests will expect.

The true power of destination tourism lies in its ability to impact every part of a local economy, attracting businesses, tourists, and other travelers to the region. By implementing various destination marketing strategies for distinct target audiences, you can measure which types of hotel guests or recreational groups are attracted to your market. The more you know about your ideal consumers, the better equipped you will be to advertise activities, amenities, and attractions that appeal to them.

How is destination marketing different from other regional marketing?

Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are responsible for promoting their destination to tourists, travel planners, corporations, and other consumers that drive valuable revenue to the local economy. DMOs and similar organizations, like Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), employ various marketing strategies to attract visitors. They may turn to social media to advertise the opening of a new park or engage in data-driven email marketing to get the word out about upcoming events. However, destination marketing is a specific advertising strategy that builds consumers’ desire to visit your location by advertising the attractions that set it apart.

Destination marketing lets consumers know what they can expect from a visit to your region. It captures the atmosphere, energy, and essence of your locale. Does your destination offer plentiful recreational opportunities or headlining entertainment? Is your destination a peaceful, remote location offering travelers an escape or a trendy tech hub in the middle of a bustling city?

Unlike other regional marketing campaigns , destination-focused advertising promotes the overall appeal of a location instead of a particular business or attraction. It pinpoints what makes your destination unique and why others should experience it.

Destinations that nailed their marketing campaigns

To better understand what destination marketing looks like in action, let’s review some of the most powerful location-based tourism campaigns from the last decade. These four destinations understood the power of destination marketing and used it to launch wildly successful campaigns.

1. Inspired by Iceland

In 2010, a volcanic eruption led to a downturn in Iceland’s tourism, with many travelers holding misconceptions about its safety. To reinstate the country’s place as a renowned tourist destination, the Icelandic government partnered with the City of Reykjavik, Promote Iceland, and other tourism companies to launch “Inspired by Iceland” in 2020.

In addition to strengthening Iceland’s image in the global tourism market, the Inspired by Iceland tourism initiative was part of a long-term destination marketing strategy designed to increase the production of Icelandic exports through government and industry cooperation. Many Icelandic industries have benefited from the campaign , including the creative, green energy, and seafood sectors.

2. Travel Oregon

Oregon, one of America's most scenic and awe-inspiring locations, is split into seven separate tourism regions . Each locale has a Regional Destination Tourism Management Organization (RMDO) that acts as the tourism liaison for that region. Working together, the RMDOs launched Travel Oregon to drive leisure and business travel to their area.

The Travel Oregon campaign put the state on the map as a premier travel destination. It appealed to customers by combining multiple marketing strategies, including captivating videos, sponsored posts, social media content, banner ads, and print ads. The engaging approach had something for everyone, with its fish-shaped robot tour guide and satirical content quickly garnering travelers’ attention. Travel Oregon maintains a formidable reputation for its memorable, humorous messaging.

3. Doors of Thrones

If you’re familiar with Game of Thrones, you might know that many scenes from the HBO hit show were filmed in Northern Ireland. In 2014, Northern Ireland’s destination marketing organization, Tourism Ireland , took advantage of the show's popularity and formed the first Thrones-based marketing partnership with HBO to launch Doors of Thrones.

The Doors of Thrones campaign centered around ten intricately carved doors. The wood for each door came from the Dark Hedges and was sculpted to represent a different episode from the show’s sixth season. They were placed at various locations (primarily pubs) nationwide and promoted on social media. Travelers flocked from around the world to see the intricately carved pieces and explore famous sites from the show.

Tourism Ireland used the show's incredible popularity to attract travelers and superfans. ITV News, MTV, Cosmopolitan, and other major media outlets raved about the creative pub crawl, further expanding the campaign’s already broad reach. Ultimately, the massively successful campaign reached 126 million people . It also drove tourism, traffic, and revenue to Northern Ireland and its businesses, generating £17 million ($22 million) in 2016 . Overall, the destination marketing strategy resulted in a record year-over-year tourism increase of 8%.

4. Explore Georgia

Explore Georgia was a fun and easily accessible destination marketing campaign launched in 2016 . The Instagram-based photo competition excited a variety of traveler types spanning all walks of life. Participants were encouraged to post photos of Fido, the #ExporeGeorgiaPup , adventuring through the state.

From domestic tourists to overseas travelers, Fido’s family-friendly appeal helped grow Georgia's presence in online tourism spaces by promoting the state as a pet-friendly travel destination. The inexpensive social campaign reached 1.1 million Facebook impressions and drove 14,000 Instagram users to the website of Parker Whidby, Explore Georgia’s destination marketing manager.  

Industry-leading destination marketing strategies

You know how destination management organizations promote their destination, but how do individual businesses do it? From video advertising to social media marketing, there are so many content options to choose from. Here are four innovative and industry-leading destination marketing strategies from hospitality brands.

Check out 2023's top destinations

1. Feel the Beat of the City | Four Seasons Hotels

In 2022, the Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans launched an engaging new campaign: Feel the Beat of the City. The marketing campaign consisted of advertisements celebrating New Orleans’ one-of-a-kind atmosphere. In vibrant video advertisements featuring big brass bands , The Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans appealed to consumers by capturing the spirit of The Big Easy.

The campaign invited consumers to experience the city’s culture, cuisine, and music in an exciting new way—and it worked. Due to the campaign's success, Four Seasons expanded the Feel the Beat campaign to promote multiple destinations worldwide , including Austin (TX) and Dubai.

2. 30 Stays, 300 Days | Marriott Bonvoy

30 Stays, 300 Stays was a spectacularly successful social media campaign from Marriott Hotels. The TikTok branded hashtag challenge promoted the Marriott brand all over social media while attracting travelers’ attention to ten of the chain’s most stunning hotels . Participants were instructed to create an engaging video explaining why they should be chosen to become one of three official 2022 TikTok Correspondents for Marriott.

To win, contestants had to follow Marriott Bonvoy’s TikTok account and post their video with the branded hashtag #30stays300days. Thanks to the viral challenge, the brand’s account exploded— growing from 6K followers to more than 70K. In addition to driving traffic to their TikTok account, the marketing campaign introduced a whole new audience to Marriott, particularly the magnificent destination stays included in the prize package.

3. Live Hologram Bar | KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

In 2019, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines shook up destination marketing when they invited travelers to meet, chat, and exchange local tips at the Hologram Bar while waiting for their flights. Pop-up hologram bars were installed at airports in the Netherlands, Norway, and Brazil. The immersive video destination marketing campaign connected tourists and travel enthusiasts in real-time, enabling patrons to project themselves into their destination airport. KLM’s one-of-a-kind, engaging, and informational experience provided consumers with an exciting new way to explore global destinations.

4. Where do you want to go? | Melia Hotels

Melia Hotels spearheaded the industry’s approach to digital display marketing. Featuring a wide range of interactive elements and unique designs, their engaging display ads drove online traffic to specific landing pages through powerful messaging, interactive buttons, and personalized content. By asking travelers, “Where do you want to go,” Melia Hotels International launched its sprawling brand with online destination marketing.

Destination marketing strategies and best practices

Drive travel and tourism to your destination by showing consumers what makes it better than the alternative. Increase awareness about your region and strengthen its reputation with these marketing strategies:

1. Define your destination’s unique selling point (USP). Determine what sets your location apart from everywhere else in the world. What can visitors experience there and only there? What attractions, resources, or hidden gems should tourists know about? Identify what makes your location wholly unique and make it the focus of destination marketing campaigns. Maximize your destination’s USP by partnering with tourism-based businesses in the area to gain more feedback.

2. Know your target audience. Think about what travelers want from a visit to your area, and create destination-focused campaigns highlighting how you’ll give it to them. Campaigns showcasing high-tech coworking spaces, authentic international restaurants, and the town’s nightlife could help attract business travelers, remote workers, or young tourists looking for an exciting weekend away.

3. Use geotargeting. Geotargeting is a powerful form of digital marketing that utilizes location data to target consumers with relevant marketing materials. This location-based advertising strategy uses consumer data points (e.g., IP addresses or GPS coordinates) to identify their location, making it easier for DMOs to ensure their marketing materials reach the right customers at the right time. Incorporate geotargeting into your destination marketing strategy to capture consumers' attention when they’re in the area. Identify what brought them to town to learn more about your destination’s feeder cities.

4. Create experiential marketing campaigns. Engage customers’ senses with interactive marketing they’ll remember. Instead of telling travelers what to expect from your destination, create advertising that allows them to experience it for themselves. Immersive forms of experiential marketing , like augmented or virtual reality, make it easier for customers to imagine what being your destination would actually feel like. Invite prospective guests to take a virtual walk around your best local park or view the cityscape via high-definition drone footage. Sell more than the location; sell destination experiences .

5. Use star power to supercharge marketing campaigns. Partner with influencers, notable industry experts, and other recognizable faces to get the word out about your location. In addition to reaching new audience members through cross-promotion, adding star power to destination marketing can help it appear more credible to customers. With 90% of social media users admitting they’ve been influenced to buy something because of social media marketing, influencer marketing might be just what your destination needs.

6. Keep up with tourism trends. Stay ahead of travel and tourism trends so you know about shifting consumer preferences. Incorporate current trends, like wellness-focused travel and virtual tourism , into campaigns to capture the attention of trendy travelers. Hop on social media trends, like viral challenges or hashtag campaigns, subscribe to travel blogs, and watch how competing destinations connect with consumers.

Use destination marketing to generate more interest in your region

Put your knowledge of destination marketing to good use to create more compelling advertising campaigns. If your local government doesn’t provide destination marketing services, look for similar resources nearby. Keep reading to learn more about CVB marketing and how it can help hotels.

Kim Campbell

Kim is a full-time copy and content writer with many years of experience in the hospitality industry. She entered the hotel world in 2013 as a housekeeping team member and worked her way through various departments before being appointed to Director of Sales. Kim has championed numerous successful sales efforts, revenue strategies, and marketing campaigns — all of which landed her a spot on Hotel Management Magazine’s “Thirty Under 30” list.

Don’t be fooled though; she’s not all business! An avid forest forager, post-apocalyptic fiction fan, and free-sample-fiend, Kim prides herself on being well-rounded.

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Marketing Tourism Destinations

• First Online: 09 May 2021

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• Richard George 2  

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This chapter discusses explores the key issues in the marketing of tourism destinations. The chapter begins with a discussion on why the concept of destination marketing is more complicated than the marketing of individual tourism product offerings. Next, the role of destination marketing organisations (DMOs) and discuss the challenges they face is described. Further, this chapter presents the various stages of the destination marketing campaign and the components of a destination marketing plan. Next, the concept of destination image, one of the crucial factors that prospective visitors take into account when choosing a holiday is discussed. Then the concept destination branding is considered. The tourism area lifecycle model as well as the various promotional techniques used by DMOs such as social media and other digital marketing tools are discussed. Finally, the role of events to attract visitors to destinations is considered. The chapter’s in-depth case study applies the concept of destination branding to the central African country Rwanda.

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George, R. (2021). Marketing Tourism Destinations. In: Marketing Tourism and Hospitality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64111-5_14

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What is destination marketing?

Firstly, let's answer the question "What is destination marketing?". Destination marketing is a type of marketing that promotes a destination (town, city, region, country) with a purpose to increase the number of visitors. In other words, destination marketing is tourism advertising for a specific location. Unlike product marketing, where the products are delivered to customers through distribution channels, accoriding to destination marketing meaning, consumers travel to the destinations. Which bring some peculiarities to the ways of promotion.

Why destination marketing?

Over the last few years, travellers have discovered the places they were going to visit, book hotels and transportation, plan trips and share their emotions and memories with friends online. The main answer to the question ‘what destination marketing is for?’ – is to stay competitive.

The primary challenge is to make your consumers interested in your location before they arrive using social media marketing and search engine optimisation . For this:

• Show the privileges of your country (region, city, town etc)
• Create and share the story about the destination you promote
• Care about customer experience (CX) – be sure your website is attractive, convenient, and fast-loading.
• Create Google Posts via Google My Business profile about the best sightseeing, magnificent places, or traditional holidays. These will appear in the top search results with images enhancing your overall SEO for free.

However, depending on the purpose and destination, you should use different online tools. For instance, to promote a country it is better to concentrate on contextual ads, search engine ads and social media (within your targeted region, i.e. the region you would like to target).

‍ To promote a town or a city , pay attention to testimonials services (as most likely, your potential customers would like to check references concerning accommodation facilities, activities, and your location accessibility).

‍ And the most useful tool to promote a region will be search engine ads and social media (pay attention to cultural and natural attractions, region peculiarities and features). Find out more about the aforementioned tools here or contact our representative .

How to succeed?

According to the Travel trends Report 2018, 9 of 10 travellers consider it essential to read online reviews . Moreover, 95% of travellers always trust tour & activity reviews on third-party sites such as TripAdvisor. However, if the destination is not that popular yet – travel consumers are looking for video and photo material to find out what to expect from the location they would like to visit. However, the first step in country promotion is to highlight a particular destination or to draw attention to it. To succeed in tourism advertising, you should analyse the ‘product’ and focus your marketing activities on:

• Identifying the right audience (in other words answer the questions “Who are those people who want to see your destination?”, “How old are they?”, “How do they travel?”, “Do they travel with their families?”, “What are their needs?”)
• Finding their motivation (“Why would they like to see the destination?”, “What are they going to do there?”, “How much are they going to spend?”, “What do they want to get?”)
• Matching your audience ‘needs’ with ‘wants’.

A piece of advice here would be to cooperate with government officials of the country you are going to promote to get the most objective data for your research and to get a better understanding of the specificity of the promoted region.

To delve deeper into destination marketing, we asked our digital marketing expert, who was involved in promoting tourism in Georgia, to answer the most common questions about destination marketing.

Need a digital marketing plan?

Our professionals can develop a strategy that will help you achieve your business goals faster and avoid costly mistakes

GET THINGS DONE

How to start promoting a destination if the brand has not been promoted before?

To create online destination marketing campaigns, we need to segment users who plan a trip or are looking for tours at the moment. For this, we use segments of interests, related to airline tickets, tours, summer and family vacations.

To improve the quality of this audience, we need to narrow down such targeting to interests in a specific destination. It can be historical, cultural spots or even cuisine.

You should decide whether to narrow interests or use broad targeting under specific socio-demographic data, based on your primary goals. Please remember that the narrower the audience, the more expensive such a campaign can cost.

Besides, you should determine the age category of users who will be interested in a potential trip to the promoted destination. Also, consider the conditions that other destinations offer consumers, as well as options for spending time there, for example, active/passive leisure.

Since one group can be interested in a calm vacation with their children, and another one can’t imagine their life without extreme. Based on this, it may be worthwhile to exclude the audience of minor users from showing ads.

Also, depending on the goals and KPIs , you can segment the audience by gender and age. For example, select groups of men aged 18-24 years, women aged 25-36 years old, and so on.

Do not forget about ad creatives and their impact on different gender and age groups of consumers.

What are the strategies for destination marketing? And how to develop a promotion strategy?

Determine competitive aspects and advantages. You should consider that not a physical place in and of itself attracts a tourist, but what natural, cultural, historical sights they can find there. Tourists also pay special attention to infrastructure.

• Define the goals of your advertising campaigns. Understanding the benefits of your product and destination, you can set realistic goals and clear KPIs.
• Identify and analyse your audience before the campaign launch. Think over the creatives for each segment of users.
• Choose marketing tools that can solve your tasks and help you achieve initial KPIs.
• Develop a media plan according to your KPIs. If you promote the destination for the first time, this can be a difficult task. For this, you need to research the market, connect your expertise in similar projects.
• Develop creatives and textual content in all necessary formats. If we talk about media placement, then creatives can play both a decisive role in achieving your goal and be one of the reasons for advertising campaign failure. You also need to pay attention to the ad textual content. If you target your ad for several countries at once, then translation and adaptation of texts to specific regions may be required.
• Create an ad campaign. Collect semantics and configure the audience.
• Launch an ad campaign. We would highlight, that you need to check all the ad campaign settings before the launch. Especially if there are several countries in your geo settings.
• Monitor and adjust. Advertising campaigns need to be optimised during the performance. We would recommend paying attention to these stages:
• Identification of ineffective audiences, targeting.
• Work with search queries to save budget and attract more targeted traffic.
• A / B testing of creatives. You need to remember that your banners may “burnout”: at a high frequency, do not use the same creatives for more than two weeks. A marketing strategy aimed at strong memorising of one particular video or banner can be an exception.

What are the most effective channels for destination marketing?

Media channels are the most effective for destination marketing strategies. This is advertising on social networks, YouTube, native advertising. It is often better to “sell” a destination to a user and bring them to a final information resource with an image or video.

We are talking about relaxing, so a beautiful creative can take a person to a state of serenity and could potentially cause interest.

Paid search advertising can be launched, but only for narrowly targeted queries, for example, “vacation in Georgia”. The queries like “Georgia” can bring a lot of irrelevant traffic, even if you indicated negative keywords.

Be free to run remarketing campaigns in all channels, because advertising campaigns can last several months, and remarketing allows you to re-interact with an already “warm” audience.

Which ad format is best for social networks?

Instagram stories is a more engaging format. The image occupies 100% of the screen, but this does not mean that you need to refuse ads in the feed. According to Facebook insights, campaigns that use auto-placement give the best results – the ability of the system itself to determine where and at what time to show your ad. In each of these formats, we recommend testing both video and graphic creatives. Most studies suggest that users perceive video better, but it may turn out differently in your case, so you need to set aside some test period at the start to evaluate performance.

Should you promote your destination using only digital marketing tools, or enhance the strategy with offline advertising?

Offline promotion, TV or out-of-home advertising, will improve brand awareness and increase audience reach, attracting the users who might have missed online ads. It is essential to determine the places for advertising offline, which will be relevant to the portrait of the desired target audience.

How to set proper KPIs for evaluating the performance of destination marketing campaigns?

Here are the most common KPIs for destination marketing campaigns:

• Customer inquiries;
• Newsletter subscription;
• Video views;
• Other conversions actions on site

How does it work in practice?

Promodo completed a project providing destination marketing services for the Georgian National Tourism Administration to promote tourism in Georgia. Our aim was marketing the country and increase the number of tourists choosing this destination. We took the data provided by the Georgian National Tourism Administration and made a deep analysis of the target audience and their needs. ‍

The results we obtained were as follows:

We answered the question “Who is our target audience?” – and found out that tourists aged 25-54 make 75.4% of all the tourists (which meant our target audience most likely use the Internet and social networks).

With whom do they travel? According to our research, 49.1% are independent travellers and 70% of travellers organised their trips by themselves (which meant they used testimonials services and Google or Yandex search).

What are they going to do? 39.5% were supposed to come to Georgia for tourism and recreation (which meant they are either for the first time in Georgia or would like to discover more attractions, i.e. they would like to see the video or pictures of those attractions).

What do they want to receive? How much are they going to spend? (this information was helpful in order to use proper keywords for the ads). Based on the analysis we created the online marketing strategy to promote Georgia. To obtain the best results and meet the needs of our target audience, we used the Vkontakte social network, YouTube channel, and two of the most popular search engines in the targeted region(Google and Yandex).

