Thursday, 26 June 2008
Online Brochure Technology to help drive up Quality
London Development Agency have recently launched an Free online guide for London businesses on the benefits of becoming a national graded accommodation provider. This is very London centric, but an interesting use of technology to delvier this message and some helpful tips relating o quality and service that could ebenfit any tourism business.
Monday, 19 May 2008
eTourism - a look into the Future!
On 29th April 2008 South West Tourism hosted an event funded by the South West Regional Development Agency entitled eTourism – A look into the Future!
The purpose of this event was to pull together all tourism stakeholders and to look into the innovations in online technologies and infrastructure to enable us as Destinations, Destination Management Organisation’s and Regional Tourist Boards to further increase the awareness of what we offer visitors.
I hosted and facilitated the event and also decided to film the event so that the messages being presentetd could be re-heared by delegqates and also spread to a much wider audience to include those that weren;t abel to attend.
All the videos can be accessed here: www.swtourism.co.uk/etourism.
The videos are unqiue in teh way that not only do they film the rpesenter then all diaplys the slides as the rpesenter talks through their presentation. This servcie was provided by 2.0 Ltd - check out their website for more info.
The purpose of this event was to pull together all tourism stakeholders and to look into the innovations in online technologies and infrastructure to enable us as Destinations, Destination Management Organisation’s and Regional Tourist Boards to further increase the awareness of what we offer visitors.
I hosted and facilitated the event and also decided to film the event so that the messages being presentetd could be re-heared by delegqates and also spread to a much wider audience to include those that weren;t abel to attend.
All the videos can be accessed here: www.swtourism.co.uk/etourism.
The videos are unqiue in teh way that not only do they film the rpesenter then all diaplys the slides as the rpesenter talks through their presentation. This servcie was provided by 2.0 Ltd - check out their website for more info.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Tourism Marketing Dynamics!
Last Wednesday I attended the Tourism Marketing Dynamics event at Bournemouth University. The event was organised by the Tourism Society in association with South West Tourism.
The event consisted of academic and practical presentations. I picked out a couple of interesting pointws which were:
- We must create a space for consumers to share their experiences
This focussing around the social networking world and forums, allowing our consumers an area to discuss and share ideas, expereinces on their trips.
- The Consumer when booking is looking for security and safety
With all the terroer and natural disatsers around the world, our consumers are looking to have a holiday where they feel safe and secure, if we can provide this we must shout about it - obviously subtly!
The agenda and presentations form the day can be downloaded from the Tourism Society website.
The event consisted of academic and practical presentations. I picked out a couple of interesting pointws which were:
- We must create a space for consumers to share their experiences
This focussing around the social networking world and forums, allowing our consumers an area to discuss and share ideas, expereinces on their trips.
- The Consumer when booking is looking for security and safety
With all the terroer and natural disatsers around the world, our consumers are looking to have a holiday where they feel safe and secure, if we can provide this we must shout about it - obviously subtly!
The agenda and presentations form the day can be downloaded from the Tourism Society website.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Credit crunch starting to bite?
There have been some conflicting reports over the past few weeks with regards to some research indicating that holiday bookings, with the most recent from Savebuckets.com (online comparison shopping service) indicating a 1 in 5 people have been forced to cancel their holiday; while Kayak.co.uk recently suggested rather than give up their holiday consumers are favouring cutting back on luxuries.
Personally I think this has some relation to the sustainability agenda where people happily will switch-off their standby buttons, recycle and maybe even use more public transport, but when it comes to a holiday (something they have worked hard all year for!) they don't think twice about the environment - I think the same goes for holiday bookings and I would encline to agree with Kayaks finding that we are willing to reduce our monthly spend to ensure we can get that annual holiday, something we have worked all year hard for and deserve!
Would welcome your thoughts on how bookings are going......
Personally I think this has some relation to the sustainability agenda where people happily will switch-off their standby buttons, recycle and maybe even use more public transport, but when it comes to a holiday (something they have worked hard all year for!) they don't think twice about the environment - I think the same goes for holiday bookings and I would encline to agree with Kayaks finding that we are willing to reduce our monthly spend to ensure we can get that annual holiday, something we have worked all year hard for and deserve!
Would welcome your thoughts on how bookings are going......
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Customer Reviews - Good or Bad?
