Our Critical Areas of Focus for Developing Online Tourism
Travel Distribution
Around the world, tourism sales have predominantly shifted online, with over US $400 Billion annually in sales, making travel the number one value selling commodity online and with over 50% of travel sales now happening online it has become the predominant channel for distribution as well.
Social media has revolutionized the Internet but also the business world too, with 60% of online sales now being driven from a point of social media engagement. This has created a user driven and controlled marketplace in which shoppers can easily access advice, opinions and referrals from each other, and regard this information as more trusted and reliable than official or corporate content.
This is especially true in the travel space as travellers with mobile accessible SMART phones in their hands produce and publish content on the road- to an audience of engaged, interested and easily inspired connections who can easily become future customers.
It is critical that travel businesses become more aware of the opportunities that the online world creates and invest time and resources into effectively using the internet to both manage and market their business and focus on using their clients experiences as a powerful marketing tool. To ignore this fast growing and dynamic sector is to risk extinction and obsolescence in the marketplace, but while it may seem challenging to many business owners the opportunities are great and greatly lucrative.
This is low cost, borderless marketing using platforms that are not just cheaper than traditional media and marketing channels but in many cases free. At the same time, social media can move way beyond branding alone and become a powerful and measurable tool for converting interest into sales. All businesses need is training, resources, strategy and creativity.
Our events and training address these issues and will help you negotiate this dynamic sector- with presentations from some of the major channels.
Need to know more? If you’d like our assistance- Contact us.
Web Design, Content and Management
Your website remains an important tool for at tourism business, but its role is changing dramatically. When training we working page by page through websites and identify key ingredients for a successful site- addressing quality and usability, accessibility, ease of use and visibility in search terms and discuss who should manage the website and how.
When working with companies we conduct an initial complete audit of your online presence (both web and social media) including search rankings and results and progressive clinic around each element recommending areas of change and suggested development. We run through web and social analytics and how best to track and analyze your user data. We introduce analytics tools- and show how to measure monitor and manage user data- and to utilize the results to adapt and evolve business and marketing strategies.
Search Engine Marketing
Search parameters are changing rapidly with the increasing influence of social media and the focus can no longer be on just search engines . Our training explains the inner workings of search engines and how search engine optimization (SEO) works. We explain the pitfalls and dangers of some popular SEO ‘tricks’ and look at the pros and cons of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and the newer opportunities offered by social search.
Social Media and Tourism
The Internet is no longer simply a great mass of information- it is has moved far beyond a research tool and become a lifestyle accessory. The Web is not only used as a part of everyday lives, it is controlled, managed and created not by corporations and Governments but by its users.
This meant that cyberspace has become a highly personalized environment, where your interests, tastes and social relationships are paramount, and where the driving force is content- visual, sharable, interactive content often created by its users across multiple channels. The implications of Social Media and User Generated Content for the tourism sector are vast, as both current and potential travellers create publish, share and discuss their experiences- and the path they take to the travel supplier may not be the one you would expect.
Using this content and these platforms to not just create a visible profile but drive conversions to contacts, enquiries and bookings is the real challenge for the tourism sector. Our conferences and training seminars give the trade an insight into this fascinating new environment- and demonstrate how the travel business is conducted in a Web 2.0 world.
We include intensive sessions on using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, managing video and multimedia and much much more.
Need to know more? If you’d like our assistance- Contact us.
Mobile
Mobile is fast becoming one of the most important ingredients of online tourism, with some projections suggesting that we will soon see one in five online bookings made from a mobile device. Even more significantly, travellers are now arriving in destinations with SMART phones and tablets and using them to directly share their travel experiences with an interested and engaged audience who are your potential clients. Our events and training look at mobile and the role of apps, mobile photography, checkins and location based services and m-commerce.
E-Commerce
E-commerce means being able to select, book and pay in ‘real time’ – and is the driving force behind the growth in E-Tourism.
When managing online travel distribution- the key challenge is managing, maintaining and optimizing revenue. This means developing, interpreting, and implementing complex pricing and inventory management systems to be sure that your product is sold to the best volume and value for your business. To achieve this travel suppliers must constantly engage distribution channels to ensure that your inventory is positioned and priced correctly on as many major online travel or destination sites as possible.
One of the best ways of achieving this is engaging third part service providers to manage your revenue streams, optimize visibility, advise on changes and promotional opportunities available and provide performance reporting on your revenues and comparative analysis of your competitors on different distribution channels. Our conferences and training will demonstrate this process and introduce you to suppliers of these services.
Need to know more? If you’d like our assistance- Contact us.
Sales And Marketing
As online travel sales claim a 60% market share and annual sales head towards $100 Billion- the online marketplace for travel has become phenomenally competitive and dynamic- where the stakes change constantly. Modern travel consumers have become used to suing the web as an information and booking tool, and suppliers are now beginning to become aware of what online marketing initiatives actually lead to a converted sale.
Online marketing trends are moving away from basic and unpopular methods such as banner ads, SPAM mail outs and pop-ups and toward customized, effective, and measurable methods — such as interactive site marketing, direct functionality, engagement with social networks and new media, search engine optimization and personalized e-mail marketing. Specifically designed online campaigns will identify the right consumer and present them with your products in the right way, at the right time, to acquire new business.
Even more importantly, Customer Management Relations (CRM) systems will profile your client form the very first click and be sure that you retain and grow their future business. Companies now use technology to categorize, manage and communicate with their networked groups of clientele on a highly individual basis. Our conferences and training demonstrate effective and proven e-marketing strategies and introduce you to suppliers who can help you develop your own customized strategy.
Need to know more? If you’d like our assistance- Contact us.
Destination Management
Our conferences and training are based around a central concept of utilizing technology to achieve Destination Management. This means that destinations can develop strategies to manage information about all key products, stakeholders and resources in order to more effectively communicate and promote their messages to the world. This means cooperative use of information and resources within destinations to enable simpler and more streamlined access to tourism by consumers and key partners- reducing roadblocks to better business and more effective management of tourism.
For emerging markets this will require strategic planning and mutually beneficial partners between the private tourism sector and destination managers and marketers- and cooperation between destinations. Achieving this the chief objective of E-Tourism Frontiers.
Need to know more? If you’d like our assistance- Contact us.