For Google and Yandex, we used the following kinds of ads:

As for the Vkontakte social network, we targeted our ads to travellers, interested in leisure, health and culture, and those, who were the members of specific thematic communities (travels, air tickets, travel deals etc.). As a result, the campaign has shown a growth of interest in Georgia as a travel destination (see the Google Trends results).

We were also increased in the number of tourists by 14% during the campaign period (summer 2015) and received high involvement of users through the tools used.

Read the detailed case study on How we Promoted Georgia as a Tourist Country – here .

PPC Team Lead at Promodo

Serhiy has been engaged in PPC for more than 8 years.

Worked with many top Ukrainian clients.

Now manages his own team.

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Destination Marketing Outlook 2022

Executive summary, grave impact of the pandemic on tourism, survey methodology, the pre-covid setup, negative impact on traveler volume and revenue for majority dmos  .

• Funding cuts - Recovery funds come to aid

Declining staffing levels 

Marketing strategy underwent an overhaul, dmo roles accentuated further, movers and shakers, increase in revenue, funding sources come to a full circle, staffing levels to stabilize, marketing trends, dmo roles on the backburner come to the forefront , related reports.

• State of Travel 2023: Travel in 250 Charts July 2023
• Sustainability in Travel 2021: Quantifying Tourism Emissions for Destinations June 2021
• EU Traveler Profile and Key Statistics: The Impact of COVID-19 January 2021
• U.S. Travel Tracker December 2020: Further Slip January 2021

Report Overview

DMOs hold a special position in the tourism industry. They can be envisaged to be at the helm of the industry in a sense that they bridge all relevant stakeholders and act as a central communication channel with access to enormous data of both the stakeholders and the consumers.

The last two years have proven to be an extremely challenging time for DMOs. The entire industry was being put on hold, and DMOs had an additional unprecedented responsibility to their audience: encouraging people to travel less and even avoid traveling.

  Skift Research conducted its Destination Marketing 2022 survey in December 2021 to know how Covid impacted the working of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). In addition, we interviewed executives from seven key DMOs to get additional insights from the ground.

Through our survey findings and industry discussions we aim to assess how DMOs reacted to and dealt with the pandemic and make sense of what the future holds and how DMOs will shape up in 2022. These findings will be particularly useful for DMOs to gain peer insights, executive interviews and Skift analysis that can help them optimize their own strategies and for other travel industry stakeholders to push their DMOs to work in the right direction.

What You'll Learn From This Report

• The pre-Covid setup of DMOs
• Impact of Covid on DMO operations
• DMO responses to Covid in shifting roles, priorities and marketing strategies
• Recovery aid and timeline
• Marketing spends, channels and priorities for 2022
• Emerging trends in destination management for long-term recovery

Executives Interviewed

• Chang Chee Pey, Assistant Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board Marketing Group
• Chris Heywood, EVP, Global Communications, NYC & Company
• HE Saood Abdulaziz Al Hosani, Undersecretary of the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi
• John De Fries, CEO, Hawaii Tourism Authority
• Nina Zantout, Head of Strategy and Deputy Director Destination Management & Corporate Development, visitBerlin
• Robert Dougan, Executive General Manager of Strategy and Research, Tourism Australia
• Representatives of the Azerbaijan tourism Board

The pandemic has revealed a lot about tourism and the way it is managed in destinations worldwide. From Venice to Virginia Beach, the first half of 2020 has highlighted the importance of tourism on a destination’s economy, and in some places exposed where its strategy might be unsustainable in the long term.

The scope of work for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) broadened massively to keep up with the changing trends and patterns owing to the pandemic. In this report we examine the pre-Covid setup of DMOs, how DMOs evolved during the pandemic and how they make sense of what the future holds. 

We conducted a survey in December 2021 of about 100 professionals from destination management organizations (including Convention Visitors Bureau) globally to analyze the functioning of DMOs across five key facets: funding, revenue, expenses, staffing levels, and marketing. For each of the facets we have assessed the trend from the pre-Covid to the post-Covid phase.

We found that funding, revenue and expenses are expected to increase in 2022 compared to the last two years, in line with the macro travel recovery trend. However, at this point it is crucial for DMOs to diversify their funding and revenue sources along with allocating their expenses in a targeted manner. Staffing levels are expected to more or less reach 2019 levels in 2022. Digital marketing is expected to remain the dominant marketing channel going forward, although marketing approaches like partnership marketing, cross-DMO collaborations and community marketing are expected to show better results in the near future.

As DMOs continue to find their footing in the new travel landscape, DMO functions are expected to broaden even more with increased emphasis on sustainability initiatives, airport route development, and stakeholder engagement. 

Furthermore, we interviewed executives from seven key DMOs. Through our survey and discussions with industry stakeholders we gauged the recovery timeline of the traveler volume and discussed the pace of recovery by origin and purpose. Consensus is that full recovery is expected only after 2024.

The overall goal of the report is to highlight the lessons learned through battling the crisis and the fundamental areas that can contribute to a sustainable recovery and growth.

The Covid outbreak caused a global travel collapse since mid-March 2020, with cross-border travel taking the gravest hit. The arrivals of international tourists showed a sharp decline of 73% in 2020. Between January and September 2021, worldwide international tourist arrivals were 20% lower compared to 2020 and 76% below the pre-pandemic levels.

The last quarter of 2021 was expected to see a travel boom owing to the holiday season, but the emergence of the Omicron variant in early December is resulting in countries re-imposing more extensive travel restrictions and making the future uncertain yet again.

The only thing certain is that the pace of recovery will remain slow and uneven across world regions due to varying degrees of mobility restrictions, vaccination rates, and traveler confidence. 

Exhibit 1: International tourist arrivals decreased sharply in 2020 and 2021 as compared to 2019

Given this dire decrease in international travel, many destinations have focused on domestic and nearby markets to make up for the loss. However, for a considerable number of countries, revenue from international tourism contributes significantly to their GDP and revival of international tourism is crucial for their tourism industry.

As per UNWTO , the impact of Covid on tourism could result in more than $4 trillion loss to the global economy. In our annual outlook for the travel industry, Skift Research created 2022 global forecasts for all major travel sectors. Revenue of these sectors are expected to reach 2019 levels by 2024 at the earliest.

Exhibit 2: Revenue of major travel sectors is expected to reach 2019 levels by 2024 at the earliest.

Skift Research’s Destination Marketing 2022 survey was conducted in December 2021 to examine how Covid impacted the roles and priorities of DMOs and what destination organizations are doing to prepare for changes post pandemic. The total sample size is ~100, representing DMOs across different regions and levels of management. The charts below display the demographics of the survey sample and their represented organizations.

Exhibit 3: Demographics of the survey sample and their represented organizations

In ordinary times, the role of a DMO is to generate demand for tourism from key source markets by building their destinations’ brands and raising traveler awareness about their respective destination offerings.

With the travel industry enjoying nearly a decade of unfettered growth, DMOs had been increasingly taking on additional roles. Skift Megatrends 2019 discussed how progressive DMOs were already developing new partnerships with local organizations to improve the destination experience, based on trends reshaping consumer expectations in the global visitor economy. So much so, that many destination leaders started calling themselves DMMOs – Destination Marketing and Management Organizations.

Our survey data confirmed these expanded responsibilities. According to our data, 75% of respondents said their organizations were responsible for stakeholder engagement in 2019 while 80% of them said that their organizations were focusing on tourism research and data in 2019, along with concentrating on their core job of destination branding and marketing. 

Exhibit 4: Destination tourism marketing and branding remained the core DMO functions pre-Covid

As regards to funding, DMOs usually raised funds via public channels but they could also be funded privately. Among public channels, the most common way for DMOs to secure funding is via hotel occupancy tax and therefore local governments. In addition, DMOs could accrue government grants, membership dues, advertising revenue, marketplace revenue and other forms of public & private funding.

Our survey results validated that hotel transient tax was the dominant funding source pre-Covid while state/city government funding and private firm partnerships/sponsorships were ranked as the other major sources of funding. 

Exhibit 5: Hotel transient tax was the dominant funding source for DMOs pre-Covid

More than half of the survey respondents said that their organizations focused more on domestic tourism pre-Covid and around 37% said that business travel was a major component of overall tourism to their destination before Covid hit. It should be noted that our survey sample majorly consists of regional and local level DMOs and hence their focus might be skewed more towards domestic tourism. 

Exhibit 6: Based on the survey responses, domestic tourism and business travel were the focus areas for DMOs pre-Covid 

Even before the pandemic hit, DMOs were evolved enough to be using a wide range of marketing channels. Our survey results showed that more than 85% of the respondents said that their organizations were using almost all relevant channels. 

Exhibit 7: DMOs used a wide range of marketing channels in the pre-Covid phase

Digital marketing channels like content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimization were marked as ‘very effective’ marketing channels pre-Covid. 

Exhibit 8: Digital marketing was the most effective form of marketing pre-Covid

Evolution of the DMO Landscape with the Advent of Covid 

The pandemic broadened the role that DMOs can play in dealing with a crisis and recovering from it. Chris Heywood, EVP, Global Communications at NYC & Company told Skift: “It has been such a change. Role of DMO has shifted. DMO became a mouthpiece to deliver real time information to our leaders and to our members. We were indispensable during the crisis.”

Heywood further discussed: “During a typical year, we will be doing all sorts of sales & marketing activity in a particular destination, with Covid our infrastructure changed, 50% of staff was laid off, budget cuts, we lost significant funds from our private revenues, and we disbanded our international network. In the interim we were focussing on revitalising the city by engaging our own New Yorkers and now since international tourism is expected to open up we have a different set of challenges.”

Below we have highlighted the changes that occurred in the DMO industry as a result of the pandemic. 

When asked how Covid has impacted the traveler volume in their destinations, 77% of the respondents said that the traveler volume decreased.

About 70% of the respondents asserted that the revenue of their DMO decreased in 2020 as compared to 2019 with 16% saying that the decrease in revenue was more than 50%. However, the revenue situation slightly improved in 2021, with 60% of them saying that their organization’s revenue in 2021 would be above the 2019 level.

Expenses showed a similar trend of decreasing aggressively in 2020 followed by a slight increase in 2021. However, the severity of decrease in revenue in 2020 was higher  in 2020 as compared to 2021. For example, 16% of the respondents said that the revenue of their organizations decreased by more than 50% while 10% said that the expenses decreased more than 50%. This shows that in this phase DMOs were still trying to gauge the situation and streamline their expenses accordingly. 

On the other hand, in 2021 the revenue decrease is behind expense decrease indicating that destinations were cautious of overspending given the abrupt travel recovery. 

Exhibit 9: Revenue and expenses of DMOs decreased in 2020 in line with the diminishing travel demand before slightly increasing in 2021

Interestingly, 21% of the respondents said that the traveller volume to their destination increased during the pandemic. We went on to ask the reasons for the increase in traveler volume in these destinations and found that destinations which offer places to practice social distancing outperformed during the pandemic. Also, according to the respondents, the right marketing promotions, emphasis on health and safety and the surge in domestic travel due to international travel restrictions boosted traveler volumes in these destinations.

A good example of a destination which witnessed an increase in traveler volume by pulling the right strings at the right time is Abu Dhabi. HE Saood Abdulaziz Al Hosani, Undersecretary of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi , shared with Skift, “​​Despite the pandemic, the UAE recorded a 55% hotel occupancy rate in 2020 when other hotels in the Middle East recorded just 43% occupancy. The pandemic created new opportunities for domestic tourism, with a surge in demand recorded over the past year contributing $11 billion (AED 41 billion) to the national economy. The majority of Abu Dhabi’s successful steer through the pandemic was due to the government’s continued commitment to the community’s and visitors’ health and safety. DCT Abu Dhabi’s Go Safe certification programme was crucial in demonstrating our commitment to public safety and responsible tourism and we were able to instill confidence and trust in its citizens, residents and tourists.”

Funding cuts – Recovery funds come to aid

54% of the respondents stated that their organization did not receive the same level of funding starting March 2020 till date compared to 2019. Survey results suggest that with the advent of Covid, advertising revenue, hotel transient tax, membership fees and sponsorships from private firms were pulled back to a great extent while government funding at a city/state and federal level became important financing sources for DMOs. 

John De Fries, CEO, Hawaii Tourism Authority, told Skift: “Until Full Year 2021-2022, HTA was funded by a dedicated portion of the Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) charged by the state on hotel rooms and other short-term lodging. Every dollar invested in HTA returned $20 in state tax revenues. In their 2021 session, state legislators needed to balance the many needs of Hawaii’s residents with lower tax revenue projected from our heavily tourism-dependent economy. HTA’s budget was cut from $76 million to $60 million, and the dedicated funding from the TAT was removed.”

Exhibit 10: Government funding sources gained importance during Covid

With the hotel demand and occupancy rates tanked, DMOs became completely cash strapped. However, tourism is a major contributor to world economies and DMOs play a crucial part in developing and promoting tourism. Hence, to keep the show running most of the DMOs gained access to recovery funds to ensure that they can continue to provide critical business support and start to prepare for recovery.

Sixty percent of the respondents of our survey said that their DMO received recovery funds. 55% of the funds received came from the Federal government. The second biggest source was the State/Province government followed by the City/Municipal government.  

In 2020, 62 million travel jobs were lost, representing a drop of 19%, leaving just 272 million employed across the sector globally, compared to 334 million in 2019.

Destinations were no exception to this drastic workforce reduction. Forty percent of our surveyed respondents said that their organizations laid off employees in the first six months of 2020 and 28% said they furloughed employees during this time period. Survey results suggest that around a quarter of employees were laid off and furloughed.

In addition, 20% of surveyed organizations reduced the working hours and salaries of their employees. Although 17% say that DMOs hired new staff during the first six months of 2020, the number of employees actually hired is negligible. 27% of the DMOs in our sample managed to keep their staff size the same as in 2019.

Exhibit 11: Considerable share of employees in the DMO industry were laid off during the first six months of 2020

Marketing spend decreased

Marketing remained the foremost function of DMOs. Seventy-two percent of the respondents said that the marketing spends decreased in 2020 and the number for 2021, while better, was still at 54%. 

The decrease in marketing spends in 2020 can be attributed to budget cuts overall but also insignificant travel demand. As Heywood from NYC & Company said, “When the pandemic started, we had nothing to market as people could not come.” As the situation got slightly better in 2021, DMOs started launching campaigns to lure travelers and ensure visitation as soon as travel restrictions were eased.

Exhibit 12: Marketing spend decreased in 2020 before slightly improving in 2021

Increased focus on domestic tourism

With wide spread restrictions on cross-border travel up until the recent few months, 65% of the respondents said that their organization focused more on domestic tourism during Covid as compared to 52% before Covid hit (refer exhibit 6). 

For example, Chang Chee Pey, Assistant Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board commented: “Our marketing strategies had to evolve to target a new domestic audience. STB launched the SingapoRediscovers domestic campaign in July 2020 to encourage locals to explore different sides of the country and in December 2020, STB launched complimentary SingapoRediscovers Voucher Scheme that provided Singaporeans with $100 worth of tourism credits as an incentive to support local tourism businesses.”

Representatives from the Azerbaijan Tourism Board further solidified the importance of domestic tourism during the pandemic, they told Skift: “During the pandemic, one of the main roles added to ATB’s functions was the promotion of domestic tourism, creating accessible tourism products for locals, putting them into a domestic tourism platform and communicating them to relevant target audiences. Acting as a hub for industry partners, including tour guides, accommodation providers, tour agencies and operators, has become a new role too to support the human capital within the industry.”

Offline marketing channels take a back seat; Innovative marketing campaigns became crucial

Survey results reflected that while digital channels like social media marketing and search engine optimization continued to be the top most marketing channels, community building, email and influencer marketing got a few extra points in terms of their efficiency during the pandemic.

On the other hand, publicity events and offline advertising channels were proven to be ineffective marketing channels during Covid given the restrictions on holding gatherings and the risk of virus transmission.

Chee Pey at the Singapore Tourism Board told Skift, “During the pandemic, digital channels were critical ones that allowed us to engage with our target audience when we were unable to do so physically. We expect this to continue going forward.” 

Exhibit 13: Digital marketing remained an impactful marketing channel during Covid

60% of the respondents of our survey said that their DMOs’ marketing message changed when the destination started witnessing signs of recovery from Covid based on changes in traveller preferences.

Slight recovery marked the beginning of in-the-moment marketing campaigns. For example, in January 2021 NYC and Company tweaked its very famous NYC Restaurant Week event to NYC Restaurant Week To Go. This simple change to make the most of the situation was a win-win allowing customers to enjoy favourite restaurants while staying at home at a bargain price, and allowing restaurants, many for the first time, to make takeout/delivery a revenue stream to help get through the winter months.

In the initial stage of Covid, in particular, DMOs around the world needed to encourage people to stop travelling. Even for destinations that bounced back faster thanks to a larger domestic travel market, the marketing focus needed to be on responsible and safe travel. According to our survey, 84% of the respondents said that their organization reviewed its primary roles and responsibilities as a result of the pandemic and 58% said that their organization changed its primary roles and responsibilities.

Stakeholder engagement, integrating locals, focus on sustainable tourism development and revisiting target markets and segments were the top few changes being reviewed at DMOs.

Other than the areas mentioned in the chart below, respondents highlighted that their organization’s main focus has been on transparent, timely communication, and brand positioning. Additionally, DMOs have been re-evaluating their membership models and made a shift from marketing members to marketing the entire destination.

Exhibit 14: In line with the changing industry landscape, DMOs reviewed and changed their focus areas

Recovery Timeline

Forty percent of the respondents expect travel to reach pre-pandemic levels in 2023 while ~30% feel recovery might happen in 2024 or later. As per the survey results, recovery in 2022 seems a far-fetched possibility.

Exhibit 15: Recovery in 2022 seems a like a bleak possibility

As far as the pace of recovery by purpose is concerned, 93% of the respondents believe that business travel to their destination will recover slower than leisure travel. However, Robert Dougan, Executive General Manager of Strategy and Research, Tourism Australia told Skift, “Business demand is not as dire as it was expected to be. Leisure will definitely recover before business but the gap might be narrower.” 

NYC & Company shared with us the expected timelines for recovery of travel volume by origin and purpose wherein domestic demand is expected to surpass 2019 levels in 2023 and international will breakeven in 2025. Similarly, leisure travel is expected to recover sooner in 2023 and business will follow in 2025.

  Exhibit 16: Domestic demand and leisure travel is expected to recover faster as compared to international and business travel respectively

As per the survey, DMOs feel that they themselves are leading the way and spearheading the recovery initiatives, while they see hotels as leading industry stakeholder in spearheading recovery on the ground. 

Exhibit 17: DMOs themselves are leading the recovery initiatives

What will 2022 Look Like for DMOs?