There is much debate as to the benefit of customer reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, ReviewCentre and HolidayWatchdog (owned by TripAdvisor!) for destinations, industry and the visitor. I believe that our visitors are more savvy than we think and they take reviews they find on these sites with a pinch of salt, although it may ultimately be a deciding factor between chsoosing from a selection of accommodation providers.
To try and counter-act fake reviews (i.e. Hotels uploading a positive review on their own property) the European Union annouced a new Directive last year which is in force now that makes it illegal to "falsely representing oneself as a consumer". This may become very difficult to police, however it may deter some businesses as they will not want to take the risk of getting caught!
Having used sites like ActiveHotels and LateRooms, they have review services, however you can only write a review after you have completed your stay; the visitor gets an email sent to them asking for a review to be written - this could have far more authenticity than the more open sites like the ones listed above.
ThomasCook this week annouced that they are to build their own review forum allowing customers to upload reviews, videos and photos of their resorts due to mistrust in sites like those listed above being abused.
I think the key thing is that customer will use all sorts o fthis channels to find out the real picture of a property - the businesses own website being the shop window is a lso a key indicator on the quality of an estabishment.
To try and counter-act fake reviews (i.e. Hotels uploading a positive review on their own property) the European Union annouced a new Directive last year which is in force now that makes it illegal to "falsely representing oneself as a consumer". This may become very difficult to police, however it may deter some businesses as they will not want to take the risk of getting caught!
Having used sites like ActiveHotels and LateRooms, they have review services, however you can only write a review after you have completed your stay; the visitor gets an email sent to them asking for a review to be written - this could have far more authenticity than the more open sites like the ones listed above.
ThomasCook this week annouced that they are to build their own review forum allowing customers to upload reviews, videos and photos of their resorts due to mistrust in sites like those listed above being abused.
I think the key thing is that customer will use all sorts o fthis channels to find out the real picture of a property - the businesses own website being the shop window is a lso a key indicator on the quality of an estabishment.
Friday, 25 April 2008
"Facebook" no. 1 one search term in the UK
Recent research from Hitwise UK shows that the social networking site, Facebook has overtaken Bebo) to become the most searched for term in the UK.
The social networking site has circa 40million users worlwide and I believe a good opporuntity to promote destinations and individual tourism businesses. The website very simply allows your to connect with friends and colleagues, then create Groups to allow people to upload photos and share stories.
A good example of how Facebook has been used to promote an Event is the group Tar Barrels which currently has over 1000 members, this is an excellent use of Facebook is sharing information on a quirky event and a means to getting a message to over 1000 people relating to a particular interest - A hotel could add a post to the group indicating there is a special offer on over the dates of the event, takes 5 minutes to do and doesn't cost a penny!
The social networking site has circa 40million users worlwide and I believe a good opporuntity to promote destinations and individual tourism businesses. The website very simply allows your to connect with friends and colleagues, then create Groups to allow people to upload photos and share stories.
A good example of how Facebook has been used to promote an Event is the group Tar Barrels which currently has over 1000 members, this is an excellent use of Facebook is sharing information on a quirky event and a means to getting a message to over 1000 people relating to a particular interest - A hotel could add a post to the group indicating there is a special offer on over the dates of the event, takes 5 minutes to do and doesn't cost a penny!
Lights, camera, action!
Online video is an excellent free marketing opporuntity for businesses and destinations. If you have a video of your tourism property, why don't you upload this onto the internet? It has been quoted that 80% of people researching travel online will search for videos before booking a trip. Whether that's a video on the destination or the potential Hotel they wish to stay in.
There are lots of Free video hosting sites on the internet - one of the most popular YouTube which is currently the 6th most visited site in the world! - why not get out your camcorder, film your property and surrounding area and upload to all of these sites:
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.revver.com/
http://video.google.com/
http://www.flickr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/
http://www.vimeo.com/
You can usually add some content including a website link, so make sure you add your businesses website address in.
There are lots of Free video hosting sites on the internet - one of the most popular YouTube which is currently the 6th most visited site in the world! - why not get out your camcorder, film your property and surrounding area and upload to all of these sites:
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.revver.com/
http://video.google.com/
http://www.flickr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/
http://www.vimeo.com/
You can usually add some content including a website link, so make sure you add your businesses website address in.
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