Our survey results indicate that the respondents are bullish on the fact that their organizations’ revenue will increase in 2022 as compared to 2019, with 60% expecting their revenue to increase in 2021 and 75% expecting their revenue to increase in 2022 considering 2019 revenue as the baseline. However, half of them believe that the increase will be less than 20%, indicating that the traveler volume is expected to recover only partially in 2022, quite so in line with the recovery timeline suggested by our survey results (refer exhibit 15)

Note that the survey was conducted in December 2021 and does not take into account the impact of the Omicron variant. The recovery might be further suppressed if destinations levy travel restrictions again.

Nina Zantout, Head of Strategy and Deputy Director Destination Management & Corporate Development, visitBerlin confirmed that full recovery in 2022 is a bleak possibility, “visitBerlin receives public funds for its tasks in Destination Management and Marketing and generates its own revenues through product sales. ~55% of our budget is own revenues. We received additional funding out of the recovery fund from the City of Berlin for the tourism sector in 2020 and 2021 in order to intensify the Berlin marketing, initiate new campaigns and to support the industry with tourism know-how. We do not expect to reach the same budget in 2022 as in 2019.”

On the expense side, it is notable that the expected increase in expense is exactly in line with revenue expectation, pointing towards the increased confidence of DMOs in handling the ever-changing Covid situation as compared to the situation in 2021 where expense increase was behind revenue increase and destinations were cautious of overspending (refer exhibit 9).

As far as expense allocation is concerned, DMOs are being nimble and are using their resources judiciously to get quick returns. Dougan from tourism Australia stated, “There are two major shifts in budget allocation. One, we have increased investment in the industry. And second, in the short term a higher ratio towards partnerships and conversions – we want to get people in the country as soon as possible once borders reopen.”

Exhibit 18: DMO expenses are expected to increase in line with increase in revenue in 2022

Most organizations believe the Covid-induced funding changes are transient and once we put the pandemic behind us, their funding sources and amounts will be back to pre-Covid level or continue to grow. Among all the surveyed respondents, 80% said they expect their organizations to get more funding post-Covid compared to 2019.

Respondents expect hotel transient tax to return back as the leading source of funding post-Covid. Advertising revenue and membership fees which were not contributing substantially before Covid are expected to become significant funding sources going forward.

However, 73% of them agreed with the statement “My organization will seek to develop new sources of funding”, indicating changes in the original balance of funding sources. Heavy reliance on hotel tax related funding is being contested in the industry and many industry experts believe that the hotel bed tax should no longer be the sole source of funding for their activities. 

Lebawit Lily Girma, Global Tourism Reporter at Skift discussed the funding crisis at destinations in her recent article. Kristen Jarnagin, CEO of Discover Long Island is quoted in the article saying: “I personally think the industry long-term needs to diversify beyond just hotels because of what we’re going through right now and, just like any other corporation would in America, you would look at any funding stream you had to be successful, and that’s exactly what we should do.”

Forty percent of the respondents also said that their organization expects to receive recovery funds in the future with the major source expected to be the Federal government, suggesting that DMOs will not be all out of the woods as yet and will still need outside support in 2022. 

Exhibit 19: Hotel transient tax is expected to become the dominant source of funding post-Covid

In 2021, as the demand for travel began to strengthen in line with the easing of restrictions and the recovering domestic market, the labor supply in the travel sector was unable to match the rising labor demand, particularly during the second half of 2021. Many countries, especially the U.S. and some European countries, showed significant staff shortages, with employment demand starting to outstrip the available labor supply.

Our survey results represent the same trend in late 2021, with 60% of the respondents saying that their organizations hired new staff while only 25% of them were successful in taking the number of staff back to 2019 levels. 

According to World Travel & Tourism Council’s latest economic projections from October 2021, travel sector’s employment is set to rise by 0.7% in 2021, representing 2 million jobs, followed by an 18% increase in 2022 to reach 324 million jobs – only 10 million below 2019 levels. Considering that DMOs will follow the overall industry trend, staff levels are expected to stabilize in 2022. 

Exhibit 20: Staffing levels in DMOs is expected to stabilize to a certain degree in 2022

Marketing spend to increase moderately 

77% of the survey respondents believe that marketing spends will increase in 2022, with around half of them saying that the increase will be less than 25% indicating that DMOs’ marketing budgets will remain tight and they should define their marketing focus and allocate resources carefully. 

Marketing priorities adjusted

Building brand and destination awareness was rated as the most important marketing priority for 2022. Chee Pey at the Singapore Tourism Board commented, “The most significant shift in STB’s marketing was from driving visitor arrivals and spend, to retaining destination mindshare globally. Our priority is to make Singapore the destination of choice, as consumers prepare to travel again.”

The priority next in line is to pursue a yield-driven marketing approach by building optimal data and analytics capacity. With limited funding and resources to channel, DMOs have realised the importance of taking a highly targeted approach. Heywood at NYC and Company told Skift, “We have to be very nimble in what channel to use, following the opportunities we are presented with, for example, we have shifted our resources from the Chinese market – we are simply doing a very targeted marketing. We will fish where the fish are.”

One of the major lessons for DMOs during Covid has been to diversify their revenue streams (42% of the respondents said that their organizations started to identify new revenue streams after Covid hit – refer exhibit 14). Over-reliance on a few markets has significantly challenged their revenue base and operations during the crisis. Hence, acquiring new customers, rated as a top marketing priority by the survey respondents, ought to be a crucial strategy in the years to come.

Retaining existing customers, ensuring repeat visitation, building return on investment measurement methods and generating revenue remain other marketing priorities for 2022.

Exhibit 21: DMOs look to adjust their marketing priorities in 2022

International tourism regains importance

Twenty-seven percent of the survey respondents said that their organizations will focus more on international tourism as recovery begins as opposed to 9% of them saying that their organizations’ focus was international tourism during Covid. 

Despite the surge in domestic tourism during Covid, DMOs are bent towards investing in international tourism as that is where the major chunk of tourism revenue comes from. Heywood from NYC & Company told Skift, “In New York, 50% of our spending comes from international travel. Currently domestic is important – it is 80% of the volume right now, however, getting back international is crucial for the industry. It is basically a concentric recovery where the focus was first on hyperlocal, then on local/regional, followed by domestic and then international markets.”

Exhibit 22: International tourism is expected to regain importance once recovery begins

Business tourism starts to regain importance

When asked about the focus of their organization’s calendar events for 2022, 46% of the respondents said that the organization will focus both on leisure and business tourism, signifying that despite of an expected lag in the recovery of business tourism, DMOs are willing to dedicate their time and resources in reinvigorating business demand. 

Exhibit 23: DMOs aim to focus both on leisure and business segments in 2022

Through our discussions with DMOs like NYC & Company, STB and Azerbaijan Tourism Board, we recognise that they are already pushing campaigns and promotions focusing on business tourism revival.

Marketing messages to be modified

83% of the survey respondents believe that marketing messages will have to be changed once their destination has fully recovered from the impact of Covid.

Attractiveness of the facets/offerings of the destination will also change in line with evolved traveler preferences. Results suggested that outdoor recreation and cultural heritage become key products to be marketed post Covid. In addition, undoubtedly, health related protocols and safety standards are bound to become important factors to attract tourists in 2022. 

Under its It’s Time for New York City campaign, NYC & Company shows how they used the culture and heritage facet to invite visitors right when the U.S. international borders were reopening. Right before the start of the holiday season, the DMO invited locals and visitors to enjoy holiday traditions and cultural experiences across the five boroughs, many of which are in person for the first time in two years.

Keeping the need for health and safety, destinations are opening their borders cautiously. As Chee Pey at the Singapore Tourism Board told Skift: “In recent months, Singapore launched Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTLs) with over 20 markets, allowing fully vaccinated travellers to travel without quarantine after closely monitoring source markets and ascertaining travel demand. STB also partnered with ClassPass to jointly promote Singapore’s wellness offerings and enhance the city’s attractiveness as an urban wellness destination.”

Other facets which are set to become very important once destinations recover from the pandemic are accommodations and food & beverage outlets.

Exhibit 24: Attractiveness of destination offerings is expected to change in line with changing traveler preferences

However, the post-Covid phase will bring its own share of struggles for the DMOs. In order to eliminate the risk of virus transmission yet again, DMOs will have to be extra careful in which source markets to target and when. Heywood at NYC & Company discussed, “Now international has reopened. It is getting much better – we need to understand that the vaccination situation is different in each country and everyone might not be able to follow the requirements to enter our country.”

Marketing channels to maintain balance but few innovative approaches expected to transpire

In the near term, digital marketing channels are expected to maintain their supremacy as post advent of the pandemic. However, partnership marketing, community building, and cross-DMO collaborations are expected to gain importance in the coming years as compared to the pre-Covid setup (refer exhibit 13). 

Partnership marketing to pick up

Eighty-six percent of the survey respondents said that their organization is actively partnering with tourism stakeholders, like airlines and hotels, to work towards the common goal of bringing back travelers. The results further suggest that 84% of the respondents believe that partnership with hotels turn out to be the most fruitful and efficient. 

It is important to mention that based on the survey results, we believe that DMOs have a natural tendency to favour hotels over other travel partners (later in the report we will see that DMOs vote eco-conscious products and services of hotels as the most attractive tourist offering). This bias can be attributed to the fact that hotel transient tax was a major funding source pre-Covid and the trend is expected to continue and hotels are much more closely tied with the local economy that destinations represent than other travel segments (refer exhibit 19).

Exhibit 25: DMOs believe that partnership with hotels turn out to be the most fruitful and efficient

NYC & Company’s It’s Time for New York City tourism campaign that we mentioned earlier is a good example of partnership marketing. As part of this campaign, the DMO formed a partnership with British Airways with billboards installed in the UK to promote eight daily flights to Gotham.

They also collaborated with Virgin Atlantic along with British Airways, and hosted an event to commemorate the opening of U.S. borders to vaccinated travellers with the aim of creating a buzz and attracting more British travellers. Heywood from NYC & Company in an interaction with PR Week said, “The thing that equates to success is having the power of partnership and having different people bring their strengths to the table was what really propelled this event from being something that could have just been a run-of-the-mill reception to something that garnered a lot of media attention.”

Similarly, Tourism Australia launched the National Experience Content Initiative, a new $12 million media creation program aimed at supporting tourism businesses across the country in their recovery and driving increased visitation by helping them to better market their experiences and attractions.

Cross-DMO collaborations on the rise

About 60% of the respondents said that their organization is exploring cross-DMO collaborations to rationalize costs and standardize basic functions. 

Destinations Put Aside Old Rivalries With New Combined Marketing , a recent article by Skift, talks about how the new ‘friends not rivals’ approach to marketing destinations might just get more traction from today’s changed traveler.

One good example to showcase such partnerships is the #ThroughMyWindow campaign put together by the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, NYC & Company and San Francisco Travel in April 2020. Through this campaign the DMOs encouraged those who live in their cities to share their views with the hashtag #LAThroughMyWindow, #NYCThroughMyWindow, and #SFThroughMyWindow. The idea was to provide a virtual window into each other’s  cities, a sign of unity and support.

However, we believe that this is an interim strategy, as navigating joint messaging amid varied target markets across destinations will be a challenging task once they have fully recovered from the pandemic. 

Community engagement to grow

Around 90% of the survey respondents said that their organization has started focusing more on building local/community partnerships.

Over the last few years, destination marketing has broadened and shifted to a more cohesive community outlook. Locals have a direct influence on the visitor experience, from being welcoming, sharing their culture, creating safe and secure environments, to spreading positive stories about the destination. On top of that, destination organizations have increasingly realized that bringing in tourism should be integrated into building local community and culture and improving the quality of life for the local residents. 

Denaye Hinds, managing director of JustaTaad , a sustainability consultancy firm and a board member for the Center for Responsible Travel , during the Skift Destination and Sustainability Summit held in July 2021 discussed: “Tourism starts before getting on the plane and taking that trip, and getting that responsible message across to future visitors is where the opportunity also lies as far as including communities in marketing messaging.”

A recent article by Skift, Lebawit Lily Girma mentions, “As tourism returned, doubts lingered as to whether tourism boards would keep prioritizing their residents and continue to market to them. At Skift Global Forum, leaders of California and Florida tourism indicated that the shift was here to stay, and that they would continue to market to their insiders as local marketing campaigns had been well received with pent up desire from locals to explore their backyard and support their homegrown businesses.” 

DMOs will continue to find their footing in the new travel landscape. The chart below shows how some of the DMO functions are expected to broaden massively to keep up with the changing trends and patterns owing to the pandemic. 

Exhibit 26: DMOs continue to find their footing in the new travel landscape

Increased emphasis on Sustainability initiatives

In the post-Covid world, we found that sustainability initiatives are at the top of destination professionals’ minds. While only 34% stated their organizations worked on sustainability initiatives in 2019, 74% said their organizations will work on them post-Covid. 

Eighty-three percent of the respondents feel that there is a need to provide eco-conscious travel options given the focus on climate change and sustainability issues post Covid. And among the travel products offered by various travel providers, destination professionals believe eco-conscious products and services offered by hotels and food & beverage outlets will be the most attractive to travelers. 

Exhibit 27: Destination professionals believe eco-conscious products and services offered by hotels will be the most attractive to travelers

Furthermore, 50% of the respondents said that their organization started working on developing methods and advocating for regulations that can prevent over-tourism and/or managing its negative multi-facet effects for the purposes of advanced sustainable development as a result of Covid. As one respondent shared, “Emphasis will be on sustainable practices with dispersal of tourists so that the threshold hold capacity of a tourist destination does not cross its limit.”

However, industry experts believe that although sustainability practices are being included in their strategic agenda on a theoretical basis, for now it has been put on the backburner as the need of the hour is to get tourism going by any means possible. Dougan from Tourism Australia commented, “Undoubtedly, sustainability and tourism go hand in hand, however, currently we need cash in the industry to survive and to remain competitive. Labour shortage and the ability to service demand are the things the industry should be much worried about.” 

Airport route development and overall stakeholder engagement resurge as key DMO functions

While only 25% said that their organization focused on airport route development in 2019, 40% said that their organization will focus on it going forward. 

Dougan at Tourism Australia, told Skift: “We will have to focus on more support areas – from our core function of marketing to a much higher degree of aviation engagement, distribution engagement, industry engagement as well. We have set up programs to help the industry become more competitive, to help industry stakeholders do the right marketing. We also have been very active in talking to airlines in keeping them informed of what is happening in Australia. Trade and Aviation are crucial to keep it going.”

Increased emphasis on economic development, and crisis management is expected to continue. Over and above the functions mentioned in the chart above, respondents listed policy development, political advocacy, increased accessibility with round the clock communication options for visitors and residents as other functions that are expected to become important post Covid.

Heavy investment in Data

Tourism research and data was already of significant importance to DMOs before the pandemic, with 80% respondents mentioning it as a key function of their organization. In the post-pandemic phase, 90% of the respondents voted it as a key function. As we have already mentioned above, budget restraints due to Covid have made it essential for DMOs to take a more targeted approach with respect to internal business practices and their overall strategy to efficiently utilise the budgets available. As Heywood at NYC and Company said, “We are as good as our data.”

Survey results show that Google and social media analytics are used ubiquitously by DMOs. At the same time, internal data sources from stakeholders and the government are also being used to make informed decisions.

The Roadmap for Tourism’s Reimagining and Recovery document published by NYC & Company in July 2020 shows how they track essential data to define their success metrics. A few of the metrics tracked by them are measuring changes in search terms, site traffic, social media engagement, social listening, custom/proprietary traveler sentiment surveys. The DMO even tracks indices like the performance of hotels, shopping trends and regional mobility.

Exhibit 28: Google and social media analytics are used ubiquitously by DMOs along with direct stakeholder data sources

To conclude, the overall objective of creating demand, boosting visitor numbers and spending will require all facets of the DMOs to function in perfect harmony in 2022. We believe that 2022 will be a pivotal year of laying the groundwork for the DMOs to build back better in a real sense. Identification of new revenue and funding opportunities, streamlined internal operations, implementation of performance measurement metrics, use of sophisticated data and analytics and targeted marketing along with significant focus on health & safety, sustainability, partnerships and community building are some of the interesting changes that the DMO landscape will entail in 2022. 

We’ve received many uplifting comments from our surveyed destination management professionals that echo the above message. We will end the report with messages from a couple of respondents that capture the essence of the work that many DMOs are planning to do: 

“In 2022, we will focus more on the health and safety aspects of our industry partners – and promote the Safe Travel Stamp and all businesses that are certified. We will also feature the outdoor attractions more than we have in the past. We will also focus more on the sustainability message across all markets – travel trade, business events and leisure. We will ensure that all of our messaging demonstrates that our destination is welcoming and inclusive to all.” 

“Our offer will develop considering the wants and needs of our target groups putting them in accord with those of our residents and stakeholders. We aim to become a safe and friendly destination for them offering a better quality of life, products and services, making our destination a nice and interactive place for all our long or short-stay residents and visitors. In addition to the safety messaging, we’re talking about increasing awareness around sustainability and environmentally friendly ways to travel.”

“More than ever we’ve seen the importance of being nimble so will be much more flexible with our messaging and advertising placement. There will be new customers’ needs to be answered in our marketing communication, it will focus more on safe travelling, health information, new digital services – and we will continue to be a home-away-from-home and will welcome visitors to take part in the locals‘ life.”

Effective Destination Marketing Strategies to Attract More Visitors

In today's competitive tourism industry, crafting effective destination marketing strategies is essential for attracting more visitors and standing out in the global marketplace. 

This article will guide tour and experience business owners through the key components and benefits of destination marketing, offering insights into how to develop, implement, and optimize strategies that drive tourism and generate significant revenue.

What is Tourism Destination Marketing?

Tourism destination marketing involves strategies and actions to promote a specific location or destination to attract visitors and tourists. It's about showcasing the experience, culture, and attractions of a place to entice people from around the world to visit.

What are the Key Elements of Destination Marketing?

Destination marketing is a must for travel and hospitality businesses looking to market services toward specific locales. By touting the benefits of your destination, you can inspire users to book a stay.

Some core elements of destination marketing to look out for are:

• Audience data
• Focus on key markets
• Storytelling
• Social media marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Visual marketing
• Video marketing
• Destination branding
• Experiential marketing

Why is Destination Marketing Important?

Destination marketing offers a plethora of benefits that can significantly enhance a location's appeal and its economic prosperity. Overall, destination marketing not only drives tourism and economic growth but also fosters a sense of pride and identity for the local community.

• Authenticity in marketing ensures that the message resonates with the target audience by reflecting the true experience and culture of the destination.
• Social Proof, such as reviews and testimonials from previous visitors, influencers, and locals, can significantly boost a destination's reputation and attract more tourists.
• Cost-effective: Destination marketing can be more cost-effective than traditional advertising, especially when leveraging digital and social media platforms to reach a wider audience.
• Viral Potential: Social media and content sharing have the potential to make a destination go viral, attracting attention and interest from globally.
• Improve Engagement and Interaction: Engaging content and interactive campaigns can improve engagement and interaction with potential visitors, building a community around the destination.
• Fosters Job Creation: With the expansion of tourism, new employment opportunities emerge in the hospitality and tourism sectors, offering jobs to locals, decreasing unemployment rates, and uplifting the economic landscape.
• Elevates the Destination's Reputation: By showcasing its distinct characteristics and attractions, destination marketing can improve a place's image and counteract any existing negative impressions or stereotypes.
• Boosts Tourism Revenue: Successful destination marketing strategies can increase visitor numbers, leading to higher tourism-related earnings. This influx of funds can be reinvested to upgrade infrastructure, amenities, and attractions, making the destination even more enticing to future visitors.

What are the Best Destination Marketing Strategies?

The best destination marketing strategies are those that effectively combine digital innovation with authentic storytelling to captivate and engage potential visitors. Embracing these strategies not only attracts more visitors but also fosters a positive and lasting impression of the destination.

An important strategy in our arsenal for tourism destination marketing is leveraging online advertising. This encompasses a wide array of formats, including email, video, social media, native, affiliate, and display advertising. 

While the goal is to draw vacationers to a distinctive destination, it's imperative to manage this without compromising the financial stability of your hotel or resort.

Mobile Experience

Mobile is one of the most effective ways for travel companies to share relevant messages with customers at key touchpoints in their travel journey — from dreaming and planning to booking and flying to the in-destination experience, with utilitarian services like check-in reminders and nearby activity recommendations.

Data-Driven Campaigns

Data-driven decision-making is crucial for DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations) as it enables them to stay competitive in the dynamic tourism market. By leveraging data, DMOs can gain insights into tourist behavior, preferences, and trends, which can guide their marketing and operational strategies.

Data-driven campaigns allow businesses to target and engage their audience more effectively by analyzing user behavior and preferences.

Partnerships

Partnerships with local businesses, hotels, and events can expand reach and offer bundled experiences to visitors. Destination marketing cannot be successful without meaningful community partnerships. 

Branding is crucial for creating a memorable identity for a destination, differentiating it from the competition.

Your hotel brand includes your tone, communication style, logo, and design aesthetics. Having a distinctive brand further separates you from your competitors and gives you a memorable appeal that your audience won’t soon forget.

Visual content significantly impacts people's perceptions and decisions. While storytelling paints a vivid picture of what it's like to stay at a vacation destination, seeing the actual offerings is what truly captivates your audience. 

Enhance your digital presence by incorporating high-quality images and graphics on your website, landing pages, and social media platforms. Showcasing stunning photos and videos on social media and websites can capture the imagination of potential visitors.

Influencers

If your current destination marketing efforts seem insufficient to attract visitors to a less-known tourist spot, consider leveraging influencer marketing as a powerful ally. Influencers command the attention of a vast and engaged audience, many of whom are willing to explore new products and destinations based on these trusted recommendations. 

Personalization

Personalization is a key strategy to attract and retain customers in the travel and tourism industry. By tailoring your marketing messages and offers to the preferences, needs, and behaviors of your target audience, you can increase engagement, loyalty, and conversions.

Best Destination Advertising Examples

Among the myriad of destination advertising campaigns, some stand out for their creativity, impact, and ability to draw tourists. These campaigns exemplify how innovative and strategic advertising can elevate a destination's appeal and attract visitors from around the globe.

Inspired by Iceland

In 2010, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökul, an Icelandic volcano, disrupted air travel across Europe and sparked numerous misunderstandings about visiting the breathtaking nation. To counteract this, the Icelandic government collaborated with the City of Reykjavík, airlines including Icelandair and Iceland Express, Promote Iceland, and approximately 80 other entities in the tourism sector to launch the "Inspired by Iceland" campaign. 

Travel Oregon

Travel Oregon is renowned for its exceptionally creative marketing campaigns, setting a high standard in the industry. Their innovative approaches range from a robotic fish serving as a tour guide to satirical articles, skillfully blending various mediums like print, sponsored posts, social media, banner ads, and video for impactful results. 

Doors of Thrones

In 2016, Storm Gertrude wreaked havoc on the Dark Hedges, the famous tree-lined road that served as the backdrop for the Kingsroad in HBO's blockbuster series, "Game of Thrones." Rather than seeing this as a loss, a creative opportunity was seized from the aftermath. 

Explore Georgia

"Georgia" utilized social media to showcase its attractions, culture, and events, engaging visitors with compelling content.

How is Destination Marketing Different from Other Regional Marketing?

Destination marketing focuses specifically on promoting a place for tourism, emphasizing experiences, culture, and attractions unique to that location. It differs from broader regional marketing, which may target businesses, investors, or residents in addition to tourists.

Unlike other regional marketing campaigns, destination-focused advertising promotes the overall appeal of a location instead of a particular business or attraction. It pinpoints what makes your destination unique and why others should experience it.

Tourism Trends: Opportunities for Destination Marketing

Emerging trends in tourism, such as sustainable travel, cultural immersion, and digital nomadism, offer new opportunities for destination marketing.

• Digital marketing has become crucial for destination marketers as the internet increasingly influences travel planning and bookings. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are key for showcasing a destination's allure, with strategies like influencer marketing, content marketing, and virtual reality experiences gaining traction to attract visitors.
• Sustainability is a growing priority among travelers seeking eco-friendly options, prompting marketers to emphasize green initiatives and responsible travel practices, such as minimizing carbon footprints and supporting local conservation efforts.
• Personalization is shaping destination marketing, with travelers desiring unique experiences tailored to their interests. Marketers are meeting this demand by offering customized itineraries and tour packages, enhancing visitor satisfaction and recommendations.
• Collaboration among tourism boards, local businesses, and governments is vital for a unified marketing approach. Sharing knowledge and best practices with other destinations enhances marketing campaigns and the destination's overall appeal.

Staying ahead in destination marketing requires an understanding of the latest trends. Our exploration of current travel marketing trends delves into personalization and customization, offering insights on how these strategies can be leveraged to attract more visitors in a changing landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Digital Innovation and Authentic Storytelling: Utilizing social media, influencer partnerships, and data-driven campaigns are key strategies for engaging potential visitors and creating a buzz around a destination.
• Sustainability and Personalization: Highlighting eco-friendly practices and offering personalized experiences cater to the growing demand for responsible travel and unique, tailored tourism experiences.
• Emphasis on Local Culture and Collaboration: Promoting local culture and fostering collaborations with local businesses, tourism boards, and other stakeholders enhance the authenticity and appeal of a destination, supporting the local economy and cultural heritage.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the success factors of destination marketing.

Successful destination marketing relies on authenticity, engagement, innovation, and personalization to attract and retain visitors.

Who is the Target Market of a Destination?

The target market can vary but generally includes tourists looking for unique experiences, cultural immersion, or specific activities and attractions.

What is Tourism Destination Demand?

Tourism destination demand refers to the interest and desire of people to visit a place, influenced by marketing, reputation, and available experiences.

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Tourism Marketing: 7 Ideas to Promote Your Destination in 2022

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How tourism marketing changed in 2020, what can you do differently to attract tourists.

2020 hasn’t been easy for the tourism industry. The United Nations World Tourism Organization released a report back in September warning that 120 million jobs are at risk due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But we made it through and with most countries starting to vaccinate, we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Pre-pandemic, the tourism industry was incredibly competitive and this certainly hasn’t changed. This is why your tourism marketing needs to really stand out if you want to attract visitors once again and revive the sector.

In this article, we’re going to look at 7 ways to promote your destination in 2021, taking into account the effects of the global pandemic.

Let’s dive in.

If you go back and read the predictions for tourism marketing in 2020, written back in December ‘19 or January ‘20, they are in no way comparable to what actually happened. Marketing campaigns had to be shelved, and new cost-effective ideas created in limited time frames.

A survey from MMGY Travel Intelligence and Destinations International found that 95% of destination organizations surveyed in the US reduced or completely postponed marketing spend last year. This is understandable, but it meant that those companies that did create new campaigns had less competition for grabbing people’s attention.

Pre-2020, the primary objective of tourism marketing campaigns was to convince travelers to take the plunge and buy tickets or book hotels. Over the last 12 months, however, we have seen that the focus shifted to staying top of mind for when travel is allowed again.

VisitEngland decided to produce a series of posts connected to films and TV shows which showcased the country, from “The Crown” to “Love Actually”. Their aim? Keep top of mind and be number 1 on the list when people are planning their first trip post-lockdown.

Virtual tours have also become extremely popular in 2020, providing an escape from the day-to-day. Despite existing pre-pandemic, we have seen much more money invested in state-of-the-art virtual experiences from tourism organizations.

EnjoyIllinois.com changed their homepage to feature an image of a forest and cliffs and the caption ‘These views took 300 years to make. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon’ and then encouraged visitors to travel around the state from the comfort of their own homes, offering the option to explore cities, forests, and smaller historic towns.

A number of tourism companies have since started offering virtual tours, from amusement parks to city tours .

Better safe than sorry

Customer safety has always been important in the tourism industry but in 2022 it has jumped to the top of the list due to the pandemic. Travelers are much more conscious of hygiene than in previous years, so this needs to be reflected in your marketing plan.

Emphasize the steps you are taking to maintain social distancing and keep high levels of cleanliness. Essentially, your marketing needs to convince your visitors that they will be safe and secure. If you are a tour operator, get those creative juices flowing to design new itineraries that avoid large crowds and focus on smaller group sizes.

Think local

Yes, vaccinations are underway and experts are predicting international travel to make a comeback at the end of spring or the beginning of summer. However, even when international travelers are allowed to enter, it might take some time for people to start traveling longer distances again.

You should focus your marketing efforts for 2021 on domestic tourists. Don’t advertise your great weather as this won’t be news for them. Change the focus of your campaigns to highlight off-the-beaten-track activities or secret gems that might not be so obvious – and that would attract a more local customer base. Think about creating a discount for local residents, or a loyalty program that would entice them to become recurrent visitors.

Act sustainable

This is an important one. Consumers are now taking a more local outlook and are trying to offset some of the environmental harm that was done by travel pre-COVID. The enforced tourism ‘break’ has given us more time and space to notice how tourism impacts the environment. Over 65% of travelers are making more sustainable choices than in previous years so we can’t ignore this trend.

Travel companies can help their customers to minimize the footprint of their activities and make sure that they contribute to the environment and communities. For example, you could partner with your local train company to encourage visitors to travel sustainably. Make sure any campaigns you undertake are promoted on social media as people are likely to spread the word around sustainability.

Be smart with influencers

In 2019, it seemed that influencers in the tourism world were unstoppable. It remains a successful model and is one of the most cost-effective methods for brand awareness and customer acquisition.

However, 2020 has taught us to work smarter with influencers, otherwise, the backlash can be costly. We have seen travel influencers continue their lives in 2020 as if Covid-19 never existed, and as a result of this, both the influencer and travel companies sponsoring the trips have been understandably hit by bad press.

Investigate local micro-influencers instead, who don’t have to break any regulations to visit you. They tend to have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers and are viewed as experts or specialists in their niche. Their followers are much more likely to buy into whatever they are selling, and they are much cheaper than larger influencers. For more influencer tips, check out our blog article .

Tik Tok Time!

Unless you have been offline the whole of 2020, you must have heard of Tik Tok. The most downloaded app of 2020 is a firm favorite amongst Gen Z-ers and it is spreading to other age-groups. In fact, 30% of its users are over the age of 30.

Its algorithm is very effective in showing users what they like, based on what they have previously viewed, and features everything from beauty tutorials to dance choreography. With TikTok predicted to continue its exponential growth, it would be wise for travel brands to get on board and start sharing content.

First off, you should download the app and secure your username. We would recommend not posting straight away, so you and keep your profile private. Take your time to look through existing travel content, jot down what works and what doesn’t, and get used to the algorithm. Then you can formulate your approach and start testing the platform.

Recommended reading: How to Use Social Media to Promote Tour Packages

Keep an eye on reviews

Of course, reviews have always been crucial. But according to Podium’s ‘2020 State of Reviews’, they have ‘never been so important or influential’ . 3.4 is the average star rating consumers require in order to even consider engaging with a business. But the content has now changed. Instead of focusing on keywords such as ‘price,’ and ‘customer service’, people are searching more for social distancing, hygiene, and mask-wearing policies.

So, what do you need to do? Actively request feedback in your post-visit email correspondence. Block out an hour or so a week to go through all reviews and comments on review sites and social media. Make sure that you respond with empathy to all comments, good and bad. Reflect on the more critical comments, and see if there are areas that you can improve.

Recommended reading: The Ultimate Guide to Generating Positive Customer Reviews

Stay digital

In 2020 we all upped our digital offerings to stay relevant and keep top of mind. This needs to continue. Yes, we will start welcoming back visitors this year but there will be some people that don’t want to travel just yet. For this segment, virtual reality is a promising area to explore, allowing potential visitors to experience an attraction, tourist activities, or hotels from the safety and security of their own home – enticing them for an in-person visit. Even the Vatican is doing it!

Have a think of what you could include in a virtual reality tour of your destination. Make sure that your content is optimized for both desktop and mobile, and use social media to promote it. You can also use VR as an extra tool of persuasion during the booking process.

That’s it for our top 7 ideas to make your tourism marketing stand out in 2021. As visitors begin to make their first plans for 2021, make sure that you differentiate your offer from the competition in order to win their business.

One last tip? Continue to engage with your customers and potential visitors. Talk to them, listen, and understand why they want to visit your attraction and what could stop them. By adapting to their fears and requirements, you’re more likely to climb up their 2021 ‘to-do’ list.

You might also like: 

• 10 Innovative Ideas to Differentiate Your Tours
• Tourism Marketing Strategies for 2021 and Beyond
• Four Ways to Promote Your Tours to an International Audience
• 5 Ways to Create an Innovative Tourism Experience

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8 of the Best Destination Marketing Campaigns (And What You Can Learn From Them)

Destination marketing is an incredibly popular approach when it comes to travel and tourism marketing. From national tourist boards to independent agencies that offer trips to specific towns or cities, it’s a very effective method of attracting travellers to a location in an engaging and creative manner without employing traditional, explicitly persuasive marketing messages.

There is a very broad range of ways that destination marketing can be used to grow awareness of a location and the travel experience that a company offers there. Whether you’re wondering what destination marketing looks like when put into practice, or are seeking inspiration for your brand’s next destination marketing campaign, here are nine of the best examples, along with key takeaways of what makes each one of them so effective.

What is Destination Marketing?

Destination marketing is an approach to marketing that is used in the travel industry as a way of promoting a location such as a town, region or country. Instead of advertising the service or product that they offer, travel businesses that use destination marketing focus their efforts on ‘selling’ the location that their offering targets.

Promoting a destination instead of a product or service means that customer awareness of a location grows and allows companies to attract attention in a way that avoids explicit marketing messaging that many consumers dislike. The aim is that the target audience will start to think about visiting a destination after seeing content that paints it in a positive light, and that their first thought when it comes to actually booking a trip will be the brand behind this content.

Destination marketing aims to build awareness and interest in an area before the customer has visited. The most effective approaches tend to engage the customer through an emotional hook that sparks a real desire to see a destination, as this means that they’re much more likely to pay for a holiday there.

Whilst a very popular marketing approach with travel businesses that offer experiences in a specific location, destination marketing is also often used by local or national tourist boards as a way of increasing tourism in the area, establishing a positive reputation and bringing more visitors and thus more money.

8 of the Best Destination Marketing Campaigns

Fill your heart with ireland.

One of the most successful marketing campaigns for a destination that is still referenced today is ‘ Fill Your Heart with Ireland ’ which was produced by the country’s national tourism board.

The final product of this destination marketing campaign was a short video advertisement, showing a Swedish couple’s first trip to the area. Both visitors were hooked up to heart rate monitors that tracked their physiological changes throughout a range of activities, such as visiting cultural and historic sites, going surfing and hiking along the coast.

What made this advertisement so special was that the couple was also wearing a camera mounted on a helmet during the trip, capturing footage from their perspective throughout. The clips that made it into the final campaign were all taken from moments where their heart rate changed, creating a video full of moments that ‘filled’ the couple’s hearts with Ireland.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qH7dEIECD4

Why it works:  

The first stand-out feature of this campaign is the fact that the technology used in it is unique, which immediately makes it unique. It also uses the traditional destination marketing format of a video showcasing different appealing clips of a location, with the difference that these clips have been chosen by the data collected from the travellers featured in the campaign, not a campaign director. 

Finally, the emphasis on ‘heart’ and emotive responses gives the campaign a significant emotional pull, engaging the viewer right from the beginning and showing plenty of scenarios they can imagine themselves in.

Inspired by Iceland

The ‘ Inspired by Iceland ’ campaign came as a response to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano under a glacier in the country in 2010, which had a massive impact on travel all over the world thanks to the ash clouds that led to hundreds of flights being cancelled.

In an effort to dispel a negative image of the location, numerous national tourism-related companies teamed up with the Icelandic government and two key transport providers to the country to create a campaign painting the island in a more favourable light.

The underlying message of the entire campaign was that “Iceland has never been more awake”, making it the perfect time to visit the country on an exciting holiday. A variety of techniques and approaches were used to change the narrative around the country from negative to positive, including celebrity messages of endorsement and promotional videos.

The ‘Inspired by Iceland’ initiative has now been running for over a decade as a way to continue to promote Iceland as a thrilling travel destination, involving a range of campaigns that include the ‘ Let It Out! ’ portal of their website that allowed those frustrated by the pandemic to vent their frustration into their device and transmit it into Iceland’s deserted landscape.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iWeMPEEuk0&t=1s

Why it works:

This is an outstanding example of one of the most successful marketing campaigns that turned a country’s reputation on its head and prevented a huge loss of income from tourism. The initial ‘Inspired by Iceland’ message took a humorous approach to the events of the eruption by stating that the country was ‘awake’, and this wit has carried on throughout many of the other campaigns promoted by the initiative.

GREAT Britain

The ‘ GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland ’ campaign was initially set up in 2011 in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games, highlighting the destination as an ideal place to live, work and visit. The original campaign spanned four years, involving partnerships with a range of brands and celebrity figures as well as focusing on the culture, heritage and landscape of the country.

Some of the most memorable campaigns as part of this initiative draw on iconic aspects of British culture, such as the ‘Bond is GREAT’ campaign that capitalised on international interest in one of the UK’s most famous fictional spies. Timed to coincide with the release of the 24th Bond film ‘Spectre’ in 2015, billboards, print ads and social media content were used to highlight some quintessentially British features of the series and encourage fans to visit the country on their next holiday.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpF0HCTKIIE

The name and the overarching approach of this campaign tie into the name of the country, providing an instantly memorable and recognisable style across all of the ‘GREAT Britain’ marketing material. The links with cultural highlights like films and books provide a way to reach and engage international audiences, and partnerships with a range of brands provide a way to reach a wide variety of people and offer an endorsement.

Yodel Ay Hee Hoo

This destination marketing example focused on a single small region in Switzerland and used an interactive approach to promote it. Graubünden is a rural location with an incredibly peaceful atmosphere and friendly locals, and the region’s tourism board used the idea of connection to generate interest in the area.

One of the most successful campaign approaches set up a live video feed to an inhabitant of Vrin in Graubünden in a Swiss train station, allowing travellers to stop and talk to him. Not only did this allow for people to hear about the region from a native, but the speaker could send free train tickets to Vrin that the machine would print out, providing direct motivation to travel there.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Y5MDVhZDQ

Live video is an incredibly engaging method of destination marketing as it provides an instant connection to a location and makes the audience feel transported there without actually having to travel. The ‘ Yodel Ay Hee Hoo ’ campaign was so effective not only because of the concept, but because the resulting recording of these interactions provided material for a very entertaining short-form video, massively widening the reach of the campaign.

‘Sheepview’ is one of the best-known marketing campaigns in the travel industry, winning numerous awards and receiving unbeatable numbers of coverage from all over the world.

The concept promoted the Faroe Islands; a country so small that they did not exist on Google Street View. Inspired by this, the local tourism board decided to fix the problem with a play on words and attached a 360° camera to the back of one of the island’s sheep, recording the images to create their own ‘sheep view’ of the country.

This campaign went viral, with videos, images and social media posts all catching the attention of travellers and allowing them to see what the Faroe Islands were like, albeit from an unconventional perspective. The campaign also meant that the islands finally featured on Google Street View after a year, which was another success of the approach.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juijDAf96lI

Humour is at the heart of this campaign from the pun in the title to the concept itself, which definitely helped it catch so much attention. It’s also another example of allowing the audience to interact with a destination and explore it virtually, helping to engage them and illustrate why it’s a place worth visiting.

The Swedish Number

‘ The Swedish Number ’ destination marketing campaign was designed both to promote the country and celebrate that it had been 250 years since censorship was abolished there. The Swedish Tourist Association set up a phone number that connected the caller to a random Swedish person who had signed up to take part in the campaign, facilitating a conversation about anything at all.

There were no limits or guidelines on what had to be discussed when calling Sweden, and the locals on the other end were given no training or guidance either. Instead, it painted the destination as a place that is friendly, open and a little quirky, gaining a huge amount of coverage and attention with the campaign content.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtb3f_NAmK0

The straightforward and unfiltered aspect of this campaign is what made it so memorable in the first place. Doing something risky in innovative travel marketing can always backfire, but this is an example where the gamble paid off and Sweden attracted plenty of positive attention and allowed real connection between its people and potential visitors to the country.

All You Want is Greece

This tourist destination marketing campaign dials it back a little in its approach, but is still a fantastic example of how to engage an audience by simply showcasing the features of a location. ‘ All You Want is Greece ’ was produced by the Greek National Tourism Organization at the start of 2021, and used the events of the previous year to really dial into what travellers were looking for once the world opened up again.

After the frustration and monotony of 2020, this campaign directly addresses the yearning that many of us were feeling for travel and adventure, by answering this desire with the statement ‘All You Want it Greece’. Five different promotional videos each targeted a different aspect of tourism in the country such as wellness and food, using beautiful visuals and simple, direct text to show potential travellers what they had been longing for.

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFpz-6jN9bE

This article has highlighted many quirky and unique examples of successful destination marketing campaigns, but this one works so well because it lets the appeal of the location speak for itself. Instead of chasing viral acclaim, this approach excels when it comes to engaging the audience by speaking directly to what they desire from a travel experience, using vivid and sensory imagery.

The final example of one of the best tourism campaigns that showcases destination marketing is Tourisme Québec’s ‘ Blind Love ’ which captures the experience of a blind traveller exploring Québec for the first time. The star of the campaign is an American man who has been blind since birth, who we see enjoying a variety of activities around the country such as hiking, fishing, sightseeing and attending festivals and concerts.

The video for this campaign is around three minutes long and features the usual stunning visuals you find in many destination marketing examples, showcasing the variety and beauty of Québec. But there’s also a focus on all other sensory aspects; the sound of each clip is crisp and immersive, there are plenty of shots of fingers smoothing over textures, and food is featured numerous times.

Joy and fun are the key takeaways from this campaign video, demonstrating that you don’t need to be able to see to get as much out of visiting Québec as possible.

Screenshot from: https://vimeo.com/161215902

This campaign is an outstanding example of how sensory and emotional engagement is one of the best ways to hook an audience and get them to remember a place. Not only is the visual and audio approach of the video outstanding, but its message and concept are also incredibly moving, making it a meaningful campaign as well as a memorable one.

We hope that you’ve been inspired by these eight examples of campaigns from destination marketing in tourism and now understand some of the most effective approaches to getting your target audience to engage with and desire to visit a location. Your travel business may not have the same level of budget, but you can still take away the key aspects of what makes these successful marketing campaigns so impactful, and use this in your own destination marketing.

If you’re looking for help creating impactful marketing campaigns like those featured above, SEO Travel can help. We help our clients get featured in top travel publications and improve their brand visibility, and we’d love to talk to you about how we can help your business develop campaigns that bring long-term benefits. Get in touch for more information and to receive a free proposal.

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5 Tips on How to Market a Tourist Destination

Anyone tasked with marketing a tourist destination knows it can be tough to create a winning marketing strategy that drives visitors to your area. It’s even more difficult to know that you’re targeting the right potential visitors.

In this blog post, we’ll share five tips on how to market a tourist destination to increase your visitor traffic.

1. Identify Your Best Prospective Visitors to Optimize Ad Buying

The most important aspect of developing a winning marketing strategy is to truly know who your visitors are and where they’re coming from to visit your tourist destination. Many tourist destinations use mobile GPS data to identify demographic and psychographic insights about their visitors. Beyond demographic variables—like age, income range, and gender—these analytics reveal the lifestyle characteristics (also called psychographics) of your potential visitors. To get this information, researchers typically use credit card transaction or mobile GPS data combined with household-level consumer characteristics.

Once complete, the studies provide insights into how to update your marketing strategies to better target the types of visitors that are more likely to visit your destination and the top origin markets for your destination marketing efforts.

2. Tailor Your Marketing Efforts by Traveler Type

As most marketers know, there are many different types of people who will be interested in your products or services. This is no different in the tourism industry. Millennials and seniors will likely be looking to do vastly different things when they come to your area. Identify your key visitor segments and be creative when coming up with new ideas for deals or offerings that will appeal to each target market.

A one-size-fits-all approach won’t yield the best results, so your marketing efforts will have to be tailored accordingly. As you test tactics and learn what works, you can adjust your strategy to better reach your best potential visitors.

3. Increase Exposure by Partnering with Influencers

Influencer marketing is becoming a huge strategy for brands across the tourism industry. And that’s because it works. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, influencers are people who have established a dedicated following for their own personal brands. These people are usually bloggers, YouTubers, TikTokers, and Instagram personalities. Since influencers have highly engaged audiences, Convention and Visitors Bureaus and Destination Marketing Organizations are turning to them to create content about their hotels, tourist attractions, and other points of interest.

To get started with an influencer marketing strategy, do some research about influencers who already post content about your industry. When you’ve created a list of potential influencers, reach out to set up an exchange. An example of an exchange could be an influencer visiting your area for free, and the influencer will create a YouTube video about their experience. This is a win-win for both parties. The influencer will have the opportunity to create original content for their following and your brand will be exposed to a new audience.

4. Create Destination Videos That Appeal to the Right Tourists

It’s common knowledge that videos are one of the most popular ways people like to receive information. If you’re looking to make splash on social media, begin to create exciting videos not just about a single tourist destination, but about your city as a whole.

Some additional video ideas include locals giving insight into their favorite places to dine, shop and explore; tips about getting around the city; where the best photo opportunities are; and more. These will be a natural fit for sharing on social media and will add a nice mix of photos and videos to your feed.

5. Share What’s New in Your Area

You’re a local to your area, so make sure to stay up to date on new things happening. This allows you to be a resource for helpful visitor information, rather than solely trying to sell your destination.

Try to put yourself in the visitors’ shoes and provide insight into a variety of exciting things that you would want to see if you were a tourist in your area.

Regardless of your current marketing strategy, it’s never too late to gain more insight into your past visitors as well as strengthen your approach to acquiring new visitors. By leveraging visitor analytics and adopting tourism marketing trends, you can strengthen your strategy and move past your competition.

If you’re interested in more information, learn about Buxton’s tourism analysis options.  

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• Market Segmentation in Tourism (What It Is & Why It Matters)

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March 22, 2023 | Reach an Audience

Originally published April 11, 2017 Updated March 26, 2023

As the tourism industry continues to advance, competition among businesses intensifies. To excel, you must understand your customers’ diverse needs and preferences.

This is where travel market segmentation comes in. This process divides a larger market into smaller groups of consumers with similar needs and characteristics.

Market segmentation is essential for travel and tourism businesses to effectively reach and engage with their target audience.

By identifying specific travel segments, such as solo travelers, adventure seekers, or luxury travelers, you can tailor your offerings and marketing messages to meet their unique needs.

In fact, a report by McKinsey & Company shows 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions .

This report indicates the increasing significance of market segmentation in the tourism industry. Companies that excel at demonstrating customer intimacy generate faster revenue growth rates than their peers.

In this blog post, I’ll explore the importance of market segmentation in tourism, why it’s important, and how you can use it to improve your marketing strategy.

What Is Market Segmentation in Tourism?

Market segmentation in tourism is the process of dividing the market into smaller groups of consumers with similar needs or characteristics . This helps tourism businesses tailor their offerings and marketing messages. Travel market segmentation also increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Why Is Market Segmentation Important in the Tourism Industry?

Travel market segmentation is a crucial strategy in the tourism industry. Travel segments divide customers into distinct groups based on their needs, interests, behaviors, and demographics.

Travel segments also help businesses tailor their marketing efforts and develop targeted products and services for each group. As a result, travel and tourism companies can maximize revenue and customer satisfaction.

Here are some key reasons why market segmentation is important in the tourism industry:

Helps businesses understand their customers : By segmenting the market, you can better understand your customers and create more personalized experiences and products.

Allows for targeted marketing : Customer segments help you create marketing messages and campaigns tailored to each unique group. This can increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and improve customer engagement.

Increases customer satisfaction : Offering products and services customized to your customers will likely satisfy their experience. This can lead to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth.

Boosts revenue : Creating targeted products and services that appeal to specific customer segments can increase revenue. You can attract and retain more customers, which improves profitability.

What Are the 4 Types of Traveler Segmentation?

There are several different ways to segment the travel market. The four main tourism market segments include:

• Demographic segmentation in tourism : Dividing customers based on age, gender, income, education, and other demographic factors.
• Geographic segmentation in tourism : Segmenting customers based on location, such as country, region, or city.
• Psychographic segmentation in tourism : Dividing customers based on their lifestyle, interests, values, and personality traits.
• Behavioral segmentation in tourism : Segmenting customers based on their behaviors and actions, such as travel frequency, spending habits, and travel motivations.

Using these travel segments, you can develop targeted marketing strategies, improve customer satisfaction, increase loyalty, and boost revenue.

For instance, a business that focuses on adventure travel may target customers with a high interest in outdoor activities and a willingness to take risks.

Some popular segment names for the travel and tourism industry are escapists, learners, planners, and dreamers.

What Are Examples of Market Segmentation in Tourism?

Here are five brief tourism market segmentation examples. They illustrate how businesses can tailor their offerings to specific customer needs.

• Hotel targeting business travelers by offering conference rooms and fast Wi-Fi.
• Tour company targeting adventure seekers by offering hiking and extreme sports packages.
• Cruise line targeting families by offering kid-friendly activities and childcare services.
• Luxury resort targeting customers with a high income and a preference for exclusive amenities and experiences.
• A destination marketing organization targeting retirees by promoting cultural events and attractions.

Businesses that leverage tailored travel segments gain a competitive edge in the tourism industry.

Seize the (Micro) Moment in Travel Market Segmentation

Market segmentation in tourism requires you to think critically about your target audience and how they move through the customer journey.

Often, tourism and travel market segments are created by one, or a combination, of the following:

• Age / life stage (e.g., millennial, retiree)
• Socioeconomic status
• Type of travel (e.g., business, leisure, extended stay)

With online research easier and more portable than ever, we like to think about travel segments a little differently.

Travel brands and destination marketers should consider the moments your potential customers may jump online from their phone or computer—as the biggest marketing opportunity.

While the who still matters when you’re trying to reach an audience—the when is more vital than ever.

For example, think about how you planned your last vacation. If you were like most, you bounced back and forth between dreaming about and loosely planning your next getaway—zooming in on a destination and quickly bouncing around in search of inspiration only to zoom out and consider all the options yet again.

This quick spurt of research to answer an immediate need (usually turning to a search engine) has been coined “a micro-moment” by Google.

Such micro-moments represent a huge opportunity for destination marketing organizations and are the key to attracting and earning a savvy traveler’s consideration.

Often, we pull in focus groups to test our theories on user motivation and needs.   From on-paper prototypes and discussion groups to high-fidelity wireframes and user-experience videos—we pick from our bag of user-testing methods to ensure content and calls-to-action are placed in the best places possible.

How to Use Travel Segments in Your Marketing Strategy

What if your brand or location could be in front of your potential customers during the exact moments they are dreaming about getting away, planning their visit, and eventually booking their vacation? What content should you create at what moments?

Knowing how to leverage travel market segmentation and the power of micro-moments is the key to upping your travel industry marketing game.

It’s how you keep your messaging laser focused and your audience satisfied. As a result, your travel or tourism company will see increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue!

Market Segmentation in Tourism FAQ

Answers to common questions about tourism market segmentation.

Why Do We Segment the Tourism Market?

The travel market is far too large and diverse to reach effectively in one fell swoop. Tourism marketers use segmentation to understand customer needs better and allocate marketing dollars effectively.

Effective travel market segmentation is based on extensive quantitative research focusing on large numbers of people. Then grouping them based on shared characteristics such as:

• Demographics
• Behavioral patterns
• Cognition ratings

Once identified, these groups are referred to as particular segments. You can target them with specific product offerings, services, and tailored marketing messages.

What Are the Components of the Tourism Industry?

There are six main components of tourism, each with sub-components. The six components of travel and tourism include attractions, activities, accessibility, accommodation, amenities, and transportation.

Travel Segments vs Personas: What’s the Difference?

Personas are used to encourage a design for real people with real needs. They break down the user’s context, needs, motivations, and pain points on a personal basis.

Travel segments aim to pinpoint and measure the size of different groups at a high level.

Market segmentation isn’t persona research. Sure, they’re very similar tools that group current and potential customers into manageable buckets. However, you can’t create a detailed buyer persona without first diving into market research.

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The Most Efficient Destination Marketing Strategies and How to Implement Them

What is destination marketing?

Top 4 destination marketing strategies.

Destination marketing is not a brand new thing in the tourism industry. Many hotels, restaurants, and even OTAs saw great value in making a particular destination highly popular . Most of the challenges in the past came from technological restrictions.

Today, with a valid digital marketing plan, one can run countless campaigns to increase the popularity of specific destinations . Some other strategies still work too. Today, we bring you the most efficient destination marketing strategies and how to implement them .

Destination marketing has become an inseparable part of the modern marketing mix used by hotels, restaurants, OTAs, cities, and even countries. What does it imply?

First of all, destination marketing is just another marketing approach . However, there is one thing that makes it unique. Instead of focusing on marketing a room, service, hotel, or restaurant, destination marketing is about promoting specific locations and their benefits.

Destination marketing can advertise attractions, towns, cities, or an entire country. It focuses on advertising the object of the ad as a whole and everything it offers. The goal is to increase travelers’ awareness of certain destinations.

Destination marketing uses subtle calls to action to invite travelers to visit the location and book a venue through the company that advertises the destination in question. The content thus remains evergreen even if the old hotels and resorts close and new ones open, paving the way for sustainable tourism.

Here are four destination marketing strategies that provide incredible results.

Strategy 1: Strategic destination branding

Strategic destination branding is all about stepping up traditional destination marketing strategies. It refers to approaching a destination as a brand . This strategy focuses on building a consistent brand image for a destination in the medium or long term.

Why is it good

Strategic destination branding is good because it provides you with messaging that you can use for all your future marketing campaigns . While it can be exceptionally requiring in terms of research, planning, and execution, this type of approach is perhaps the most sustainable. It can also affect pro-poor tourism (PPT) marketing strategies because increasing the influx of tourists can create new business opportunities.

How to do it

Strategic destination branding calls for extensive research and strategic planning. First, you need to identify the destination’s products, research the target audience, and finally decide on the brand tone of voice.

Real-life example

The most noteworthy real-life example of this strategy is Hamburg’s city branding . The city became a major tourist attraction in Europe and even saw the rise of some of the most significant events. Even today, this city has one of the most elaborate tourist destination management initiatives.

Strategy 2: Focus on unique selling propositions

A unique selling proposition refers to attractions and benefits only one destination can offer . Destination marketing campaigns focused on USPs will showcase the unique selling points of a destination.

Destination marketing strategy based on USPs is good because it can help you:

• Make travelers realize why the destination stands out from other popular destinations .
• Attract more people to visit it .
• Focus more on target customers and destinations to discover more USPs.

To excel at it, you need to devote time and effort to discovering USPs in a specific destination. USPs can be specific or borderline crazy as long as they highlight the quality of a location. Once you have USPs, you need to decide the best content and channel to use. Launching a video marketing campaign or running paid ads on social media and search engines is a good option.

The best real-life example for this strategy is the marketing campaign “Sheep View” by the Faroe Islands . The goal was to put the islands on the map of tourism. The campaign helped generate 2 billion impressions and over $56 in PR value .

Strategy 3: Focused on key markets

A destination marketing strategy focused on key markets is self-explanatory. Instead of focusing on the destination’s unique values, the marketing team focuses on what travelers need and want. Once they identify a traveler’s desires and know the destination’s values, they have a conceptual framework to work with.

This strategy is good because it shifts focus from the destination to target markets. Choosing what unique offers to focus on is easier and significantly more relevant because marketers know who needs to receive the message .

A focused-on-critical-markets strategy is straightforward to plan and execute. You need to do extensive target market research to create ideal customer profiles. The key would be to discover which offers cater to target market needs to entice people to travel to your destination.

Colorado’s “Come to Life” campaign is a real-life example of a destination marketing strategy built on extensive market research. Marketers on the campaign decided not to maximize the reach but to maximize conversions. They focused on Houston, Chicago, and Dallas markets to do it. The campaign did cost $4.5 million, but it stirred $898 million in spending in the state .

Strategy 4: Influencer marketing works!

You are probably well aware of influencer marketing. It’s a marketing approach that leverages social media users with a considerable following to showcase your product , service, or, in this case, destination. It helps maximize the reach, and with a relevant influencer, one can even increase conversion rates.

Influencers in destination marketing campaigns are suitable for several reasons. First, influencer marketing works . Then, it is a shortcut to reaching a vast and relevant audience . And, finally, it’s versatile. You can use it for advertising all sorts of attractions and destinations .

There are two critical aspects of every influencer-based destination marketing campaign . First, you have to decide what you want to promote. And secondly, you need to find a relevant influencer with a big enough audience. Here is how it looks in practice.

One of the recent successful influencer-based destination marketing strategies is Sun Peak . Sun Peak is a ski resort in British Columbia. They decided to promote crowd-free ski runs, the regions’ natural beauty, and seasonal festivals. They partnered with Callum Snape, an adventure photographer, and Instagram influencer. The result – over 200,000 article views , the resort has become known as an “insider secret.”

All parties in the hospitality industry have access to various marketing strategies that work. The destination marketing strategies we went through have been put to the test and proved they deliver outstanding results . But since every destination is unique and caters to a unique market, we will leave it to you to decide which strategy to use.

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Mor is Senior Account Manager, Global Learning & Organizational Development . She holds a M.B.A. in Business and Management, Organizational Behavior and a BA in Hotel and Tourism Management Graduate from Ben Gurion University. The travel industry sparked Mor’s interest because of its endless opportunities and constantly evolving nature. She has more than a decade of experience in the hospitality and travel technology industry in Israel and United States. Mor is currently helping us grow not only with her account management abilities but also i mproving our cutting edge tool and responsible for many innovative projects that Hotelmize builds for the future, thanks to her analytical and technical skills.

Mize is the leading hotel booking optimization solution in the world. With over 170 partners using our fintech products, Mize creates new extra profit for the hotel booking industry using its fully automated proprietary technology and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue across its suite of products for its partners. Mize was founded in 2016 with its headquarters in Tel Aviv and offices worldwide.

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13 April 2016

8 comments(s), too many destination marketers confuse “advertising,” “promotion” and “marketing.” don’t be one of them..

Getting the terminology correct will make your investments much more effective.

There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about destination marketing organizations (DMOs) morphing into destination management organizations. While managing the product is becoming increasingly important in driving tourism, misunderstanding the terminology – advertising, promotion and marketing – are often used interchangeably can create confusion about an organization’s objectives. Let’s clear up the semantics.

If you’re well-versed in marketing, you’re undoubtedly familiar with E. Jerome McCarthy’s Four Ps of Marketing , sometimes referred to as “The Marketing Mix”:

Which of the four Ps matters most to a destination marketer? Typically, a DMO has little control over pricing and place . Promotion has changed drastically as a result of technology that accelerates word-of-mouth communication and shifts control over the messaging toward the consumer. For this reason, product is becoming an increasingly critical focus for DMOs; positive word-of-mouth flows freely from visitor experiences that exceed expectations.

Historically, destination marketing organizations have invested heavily in promoting their destination through media relations and paid advertising. Now they must consider promotion through digital channels as well. It’s important to remember, however, that promotion is only one component of marketing – and that advertising is only one method of promotion.

Why is this important?

The experience that a destination delivers can be its most meaningful promotional tool. Destination marketers can no longer assume that promotion (in terms of reaching large numbers through broadcast advertising) is the best investment of their limited resources. Instead, destinations should consider shifting their marketing mix towards product , because improving the visitor experience is the most effective way to super-charge positive word-of-mouth. With the aid of digital communication, a visitor experience begins long before they arrive and can last long after the journey ends. This means that DMOs that default to advertising as their primary method of promotion are missing enormous opportunities to engage their audiences.

Since the word marketing now means something far beyond promotion or advertising, modern destination marketing organizations (with an intended emphasis on marketing) must take responsibility for leading the collaboration within the industry and all stakeholders to define, measure and provide a consistent visitor experience.

More reading related to developing a destination’s product:  Design thinking for the modern DMO

Destination Think helps destination marketers and DMOs adapt to change by pairing modern strategy and implementation services with an unmatched global expertise in destination marketing. Stay relevant; contact us to find out how we can help.

The general approach is fully appropriate but lacking since the real conditions are underestimated at large: The expression of “while managing the product is becoming increasingly important in driving tourism” is clearly showing that weare appraching to the problem from ends but not means! The clear merket mistake is: We are trying to sell whatever available in the market for the name of tourism industry and now trying to solve rhe mistakes of ‘industrial production deficiencies’ due to non existence of Destination Management. The first vital aim must be to establish proper DMO (management version) models for destinations to enable a balanced industry, covering prosperious marketing activities. Otherwise, proper macro efficiency and effectiveness cannot be ever reached!

Thanks for your thoughts, Zafer. For many destinations, the shift to a new destination management model is a long journey because different organizations are starting from a different place. Every destination and its tourism board is in a unique position. Some are already excellent at destination management. Others are well-focused on promoting the experiences that truly differentiate their destination. On the other end of the spectrum, other destinations are promoting to mass markets or simply appeasing their hotels and the noisiest stakeholders, which in the long term isn’t doing the destination any favors. One mindset for success is for the tourism board to think of themselves as leaders for their destination and the industry through exciting and collaborative processes. The industry is, afterall, the key ingredient for delivering an experience that exceeds expectations created through any promotions.

Very good point Zafer. Many destinations have certain realities based on the past, and this will continue in the future. Like Rodney said, the DMO needs to take a leadership role.

One example. A leftover from the industrial area is a mass production mindset where products need to be the same everywhere. A McDonalds hamburger is the same everywhere around the world. This is the same with many hotel chains and even smaller tourism operators try to emulate this. But consumers are looking for authenticity. What’s the local flavour of something familiar? Microbreweries, farm-to-table and boutique hotels are examples of trends where uniformity is replaced with local flavours. The same can be applied to any tourism product. Through design, storytelling, staff and more. This is the basis of turning the tourism legacy into unique assets.

Agree Rodney; and using the 4Ps model you could say DMO should just = Destination Marketing Organisation because if they are managing or taking a leadership/facilitation role in all 4 Ps they are already doing Destination Management as “Place”. That’s how I’ve tried to explain it to clients and stakeholders over the last couple of decades. However, as you note, it seems easier for many people to see Destination Management as a new phenomenon and consider marketing as a subset. Whatever helps the stakeholders understand the issues and roles I guess 🙂

I’ve fought that battle over semantics for a number of years and I’m nearly giving up. The word ‘marketing’ is so intertwined with ‘promotion’ and ‘advertising’ in our industry and others that it may not be important to split. If a new word like ‘management’ or experience development’ or ‘destination development’ enables investments in new opportunities, lets not get too hung up on semantics!

Little bit late to react on 2.5 year article buit here I go. Great and concise article, Rodney, and a relieve to again read this between all the articles lately about online marketing, storytelling, ‘place DNA’ , which unfortunately have taken over this site and DT in the last two years. I would like to see more articles like this returnign to this site!

I live in a region where the websites are terrible or non-existent, social media is not used as marketing tool, no DMOs are in place or set up with people who dogmatically think they can actually actively influence a brand by storytelling, branding campaigns etc. (which may work for fast moving concumer goods etc. but not for abstract concepts liek destinations). No products are developed based on ‘destination place DNA’ or suchlike. And still more and more people (continue to) visit this region. How come? The other Ps only: Place and Product and for centuries already (unmanipulated-forced-upon-or-selected-by-DMO) word-of-mouth (we just less and less trust anything coming from DMOs or other formal channels anymore ;)). And according to me it have been, are and will be (always) the collectivity of small and large local entrepreneurs and especially their guests/visitors who take the lead and make or break the visitor experience (here and elsewhere in the world; no DMO can influence this), supported and facilitated by the local municipalities and economic development organisations providing funding for product development (the new role of a DMO for me.

Finally also,could it be that (destination) marketing is more of a thing in Northwestern Europe and US/Canada/AUS/NZ (so the English-speaking countries)? What is your experience?

So Rodney, thanks and keep up the good work!

PS1: By the way I live in the Provence, France. Yes, great Place, beautiful Product. But then again, look at gastronomy here: they understand that it works ten times better to serve a good meal in a nice resto and have people talk about it to their friends and relatives and write about it on Internet than it is to waste money and time on promotion or own websites . Same situation in neighbouring regions in Italy and Spain, except for a city like Barcelona.

PS 2: by the way from a branding perspective ;): ‘Place DNA’ is for me one of the worst metaphors I have seen in recent times. What do we learn in school is that the DNA of humans for 99.9% is the same. This is exactly the problem destinations run into: without adding (new) Product(s) they remain for 99.9% the same, whatever amounts of promotion money, rebranding campaigns etc. you poor into them. The last thing they should do is pour resources and effort to boost the 0.1%, don’t you agree? So why usee DNA as metaphor?

You’re not late at all, this discussion is as relevant now as it has ever been. This topic is part of a solid foundation that some of the other articles that you reference are built on. But you can only write about something this fundamental in so many ways without becoming repetitive.

If more and more people are visiting your region, your experience may well be selling itself organically (through word of mouth). If this is the case, there is a risk that the experience deteriorates in the future without proper management.

I agree that the community and tourism industry delivers the experience that leads to word of mouth. But I disagree with you where you say DMOs can’t influence the experience. To the contrary, the role of the DMO is evolving to become essential in planning and managing the overall destination experience, in a way that influences the experience.

I recently learned that Germany has somewhere between 2400 and 3400 DMOs, so I’m not sure that destination marketing is restricted to English-speaking countries. I’m personally aware of destination marketing organizations all through South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and across the Middle East.

The entire point to the choice of the name ‘Place DNA’ is that it is difficult to change. Place DNA is different to the tourism experience that a destination offers or the products within a destination. Those can be created. Place DNA is by its definition, almost impossible to change.

Thanks for the engaging dialogue, and your support for our work.

Why is marketing mix used in destination marketing?

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What is Tourism Marketing? 15 Strategies in 2023

March 22, 2023 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Marketing

From hotels and other types of accommodation to car rental services, airlines , restaurants, entertainment spots, and travel agents – tourism marketing encompasses a wide range of advertising and marketing strategies often used by companies in the tourism and travel industry themselves. All these various marketing efforts are put together under one collective name – Tourism Marketing!

Tourism marketing is an essential tool for a business to ensure they are standing apart from its competitors, garnering customers, and creating brand recognition. Nowadays, various digital marketing platforms such as websites, online ads, email marketing campaigns , and social media marketing outlets have become vital components of modern tourism marketing initiatives for businesses.

Table of Contents

What is Tourism Marketing?

Tourism marketing is a type of marketing used by businesses operating in the travel and tourism industry to attract tourists to a business name or particular location which can be a state, a city, a particular heritage site or tourist destination spot, a hotel, or a convention center anything.

Achieving success in the travel and tourism industry requires thoughtful Tourism Marketing campaigns that are designed to generate brand awareness , create both, reach the most target audience or potential customers, drive traffic, foster loyalty among existing clients, and create a captivating customer experience . By utilizing these strategies, businesses can effectively engage with travelers while generating more sales opportunities.

Tourism Marketing has been profoundly impacted in recent years by digital development, as well as changes in consumer attitudes and desires. Crafting successful Tourism marketing messages today entails taking advantage of social media platforms, featuring user generated content, leveraging online reviews and search engines to your benefit, collaborating with influencers to drive traffic and expand reach, and experimenting with various channels for targeted messaging to attract travelers and optimize their customer journey in a way to convert them into loyal customers.

Why is Tourism Marketing Important?

To make a tourism business thrive, savvy marketing is an absolute must. By staying up-to-date with current trends and launching impactful campaigns, businesses can boost the recognition of their brand, gain customer loyalty and attract travellers. Moreover, tourism marketing holds promise for contributing to the economic growth of the region by driving tourists towards local enterprises.

The tourism industry is one of the biggest in the world and therefore highly competitive. To succeed, businesses must differentiate themselves from their competitors by promoting and advertising what makes them unique, showcasing why they’re the best option for tourists, and advertising and highlighting any special features that set them apart.

To allow businesses to gain a competitive advantage , marketing is essential. Many of the top tourism marketing approaches concentrate on highlighting a business’ unique selling point and broadcasting it effectively. Moreover, marketers must keep abreast with current trends to generate an effective promotional mix and deploy the most viable methods for disseminating their message across all channels.

Understanding the concept of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing is associated with most businesses, with marketing strategies in the field of tourism.  Today there are many countries in the world, where the tourism industry plays a major role in economic development , enhancing their GDP.

In such cases, tourism and digital marketing become important things. Many of the places are generally the hotspot for tourists like the Taj Mahal in India. Now places like these are considered the perfect areas where one can boost tourism through digital marketing.

The places which are more likely to be the major spots for attracting tourists are the places where tourism marketing flourishes the most. Now tourism marketing is all about applying several marketing techniques and strategies to create and boost the tourism industry of that place.

For successful tourism marketing to take place, the thing that is required the most is that the brands should speak for themselves in such a way that makes sense that their voices can be heard in the targeted markets.  This way they will be able to generate the cleanest successfully. Also, they need to be really careful in providing services to clients.

This is because if the customers are happy with the services chances they will spread the word and this may bring them more customers.  In the case of tourism marketing, it becomes easy to find the right audiences and create content to draw the attention of the targeted customers to the website by providing encouraging content.  Thus strategic planning , content marketing, and branding is the key to effective tourism marketing.

With it being carried out by keeping these two points in mind, chances are that the company that is involved in tourism marketing will be able to gain the advantage over their existing customers in no time and become a monopoly in the tourism industry.

What are the different ways in which Tourism Marketing Can Be Done in 2023?

Now various methods are applied for tourism marketing to flourish.  Below are some of the important ways in which the tourism marking of any place is given a boost.

1) Location marketing

In this type of marketing strategy , the main focus of tourism marketing is one bringing people’s attention to a specific location. In this strategy , no recommendations are made with respect to a particular site or any accommodation. Now some locations are already so popular all over the world that tourism marketers don’t have to make many efforts to attract their attention to such places.

All they need to do to attract customers is remind them of such locations and chances are that the consumer can easily get convinced to spend money and visit any such place. For example, Las Vegas is popular for its undying charm and full of life kind of prospects.

Now there s also a popular slogan related to Las Vegas which is ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’. This slogan has gained worldwide popularity and almost everyone wants to visit Las Vegas at least once.

So here the tourism marketers have to simply remind people of how amazing this city is and what are the different ways in which they can have the time of their lives here. Another example that can be taken in Florida.

They use a more ‘benefit-oriented’ approach. Their slogan and website are ‘The Sunshine State’.  This way they are presenting their state with a joyous and charming climate and as a perfect place for beach and football lovers.  Also with their slogan and website, they are successfully able to present their state as an ideal ‘summer vacation’ destination and are definitely a dream for many to visit this place.

Thus location marketing is one of the simplest forms of tourism marketing in which without even putting much effort, with the brand value and the popularity of some specific location, the customers can be attracted.

2) Activity marketing

Now, this type of tourism is carried out keeping in mind both the location and the activities that are performed in such places.  This type of tourism marketing strategy usually keeps in mind travelers who are adventure lovers or activity freaks.

There are many other sites and locations all over the world that are famous for some specific activities. Like Alaska is famous for snowboarding, Yellowstone national park is famous for thrilling activities like hiking, and camping and is a perfect place for all nature lovers, similarly, there is ‘Colonial Williamsburg’ which attracts all history lovers.

Thus depending on the target audience and the type of activity that a particular place is famous for, tourism marketing can be carried out. Some people may be adventure lovers, some people may be looking for art and culture some people love hunting, depending upon their area of expertise and interest, the tourism markers can segment the groups of potential visitors and customers and approach them.

Thus activity marketing is a form of tourism making and social media marketing that emphasizes the booking process and bringing the attention of a customer to particular places on the basis of the activities that are performed there.

3) Corporate marketing

This is quite an interesting approach to tourism marketing. Now it has been found that a large number of people working in corporate sectors have to travel to different places to attend a conference or a meeting.

Then according to research, it was found these locations were ideal for tourists, and a number of people came to attend those places. Also, they brought their families and their loved ones as well. Now considering these scenarios’ latest trends in mind, corporate influencer marketing can contribute a lot to tourism marketing as it has significant potential.

Here the tourism marketers take advantage of the fact that by planning the business meeting in touristy places, people come in large numbers thus they can make a lot of profit out of it.

What are the four basic pillars of Tourism Marketing?

The foundation of tourism marketing stands firmly on four of its important pillars which are the product , the price, the place, email marketing, and the promotion.

Let us understand each of these separately as to how they contribute to tourism marketing!

Marketing Mix of Tourism

1) product in tourism marketing.

One of the most important aspects of the tourism marketing strategy is to determine the effect of the selling benefits and the other types of benefits that are re-obtained by competing with their rivals in the same market .

Tourism marketers need to focus more on such destinations that provide both business advantages to travel brands and pleasure to their customers. These pleasures depend on several factors like the ease of traveling, facilities of the sites and the hotels, the nightlife of that place, activities offered, and the overall culture of that place.

Thus by considering these factors, tourism marketers will understand the areas that have to focus more on, so that marketing can be done effectively.

2) Price in Tourism Marketing

The price point is yet another important aspect of tourism marketing. Now many people avoid traveling due to money-related issues.  And this is where tourism marketing comes in to save the day.  Today so many mobile apps have been developed, on which if a person books a hotel r a transport like a flight or a train, they get discounts. This attracts a lot of customers.

Along with the free referral marketing, they also try to give value-added services to their customers. Some hotels also offer free shuttle services to their visitors. Also depending on whether it is a high season or an offseason, the prices are altered.  

3) Place in Tourism Marketing

Now for tourism marketing to earn a profit, deciding the location where they want to perform the marketing can play a key role in how far they can go. The place refers to the area where the products and services can be distributed.

Now in tourism and destination marketing, the location and the destination marketers offer their products and services to their customers through travel agents, tour operators, inside sales teas, etc.  The distribution of their products and services to visitors can be done through catalogs, online, sites, mobile devices, websites, stores, etc.

4) Promotion

In this numerous different strategies and technologies are used for the promotion of any specific area or tourist destination.  In fact, trade magazines and meeting planners are also efficient ways for promotion purposes.

These often come with many other forms of discount coupons, brochures, etc. also they try their target customers to come across the ads that pop up on the website to make them aware of the various tourist places.

15 Tourism Marketing Strategies in 2023

1. prioritising hygiene and safety via marketing communication.

Tourism marketers must now prioritize safety and hygiene to give their customers peace of mind when they travel. By highlighting the protocols that are being taken, tourists can rest assured knowing they will be protected while visiting.

2. Developing Loyalty Programmes

Loyalty programs are the ideal way to demonstrate your appreciation for existing customers and stimulate repeated patronage. Tourism marketers should construct loyalty programs that will not only retain existing customers but also appeal to fresh audiences.

3. Capitalising on Voice Search

In the age of voice search, it is essential for tourism marketers to create content that can be quickly found and accessed. Optimizing your site and content for this new technology will bolster your site for visibility and success in the long term.

4. Facilitating User-Generated Content

User-generated content, such as ratings and reviews on social media, is critical in helping customers make informed decisions. User-generated social media content is one of the key tourism marketing trends.

5. Deploying Artificial Intelligence:

AI technology is a valuable asset for Tourism marketers, allowing them to track customer behavior and create personalized brand experiences tailored to each individual. This can help customers find the brand information they need quicker and more easily than ever before.

6. Not Neglect Review Marketing

Reviews and ratings are a critical resource for Tourism companies, making them an invaluable asset in swaying potential customer decisions. Any Tourism marketer must recognize the importance of reviews if they wish to stay competitive.

7. Enhancing the Guest Experience & Satisfaction Through Chatbots

Chatbots can be a vital tool in creating an effortless, tailored experience for all customers. Chatbot technology should be a top priority for the hospitality and tourism industry to provide quick customer service and support, as well as respond promptly to any inquiries.

8. Investing in Remarketing Efforts

Maximizing your Tourism business’ potential by tapping into already engaged customers is a surefire way of increasing sales. Leverage the power of remarketing to maximize your potential and gain more qualified leads.

9. Utilising Augmented Reality Technology

Augmented reality provides the ideal platform for tourism businesses to build mesmerizing and unforgettable experiences for their customers.

10. Prioritising Personalisation

Customization is a crucial element of this form of marketing. By personalizing content and messages to the target audience’s wants and needs, Tourism marketers can engineer and create an experience that will ensure positive word-of-mouth publicity for their business or brand.

11. Exploring Metaverse

The metaverse is becoming more and more popular with tourism companies, as it allows them to give their customers an unparalleled, immersive experience.

12. Using NFTs

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are quickly becoming a widely recognized trend. Tourism companies can harness this technology to propel their marketing campaigns and draw in more visitors.

13. Promoting Virtual Reality (VR) Tours

Allow your customers to explore new destinations without even having to leave their homes – with VR tours, the possibilities are endless!

14. Focusing on the Customer Experience

Crafting an exceptional customer experience should be the primary focus of any Tourism promotional strategy . Optimizing customer experiences on all marketing channels is crucial.

15. Embracing content and influencer marketing

Content and influencer marketing are essential building blocks of any successful tourism strategy. It helps in optimizing the presence of a travel business in the search engine.

Thus, tourism and travel agency marketing are one of the branches of marketing that deal with the tourism and travel industry only.

It is essential to carry out efficient tourism marketing, as one can make a lot of money through this because there are so many people in this world who love traveling, and this can help the tourism marketing industry to flourish their business.

Liked this post? Check out the complete series on Marketing

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This was a great article! Now I’m interested in a career in tourism marketing. How do I start? I already write travel content/copywriting blogs for an agency. Where would I go from there?

this article really helped me in conducting research on tourism. Thank you very much

This article helped me alot on my academic research

Hello,the article is highly assisting and I am seriously having interest in studying Tourism Marketing.

This information was very helpful

hey! This is a good and interesting article about tourism marketing. I am a second degree student in tourism business administration,the program is all about tourism as a business perspective.if you can possible,please post such relevant articles via email address that i have attached below the space provided.

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Global tourism industry - statistics & facts

What are the leading global tourism destinations, digitalization of the global tourism industry, how important is sustainable tourism, key insights.

Detailed statistics

Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP worldwide 2019-2033

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 1950-2023

Global leisure travel spend 2019-2022

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Leading global travel markets by travel and tourism contribution to GDP 2019-2022

Travel and tourism employment worldwide 2019-2033

Further recommended statistics

• Basic Statistic Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP worldwide 2019-2033
• Basic Statistic Travel and tourism: share of global GDP 2019-2033
• Basic Statistic Leading global travel markets by travel and tourism contribution to GDP 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic Global leisure travel spend 2019-2022
• Premium Statistic Global business travel spending 2001-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 1950-2023
• Basic Statistic Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 2005-2023, by region
• Basic Statistic Travel and tourism employment worldwide 2019-2033

Total contribution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide in 2019 and 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2033 (in trillion U.S. dollars)

Travel and tourism: share of global GDP 2019-2033

Share of travel and tourism's total contribution to GDP worldwide in 2019 and 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2033

Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in leading travel markets worldwide in 2019 and 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Leisure tourism spending worldwide from 2019 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Global business travel spending 2001-2022

Expenditure of business tourists worldwide from 2001 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide from 1950 to 2023 (in millions)

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 2005-2023, by region

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide from 2005 to 2023, by region (in millions)

Number of travel and tourism jobs worldwide from 2019 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2033 (in millions)

• Premium Statistic Global hotel and resort industry market size worldwide 2013-2023
• Premium Statistic Most valuable hotel brands worldwide 2023, by brand value
• Basic Statistic Leading hotel companies worldwide 2023, by number of properties
• Premium Statistic Hotel openings worldwide 2021-2024
• Premium Statistic Hotel room openings worldwide 2021-2024
• Premium Statistic Countries with the most hotel construction projects in the pipeline worldwide 2022

Global hotel and resort industry market size worldwide 2013-2023

Market size of the hotel and resort industry worldwide from 2013 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 (in trillion U.S. dollars)

Most valuable hotel brands worldwide 2023, by brand value

Leading hotel brands based on brand value worldwide in 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Leading hotel companies worldwide 2023, by number of properties

Leading hotel companies worldwide as of June 2023, by number of properties

Hotel openings worldwide 2021-2024

Number of hotels opened worldwide from 2021 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2024

Hotel room openings worldwide 2021-2024

Number of hotel rooms opened worldwide from 2021 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2024

Countries with the most hotel construction projects in the pipeline worldwide 2022

Countries with the highest number of hotel construction projects in the pipeline worldwide as of Q4 2022

• Premium Statistic Airports with the most international air passenger traffic worldwide 2022
• Premium Statistic Market value of selected airlines worldwide 2023
• Premium Statistic Global passenger rail users forecast 2017-2027
• Premium Statistic Daily ridership of bus rapid transit systems worldwide by region 2023
• Premium Statistic Number of users of car rentals worldwide 2019-2028
• Premium Statistic Number of users in selected countries in the Car Rentals market in 2023
• Premium Statistic Carbon footprint of international tourism transport worldwide 2005-2030, by type

Airports with the most international air passenger traffic worldwide 2022

Leading airports for international air passenger traffic in 2022 (in million international passengers)

Market value of selected airlines worldwide 2023

Market value of selected airlines worldwide as of May 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Global passenger rail users forecast 2017-2027

Worldwide number of passenger rail users from 2017 to 2022, with a forecast through 2027 (in billion users)

Daily ridership of bus rapid transit systems worldwide by region 2023

Number of daily passengers using bus rapid transit (BRT) systems as of April 2023, by region

Number of users of car rentals worldwide 2019-2028

Number of users of car rentals worldwide from 2019 to 2028 (in millions)

Number of users in selected countries in the Car Rentals market in 2023

Number of users in selected countries in the Car Rentals market in 2023 (in million)

Carbon footprint of international tourism transport worldwide 2005-2030, by type

Transport-related emissions from international tourist arrivals worldwide in 2005 and 2016, with a forecast for 2030, by mode of transport (in million metric tons of carbon dioxide)

Attractions

• Premium Statistic Leading museums by highest attendance worldwide 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic Most visited amusement and theme parks worldwide 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic Monuments on the UNESCO world heritage list 2023, by type
• Basic Statistic Selected countries with the most Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide 2023

Leading museums by highest attendance worldwide 2019-2022

Most visited museums worldwide from 2019 to 2022 (in millions)

Most visited amusement and theme parks worldwide 2019-2022

Leading amusement and theme parks worldwide from 2019 to 2022, by attendance (in millions)

Monuments on the UNESCO world heritage list 2023, by type

Number of monuments on the UNESCO world heritage list as of September 2023, by type

Selected countries with the most Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide 2023

Number of Michelin-starred restaurants in selected countries and territories worldwide as of July 2023

Online travel market

• Premium Statistic Online travel market size worldwide 2017-2028
• Premium Statistic Estimated desktop vs. mobile revenue of leading OTAs worldwide 2023
• Premium Statistic Number of aggregated downloads of leading online travel agency apps worldwide 2023
• Basic Statistic Market cap of leading online travel companies worldwide 2023
• Premium Statistic Estimated EV/Revenue ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment
• Premium Statistic Estimated EV/EBITDA ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment

Online travel market size worldwide 2017-2028

Online travel market size worldwide from 2017 to 2023, with a forecast until 2028 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Estimated desktop vs. mobile revenue of leading OTAs worldwide 2023

Estimated desktop vs. mobile revenue of leading online travel agencies (OTAs) worldwide in 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of aggregated downloads of leading online travel agency apps worldwide 2023

Number of aggregated downloads of selected leading online travel agency apps worldwide in 2023 (in millions)

Market cap of leading online travel companies worldwide 2023

Market cap of leading online travel companies worldwide as of September 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Estimated EV/Revenue ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment

Estimated enterprise value to revenue (EV/Revenue) ratio in the online travel market worldwide as of April 2024, by segment

Estimated EV/EBITDA ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment

Estimated enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio in the online travel market worldwide as of April 2024, by segment

Selected trends

• Premium Statistic Global travelers who believe in the importance of green travel 2023
• Premium Statistic Sustainable initiatives travelers would adopt worldwide 2022, by region
• Premium Statistic Airbnb revenue worldwide 2017-2023
• Premium Statistic Airbnb nights and experiences booked worldwide 2017-2023
• Premium Statistic Technologies global hotels plan to implement in the next three years 2022
• Premium Statistic Hotel technologies global consumers think would improve their future stay 2022

Global travelers who believe in the importance of green travel 2023

Share of travelers that believe sustainable travel is important worldwide in 2023

Sustainable initiatives travelers would adopt worldwide 2022, by region

Main sustainable initiatives travelers are willing to adopt worldwide in 2022, by region

Airbnb revenue worldwide 2017-2023

Revenue of Airbnb worldwide from 2017 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Airbnb nights and experiences booked worldwide 2017-2023

Nights and experiences booked with Airbnb from 2017 to 2023 (in millions)

Technologies global hotels plan to implement in the next three years 2022

Technologies hotels are most likely to implement in the next three years worldwide as of 2022

Hotel technologies global consumers think would improve their future stay 2022

Must-have hotel technologies to create a more amazing stay in the future among travelers worldwide as of 2022

• Premium Statistic Travel and tourism revenue worldwide 2019-2028, by segment
• Premium Statistic Distribution of sales channels in the travel and tourism market worldwide 2018-2028
• Premium Statistic Inbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region
• Premium Statistic Outbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region

Travel and tourism revenue worldwide 2019-2028, by segment

Revenue of the global travel and tourism market from 2019 to 2028, by segment (in billion U.S. dollars)

Distribution of sales channels in the travel and tourism market worldwide 2018-2028

Revenue share of sales channels of the travel and tourism market worldwide from 2018 to 2028

Inbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region

Inbound tourism visitor growth worldwide from 2020 to 2022, with a forecast until 2025, by region

Outbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region

Outbound tourism visitor growth worldwide from 2020 to 2022, with a forecast until 2025, by region

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• Travel Tips

What Is Tourism Marketing?

Published: December 12, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Oneida Gruber

• Plan Your Trip
• Sustainability

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced and interconnected world, the tourism industry has become increasingly competitive. To stay ahead and attract travelers, destinations, tour operators, and hoteliers need to implement effective marketing strategies. This is where tourism marketing plays a vital role.

Tourism marketing encompasses a range of activities aimed at promoting and selling travel services, experiences, and destinations to potential customers. It involves understanding consumer behaviors, identifying target markets, creating compelling messages, and deploying various promotional tactics to reach and engage with the right audience.

With the rise of the internet and social media, the tourism industry has witnessed a significant shift in how marketing is conducted. Digital platforms have opened up new avenues for reaching and engaging with travelers, providing ample opportunities to showcase destinations, attractions, and services.

The primary goal of tourism marketing is to increase awareness, generate interest, and drive bookings or visits. It is about inspiring and influencing travelers to choose a particular destination, tour package, or accommodation option. By effectively marketing their offerings, tourism businesses can enhance their revenue, grow their customer base, and build long-term relationships with their target audience.

However, effective tourism marketing goes beyond simply promoting travel products. It involves creating a holistic and immersive experience for travelers, reflecting the unique qualities and appeal of a destination. This requires a deep understanding of the target market’s needs, preferences, and aspirations, as well as the ability to effectively communicate the value and benefits of the travel experience.

Moreover, tourism marketing is not limited to tourism boards or large travel companies. It is also essential for small and medium-sized businesses within the industry, such as local tour operators, boutique hotels, and restaurants. By implementing targeted marketing strategies, even smaller players can compete on a global scale and attract their ideal customers.

Definition of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing can be defined as the strategic planning and implementation of activities that aim to promote and sell travel-related products and services. It involves understanding consumer behavior, identifying target markets, creating compelling messages, and deploying various marketing tactics to reach and engage with potential travelers.

At its core, tourism marketing is about showcasing the unique experiences and attractions that a destination has to offer. It involves leveraging the distinctive cultural, natural, and historical aspects of a place to appeal to travelers’ interests and desires.

One of the key objectives of tourism marketing is to create awareness and generate interest in a particular destination or travel experience. This can be achieved through a variety of marketing channels, including digital platforms, traditional advertising, public relations, and partnerships with travel agents and tour operators.

In addition to promoting destinations, tourism marketing also encompasses the marketing of travel services such as accommodation, transportation, activities, and tours. It involves highlighting the unique features, amenities, and benefits of these services to differentiate them in a crowded marketplace.

Moreover, tourism marketing often involves segmenting the target market based on various factors such as demographics, psychographics, and travel preferences. This allows marketers to tailor their messages and marketing strategies to specific customer segments, increasing the chances of attracting the right travelers.

Effective tourism marketing requires staying updated with the latest trends and leveraging technological advancements. With the rise of the internet and social media, digital marketing has become a crucial aspect of tourism marketing. This includes activities such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media advertising, influencer marketing, and online reputation management.

In summary, tourism marketing is the strategic promotion and selling of travel-related products and experiences. It involves understanding consumer behavior, creating compelling messages, and deploying various marketing tactics to reach and engage with potential travelers. By effectively marketing destinations and travel services, tourism businesses can attract more visitors and drive growth in the industry.

Importance of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing plays a crucial role in the success and growth of the tourism industry. Here are several reasons why tourism marketing is important:

• Increasing Destination Awareness: Effective tourism marketing helps to create awareness about destinations. It showcases the unique attractions, cultural heritage, and natural beauty of a place, encouraging travelers to consider it as a potential travel destination.
• Attracting More Visitors: Through targeted marketing strategies and promotional campaigns, tourism businesses can attract more visitors to their destinations, hotels, and tour packages. By effectively communicating the value and benefits of a travel experience, marketing efforts can inspire and influence travelers to choose a specific destination.
• Boosting Local Economy: The tourism industry is a significant economic driver in many regions. By promoting tourism and attracting more visitors, tourism marketing helps to generate revenue for local businesses, create jobs, and stimulate economic growth.
• Enhancing Competitiveness: In a highly competitive tourism industry, effective marketing can give destinations and businesses a competitive edge. By promoting unique selling points and differentiating offerings, tourism businesses can stand out from the competition and attract their ideal customers.
• Cultivating Repeat Visitors: Marketing efforts, such as personalized email campaigns or loyalty programs, help to cultivate repeat visitors. By nurturing relationships with past visitors, tourism businesses can encourage them to come back and explore more of what the destination has to offer.
• Driving Collaboration: Tourism marketing often involves collaboration among stakeholders within the industry. Destination marketing organizations, hotels, tour operators, and local businesses work together to promote the destination as a whole, leveraging each other’s strengths and resources for a more impactful marketing strategy.
• Creating Positive Perception: Effective tourism marketing not only promotes destinations and travel services but also helps create a positive perception of a place. Through storytelling and compelling narratives, marketing efforts can shape and enhance the reputation of a destination, making it more appealing to potential travelers.

In a nutshell, tourism marketing is essential for raising destination awareness, attracting visitors, boosting the local economy, enhancing competitiveness, fostering repeat business, driving collaboration, and creating a positive perception of a destination. By investing in well-planned marketing strategies, tourism businesses can thrive in a highly competitive industry and contribute to the overall growth and development of the tourism sector.

Components of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing involves various components that work together to create effective promotional strategies. Here are the key components of tourism marketing:

• Market Research: Market research is an essential component of tourism marketing. It involves gathering and analyzing data to understand consumer behavior, travel trends, market demand, and competitor strategies. This helps tourism businesses identify their target market, tailor their marketing messages, and make informed decisions.
• Segmentation and Targeting: Segmenting the target market is crucial to deliver tailored marketing messages. Tourism marketers divide the market into specific segments based on demographics, psychographics, and travel preferences. This enables them to customize their marketing efforts and reach the right audience with the right message.
• Positioning: Positioning refers to how a destination or travel service is perceived in the minds of consumers. Tourism marketers define a unique selling proposition (USP) and create a positioning strategy to differentiate their offerings from competitors. This involves highlighting the unique features, benefits, and experiences that set them apart from others.
• Branding: Branding plays a crucial role in tourism marketing. It involves creating a distinct brand identity, including a logo, tagline, and visual elements, that represents the destination or travel service. A strong and consistent brand helps build trust, recognition, and loyalty among travelers.
• Advertising and Promotion: Advertising and promotion are key components of tourism marketing. This includes traditional advertising such as television, radio, and print ads, as well as digital advertising through search engines, social media platforms, and display networks. Promotional tactics may also include public relations, partnerships with travel influencers, and participation in travel fairs and events.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing involves creating and sharing valuable and informative content to attract and engage potential travelers. This can include blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and social media posts that showcase the destination, provide travel tips, and inspire wanderlust. Content marketing helps build brand credibility, increase website traffic, and foster customer loyalty.
• Online Presence and Website Optimization: A strong online presence is crucial in tourism marketing. It includes having a visually appealing and user-friendly website that provides relevant information, easy navigation, and online booking options. Website optimization, including search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX) optimization, helps improve visibility in search engines and enhances the overall online presence.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Effective customer relationship management involves building and maintaining strong relationships with past, present, and potential customers. This can include personalized email marketing, loyalty programs, and customer feedback management. CRM helps nurture repeat business, encourage positive reviews, and strengthen customer loyalty.

By integrating these components into their marketing strategies, tourism businesses can create comprehensive and effective campaigns that resonate with their target audience and drive bookings and visits to their destinations and services.

Strategies and Tactics in Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing involves a range of strategies and tactics to effectively promote destinations, travel services, and experiences. Here are some commonly used strategies and tactics in tourism marketing:

• Targeted Advertising: Tourism marketers utilize targeted advertising to reach specific demographics and interests. This includes running targeted ads on social media platforms, search engines, and travel-related websites to reach potential travelers who are most likely to be interested in a specific destination or travel service.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing involves creating and sharing informative and engaging content to attract and engage potential travelers. This can include blog posts, articles, videos, and social media posts that inspire and educate travelers about destinations, travel tips, and experiences. Effective content marketing builds brand credibility and connects with the target audience on a deeper level.
• Social Media Marketing: Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have become powerful tools in tourism marketing. By creating compelling visual content, engaging with followers, and running targeted ads, tourism businesses can reach a wide audience and generate brand awareness. Influencer partnerships and user-generated content also play a significant role in social media marketing.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): A well-optimized website is crucial for tourism marketing. SEO involves optimizing website content, meta tags, and other on-page elements to improve search engine rankings. A higher ranking in search results increases visibility and organic traffic to the website, ultimately leading to more bookings and visits.
• Online Reputation Management: Online reviews and ratings have a significant impact on travelers’ decision-making process. Tourism businesses need to actively manage their online reputation by encouraging positive reviews, responding to negative feedback, and addressing customer concerns promptly and professionally.
• Partnerships and Collaborations: Collaborating with influencers, local businesses, and other tourism stakeholders can amplify marketing efforts. Partnerships can include influencer campaigns, joint advertising initiatives, and cross-promotion to reach a wider audience and provide added value to travelers.
• Personalization and Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Personalization is a powerful tactic in tourism marketing. By collecting and analyzing customer data, tourism businesses can deliver personalized marketing messages, custom offers, and tailored experiences to individual travelers. CRM tools and strategies help manage customer relationships, nurture loyalty, and drive repeat business.
• Event and Experience Marketing: Hosting or sponsoring events and creating unique experiences can be highly effective in tourism marketing. This can include cultural festivals, adventure challenges, or themed tours that attract attention and create a buzz around a destination or travel service.

It’s important for tourism marketers to employ a combination of these strategies and tactics, tailored to their target audience and marketing goals. By implementing a comprehensive and integrated approach, tourism businesses can effectively engage with travelers, drive bookings, and ultimately succeed in a competitive industry.

Digital Marketing in Tourism

Digital marketing has revolutionized the way tourism businesses promote their offerings and engage with travelers. With the proliferation of the internet and social media, digital marketing has become a crucial component of tourism marketing strategies. Here are some key aspects of digital marketing in the tourism industry:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is essential for improving a tourism website’s visibility in search engine results. By optimizing website content, meta tags, and backlinks, tourism businesses can rank higher in search results and attract organic traffic.
• Content Marketing: Content marketing is a powerful tool in the digital landscape. By creating high-quality and valuable content, such as blog posts, articles, and videos, tourism businesses can attract and engage potential travelers, build brand credibility, and drive organic traffic to their websites.
• Social Media Marketing: Social media platforms provide tourism businesses with a direct way to connect and engage with travelers. Through strategic social media marketing, businesses can build a strong online presence, cultivate a loyal following, and showcase their destinations, services, and experiences.
• Online Advertising: Online advertising, including search engine marketing (SEM) and social media advertising, allows tourism businesses to reach a targeted audience. By running well-crafted ads, businesses can increase brand visibility, drive traffic to their websites, and generate bookings or inquiries.
• Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with travel influencers can be highly effective in digital marketing. By partnering with influencers who have a large and engaged following, tourism businesses can tap into their influence and reach, showcasing their offerings to a wider audience and gaining credibility through authentic recommendations.
• Online Travel Agencies (OTAs): OTAs such as Expedia, Booking.com, and Airbnb have become prominent players in the digital marketing landscape. Tourism businesses can leverage these platforms by listing their offerings and optimizing their presence to reach travelers who use OTAs for travel bookings.
• Email Marketing: Email marketing allows tourism businesses to nurture relationships with past and potential customers. By sending personalized and targeted emails, businesses can provide relevant offers, travel updates, and exclusive deals to encourage bookings and foster customer loyalty.
• Website Optimization and User Experience (UX): A well-designed and user-friendly website is crucial for digital marketing success. Ensuring fast loading times, easy navigation, mobile responsiveness, and clear call-to-action buttons can significantly improve user experience and boost conversion rates.

Implementing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy can give tourism businesses a competitive advantage in reaching and engaging with the modern traveler. By leveraging digital channels effectively, businesses can increase their online visibility, attract more visitors, and ultimately drive bookings and revenue.

Challenges and Trends in Tourism Marketing

The tourism industry is constantly evolving, and with it comes new challenges and emerging trends in tourism marketing. Here are some of the key challenges and trends that tourism businesses need to be aware of:

• Rising Competition: The tourism industry is becoming more competitive with the rise of digital marketing and the ease of global travel. Tourism businesses need to find innovative ways to differentiate themselves and stand out from the competition.
• Managing Online Reputation: With the increasing influence of online reviews and social media, tourism businesses need to actively manage their online reputation. Addressing customer concerns, responding to reviews, and providing excellent customer service are crucial for maintaining a positive online image.
• Changing Consumer Behavior: Consumer behavior is continuously evolving, with travelers becoming more tech-savvy and seeking personalized and unique experiences. Tourism businesses need to adapt their marketing strategies to cater to the changing preferences and expectations of travelers.
• Data Privacy and Security: With the collection and use of customer data for marketing purposes, data privacy and security have become significant concerns. Tourism businesses must comply with privacy regulations and ensure the security of customer information to maintain trust and protect sensitive data.
• Sustainability and Responsible Tourism: The growing importance of sustainability and responsible tourism has led to a shift in consumer attitudes. Travelers are increasingly seeking environmentally friendly and socially responsible travel options. Tourism businesses need to incorporate sustainability practices and communicate their commitment to responsible tourism in their marketing efforts.
• Technological Advancements: Emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming the tourism industry. Tourism businesses need to stay updated with these advancements and explore ways to incorporate them into their marketing strategies to provide immersive and personalized experiences to travelers.
• Shift towards Experiential Travel: Travelers are seeking more authentic and experiential travel experiences. This has led to a shift from traditional sightseeing to immersive and meaningful experiences. Tourism businesses can capitalize on this trend by designing unique experiences and crafting compelling storytelling in their marketing campaigns.
• Influence of Social Media and Influencers: Social media platforms and travel influencers have a significant impact on consumers’ travel choices. Tourism businesses need to harness the power of social media and build relationships with influencers to effectively engage with their target audience and tap into their influence.

By acknowledging and adapting to these challenges and trends, tourism businesses can stay ahead of the curve and create effective marketing strategies that resonate with today’s travelers. Embracing technology, promoting sustainability, and delivering personalized and experiential travel offerings are key to success in the dynamic tourism industry.

Tourism marketing plays a vital role in the success and growth of the tourism industry. It encompasses various strategies and tactics aimed at promoting destinations, travel services, and experiences to potential travelers. In today’s digital age, digital marketing has become an integral part of tourism marketing, allowing businesses to reach and engage with travelers on a global scale.

Effective tourism marketing is essential for raising destination awareness, attracting visitors, boosting the local economy, enhancing competitiveness, fostering repeat business, driving collaboration, and creating a positive perception of a destination. By implementing well-planned marketing strategies, tourism businesses can thrive in a highly competitive industry and contribute to the overall growth and development of the tourism sector.

However, tourism marketing also faces various challenges, including rising competition, managing online reputation, changing consumer behavior, data privacy concerns, and the emergence of new technologies. It is crucial for tourism businesses to stay updated with the latest trends and adapt their marketing strategies to meet the evolving needs and expectations of travelers.

Looking ahead, sustainability, experiential travel, technological advancements, and the influence of social media and influencers will continue to shape the tourism industry. Tourism businesses that embrace these trends and incorporate them into their marketing strategies will be better positioned to attract and engage with modern travelers.

In conclusion, tourism marketing is a dynamic and ever-evolving field that requires creativity, adaptability, and a deep understanding of consumer behavior. By leveraging targeted strategies, embracing digital marketing channels, and staying ahead of industry trends, tourism businesses can effectively promote their offerings, attract visitors, and contribute to the growth and success of the tourism industry.

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TAT and WebBeds unveil creative Bangkok destination videos

These videos were aired for the first time at the arabian travel market 2024 in dubai and can also be viewed on webbeds’ “bangkok unboxed” youtube playlist..

Bangkok, 10 May 2024 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has partnered with WebBeds, a global marketplace for the travel trade, to create a series of attractive and inspiring destination marketing videos that highlight what’s new in Bangkok and stimulate inbound travel to Thailand.

Mr. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Asia and the South Pacific, said “This collaboration with WebBeds is in alignment with the TAT’s meaningful partnership project with strategic partners in the short-haul market. The project is aimed to encourage more travel and stimulate more bookings among key source markets in Asia and the South Pacific.”

The result of this strategic collaboration between TAT and WebBeds is a new series of 10 dazzling destination videos that showcase a diverse selection of activities and experiences in Bangkok, including what’s new and exciting in the Thai capital.

The aim is to encourage visitors to rediscover Thailand and fall in love with this captivating country all over again. These uplifting videos follow eight distinct themes: Eat, Nourish, Play, See, Shop, Explore, Relive and Indulge.

Eat features the best places to savour Thailand’s world-famous cuisine, from street food to fine dining, while Nourish focuses on organic wellness, spa treatments, singing bowl therapies and yoga classes. Play highlights traditional cultural activities such as Muay Thai boxing and local handicrafts, as well as Bangkok’s intriguing bars and clubs, and See showcases the city’s most eye-catching sights that are sure to illuminate Instragram!

Shop is dedicated to Bangkok’s amazing array of retail options, from iconic brands to mesmerising malls and markets, Explore uncovers the city’s rich cultural heritage, including its immersive museums, Relive reminds international travellers of their favourite attractions and activities, such as Chatuchak Market, and finally, Indulge focuses on newly opened five-stay hotels and a fine dining cruise along the Chao Phraya River.

These videos were aired for the first time at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, which was held from 6-9 May 2024, and can also be viewed on WebBeds’ “Bangkok Unboxed” YouTube playlist ( https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiIjfHZBFFz88x_ztA-C2Fc8arcfgNko8&si=CnYigS7QBnjFOi6B ).

Mr. Chattan said “We are appreciative of WebBeds’ continued support and steadfast commitment to stimulating the travel industry, not only in Thailand but all around the world. In recent years, the planet has faced a series of challenges that have impacted the ability of destinations to attract tourists. Throughout these times, WebBeds – one of our key wholesale partners – has been ever-present, supporting the TAT with market analysis and creative efforts to drive demand. This video marketing campaign is the latest example of this highly beneficial partnership.”

Mr. Daryl Lee, CEO, Webbeds, said “We are delighted to be working with the TAT once again to provide a boost to Thailand’s tourism sector. With our ability to monitor global booking data, WebBeds is in a unique position to identify trends even before they occur. Due to our long-standing relationship, we were able to advise Thailand’s tourism authorities of potential opportunities and take proactive steps to capitalise on them. These marketing videos are the result of this collaboration, and we are very happy to work side-by-side with the TAT to ensure the continued strength of tourism in Thailand. We are always stronger when we work together.

WebBeds and the TAT have enjoyed a long-standing relationship. Last year, the two partners came together to stage the IMPACT Summit, a high-level event in Bangkok which was attended by more than 900 travel and hospitality professionals, either in person or via a live stream.

WebBeds’ destination videos will now support the TAT in its effort to achieve its full-year target of 35 million visitors in 2024, while positioning the kingdom’s tourism industry for a prosperous future.

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Minister of Tourism to support the launch of Destination Canada’s 2030 strategy at Rendez-vous Canada 2024

From: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Media advisory

The Honourable Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, will be present to support the unveiling of Destination Canada’s ambitious new strategy, “Tourism 2030: A World of Opportunity,” at Rendez-vous Canada 2024.

May 15, 2024 – Edmonton, Alberta

The Honourable Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, will be present to support the unveiling of Destination Canada’s ambitious new strategy, “Tourism 2030: A World of Opportunity,” at Rendez-vous Canada 2024. Minister Ferrada will be joined by:

• the Honourable Liza Frulla, Chair of the Board of Directors of Destination Canada
• Marsha Walden, President and CEO of Destination Canada
• Beth Potter, President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada

The strategy will highlight Canada’s drive to rank among the top seven global tourism destinations by 2030, focusing on economic growth and year-round tourism enhancement.

The event will be followed by a press Q&A session.

Date: Thursday, May 16, 2024

Time: 9:00 am

Location: Edmonton, Alberta

Members of the media are asked to contact ISED Media Relations at [email protected] to receive event location details and confirm their attendance.

Media representatives interested in one-on-one interviews with Minister Ferrada can reach out to Marie‑Justine Torres. 

Marie-Justine Torres Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec 613-327-5918 [email protected]

Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada [email protected]

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What are the top 5 trending global destinations for summer 2024?

When you think fun in the summer sun, surely you think of … Germany? According to the   Mastercard Economics Institute ’s annual report on travel trends , released today, the nation best known for Bavarian castles and beer fests snagged two spots on the list of the top 10 trending travel destinations globally for this upcoming summer.

The report, which also revealed all-time highs in passenger traffic and longer vacation stays , ranked the ten cities that gained the most share of flight bookings for June through August 2024. Beyond Germany’s strong showing, beach vacations and tropical destinations populated the list, with ninth-ranked Frankfurt joined by Oranjestad, Aruba (10), Corfu, Greece (8), Bangkok, Thailand (7), and Bali, Indonesia (6).

As for the top five, some of the demand is driven by sporting events, but the desire for good value also remains strong. Here’s a countdown of the top trending destinations based on aggregated and anonymized Mastercard flight-booking data provided by third-party partners.

05 Cancun, Mexico

The perennially popular Caribbean resort landed in the top five based mostly on the strength of its appeal to American travelers, clocking nearly a 2-percentage-point gain in flight bookings. Four other Caribbean destinations — Aruba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana and Santiago — claimed spots in the top 10 for American tourists.

04 Nice, France

Paris may be hosting a certain storied global sports competition this summer, but its effects will be felt as far south as the Côte d’Azur. Nice, host of several football matches, is also a destination of choice for Parisians fleeing hordes of sports fans. One survey found that hotel bookings for Parisians traveling to other French regions is up 49% for July.

03 Tirana, Albania

If Croatia was for years the “dupe,” or duplicate, destination for Italy — the same Mediterranean sun, picturesque ruins, bustling nightlife — Albania is the dupe of increasingly pricey Croatia. The capital, Tirana, is about an hour from budget-friendly resorts on the Adriatic coast and two hours south of the hiker-friendly Albanian Alps. It’s particularly popular with travelers from northern Europe.  

02 Tokyo, Japan

Japan kept its borders closed to tourists for nearly two and half years during the pandemic and only lifted all of its COVID-19 border measures a year ago. Tourism has surged since then, with 3 million visitors in March , the highest since record-keeping began, in 1964. A historically weak yen doesn’t hurt either. In fact, Japan was the top destination when the MEI looked at travel over the past 12 months.

01 Munich, Germany

Not to downplay the year-round appeal of beer and bratwurst, but the Bavarian hub’s anticipated boom in tourism could be attributed to its hosting of the opening match of the European Football Championships in June. Indeed, the growth is mostly coming from within Europe.

Travel trends 2024: Breaking boundaries

Through March 2024, consumer spending on travel remains strong, and passenger traffic has soared. In its annual report, the Mastercard Economics Institute anticipates this momentum will continue as consumers prioritize meaningful experiences and allocate more of their budgets to travel. 

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Join the California tourism industry in celebrating California Tourism Month

By Caroline Beteta 05/06/2024

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Our industry’s remarkable recovery was accompanied by the creation of an additional 64,900 jobs in 2023, bringing the total number of California hospitality workers to 1.15 million. Moreover, the tax revenue generated by visitors reached $12.7 billion, funding vital local services for all Californians.

Our Travel Matters website  has been updated with the latest numbers to demonstrate travel and tourism's economic impact on the state. The site reaches decision-makers at state and local levels to highlight how travel is critical for California.

California was the host state for IPW, the largest international travel trade show on U.S. soil. Visit California and 43 partners pulled out all the stops with the California Plaza activation outside the Los Angeles Convention Center. It was an experiential display of the state’s abundant offerings that put The Ultimate Playground front and center for the more than 5,700 trade show attendees. Hosting IPW is expected to generate $5.5 billion in future travel spending. 

As part of California Tourism Month, we encourage residents to travel in-state in May to discover how they can play throughout the state. As partners, you, too, can promote travel to California. With the governor’s announcement today, I encourage you to share the news with your communities: California travel spending is back!

Here's how:

• Adapt the official toolkit to spread the word online and with the media.
• Participate yourself by traveling, shopping, and dining locally. Your tourism dollars play a crucial role in helping businesses. Share your experiences on social media using the #CATourism tag to contribute to promoting California's tourism industry.
• From May 19-25, join U.S. Travel’s National Travel and Tourism Week with an additional #NTTW24 tag.
• Contact your local representatives to let them know how critical the tourism industry is to California’s economy. Cite the above numbers to reinforce how vital tourism spending is, especially when it creates jobs, increases tax revenues and supports local businesses.

Together, as a unified California tourism industry, we will continue to amplify the benefits of travel to the Golden State.

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India's travel boom: Record number of Indians exploring the globe in 2024

I n a landmark year for India's travel industry, 2024 has witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of Indian travelers exploring destinations worldwide. According to data from the Mastercard Economics Institute's latest report, titled "Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries," India's burgeoning middle class, coupled with increased route capacity and a growing appetite for travel, has propelled the nation to new heights in global tourism.

During the first quarter of 2024, Indian airports welcomed a staggering 97 million passengers, a figure that would have taken an entire year to achieve just a decade ago. This surge is indicative of India's robust economic growth and the rising disposable incomes of its citizens that is fostering a strong desire to explore the world beyond its borders.

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Domestic travel within India has seen a remarkable uptick, with passenger traffic up by 21 percent compared to 2019 levels. Moreover, international travel from India has also experienced significant growth, with a four percent increase in passenger traffic as of March 2024.

Notably, Chennai reached a significant milestone in March 2024, with total passenger traffic surpassing pre-pandemic levels—a pivotal moment in the ongoing recovery of the travel industry. Bengaluru has consistently maintained domestic passenger traffic levels above those of 2019 over the past year. This resilience can be attributed, in part, to the gradual return of workers to offices and the resurgence of service sectors in the city.

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Looking ahead, the Mastercard Economics Institute anticipates a democratisation of the travel industry in India. The expanding middle class and favourable supply dynamics, including the continuous addition of new routes each month will drive this transformation. Between April and June 2024 alone, approximately 24 routes are scheduled to either resume operations or debut, signalling a promising trajectory for the future of Indian travel.

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One of the key highlights of the report is the substantial rise in Indian travellers visiting key global destinations. In particular, arrivals into the United States have surged by 59 percent compared to 2019 figures, defying the overall trend of overseas arrivals to the US, which remains seven percent below pre-pandemic levels.

Japan has emerged as a top destination for Indian travellers, witnessing a remarkable 53 percent increase in visitors compared to 2019. Similarly, the allure of Vietnam has captured the imagination of Indian tourists, with a staggering 248 percent surge in passenger traffic to the Southeast Asian nation.

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The report underscores the shifting dynamics of global tourism, with the Asia Pacific region playing a pivotal role in driving growth. Japan, in particular, has cemented its position as the top trending destination worldwide, with a record influx of 30,81,600 visitors in March 2024, fuelled by a favourable exchange rate and robust tourism infrastructure.

Looking ahead, destinations like Munich, Tokyo, Bali, and Bangkok are poised to witness a surge in demand, with events such as the UEFA EURO 2024 football championship and ongoing efforts to boost tourism infrastructure driving momentum.

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David Mann, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Mastercard, emphasised the importance of cost considerations and exchange rates in shaping travellers' decisions. He noted that businesses in the tourism sector must adapt their strategies to remain competitive in attracting tourism dollars.

As India's travel story continues to unfold, supported by visa exemptions and increased international flight capacity, the outlook for 2024 remains optimistic, with the potential for further growth in both domestic and international tourism.