Social Media & a Conference Kick-off at 35.000 Feet?

Wondering in what new ways can social media, a conference and a plane be connected?

While the latest surveys show that about half of airline passengers are interested in booking destination-related services while flying,  the airlines’ ability to take advantage of the extended in-flight touchpoint with Wi-Fi implementation, provides even further marketing opportunities to reach flexible, spontaneous travelers and not only. Still, there are definitely more opportunities that remain untapped.

Take for example the case of the world’s first conference kick off on an airplane! 

The Social Media Tourism Symposium, known as #SoMeT14EU, is making its debut in Europe by aiming high – 35,000 feet above ground.

It will actually be very interesting to see if this could be the start of new perceptions in conference organization and the entire MICE industry.

On April 8, SoMeT and Finnair kick off the conference at Helsinki Airport and then take to the skies aboard a Finnair plane.

Conference delegates arrive at the Helsinki airport in time to connect with Finnair flight AY429 to Rovaniemi, where the conference continues on April 9 and 10.

Finland’s airport operator, Finavia hosts a welcome reception in the airport at ‘Wine & View’, where delegates can check in and collect their SoMeT name badges. The first keynote presentation begins on the inflight entertainment system once the plane reaches cruising altitude.

SoMeT is the only conference of its kind that provides an opportunity for destinations and tourism businesses to share ideas and learn more about how to leverage social media within the tourism industry.

“As an airline connecting Europe and Asia and seeking growth especially in the quickly growing Asian market, we’re constantly looking for new ways to utilize social media. We hope to learn from the speakers as well as provide inspiration for the attendees in return. I’m sure the airline conference will be a fun event, and we’ll make our outmost to make our guests feel welcome in Finland, the coolest destination there is at the moment,” Aku Varamäki, Social Media Manager from Finnair, says.

Rodney Payne, CEO of Think! Social Media, the digital marketing agency that produces the SoMeT conferences says: “We’re very excited about this world-first conference launch on a plane. SoMeT is already one of the most progressive marketing conferences for destinations around the world, and now we’re taking SoMeT to new heights.”

We cannot wait to experience this first hand, as abouTourism will be amongst the speakers at the #SoMeT14EU!

Learn more about SoMeT at:  sometourism.com &  fb.com/SoMeTourism

Destination Marketing: Social Media Campaigns that Work

Slovenia, through the Slovenian Tourist Board (STB) has a well developed digital presence promoting the country as a tourism destination. In order to raise awareness of Slovenia as a high class and attractive winter destination, STB launched an innovative winter campaign with the support of abouTourism and Mindworks , and we are excited with the results!

The innovative campaign focused on alternative social media channels through which to reach a high number of users and create virality, promoting the country as a winter destination.

The goal was to promote the USPs (Unique Selling Points) of the destination, and provide useful information regarding the ski and wellness facilities, the various events before, during and after Christmas period and overall inform everyone interested to come and experience “a unique winter “fairy-tale” right in the heart of Europe”.

Check out the campaign’s video:

Launched in December just in time for Christmas, and focusing on winter holidays as a key topic, Twitter conversations around this theme were identified and monitored through particular relevant hashtags, participating in every relevant conversation in order to provide answers on the spot to exactly those people interested in our topic- Winter Holidays.

INSTAGRAM- MOST COMMENTED PHOTOS
#WINTERSLOVENIA

Twitter was used to develop instant, direct, one-to-one communication to a highly targeted audience and Instagram to promote a realistic and attractive view of the “real” Slovenia, as this is where STB, locals and visitors were asked to upload their photos from Slovenia.

The key success factor of the #winterslovenia campaign was the fact that relevant content was distributed the moment a user asked for it!

The #winterslovenia campaign, which run for 20 days, has generated impressive results, with 1.5 million impressions, reaching more than 400.000 twitter users and generating 1.500 tweets.

A simple and to the point campaign with easily spreadable content, creating word of mouth, while involving multiple user segments, including locals, professionals, potential travelers and social media influencers.

More info: www.slovenia.info

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Top 5 AbouTourism Posts for 2012!

As we get ready to welcome 2013, we take a look back at some of our favorite and most read articles for 2012!

During this past year, abouTourism offered insights on destination marketing and the latest advancements, highlighted the latest trends to shape the industry, and shared best practice cases showcasing successful destination strategies.

Let’s take a look at the abouTourism blog posts that you found the most useful in 2012!

1. Developing a Social Media Strategy for Tourism Destinations

An overview of the Social Media Strategy for Slovenia,  which the Slovenian Tourism Board commissioned us to develop in 2011, in order to take its marketing activity to the next level, broadening the range of channels through which the Slovenian tourism product could be accessed and exceed the expectations of today’s online travel consumer.

2. Local Destination Marketing – Take a Look “Inside”

A selection of marketing initiatives from England, Scotland and France aimed at promoting domestic tourism and ‘staycations‘, local collaboration and product development as well as manage domestic issues affecting their reputation and tourism flows.

3. Greece: Online Reputation Management & Destination Marketing

For an online reputation management program to be successful at a destination level, it is clear that Tourism Boards and DMOs need to follow an organized and methodical approach. Setting clear objectives, communicating it to all stakeholders and coordinating their activity while having integrated the program with existing marketing and operational activities are the basic steps to success.

4. Destination Marketing & Sport Tourism

Sport tourism is much more than just one-off sport activities. It can form a unique culture at the destination, enhance long term tourism development and certainly has great economic benefits as one of the fastest growing and more profitable tourism sectors; that is if planned and developed appropriately.

5. In Partnerships We Trust- Collaborative Destination Marketing

This article focuses on the most recent collaboration and tourism partnerships at a destination level, this time especially focusing on examples of tight market segmentation profiling such as in the cases of France and Holland.

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TrendSpotting 2013 is Here!

The abouTourism Trendspotting compilation is here to give you the whole picture of where the tourism and travel industry is headed in 2013 and beyond ! 

2013 is more about developing instant, personalized & bookable services. For destinations and tourism companies, what matters is offering customized and relevant information by gaining access to large amounts of data from multiple sources.

Consumer technology is changing traveler behavior and expectations. Organizations and companies try to keep up with the latest advancements focusing on cost optimization and performance enhancement while they also need to increase their focus on how technology can better meet their travelers’ needs.

The global travel industry is experiencing a continuing upward trend due mainly to an economic boom in Brazil, Russia, India, China and in other developing countries. More and more organizations worldwide are adapting their business models to take advantage of opportunities in emerging markets and especially the BRICS. But what about the SLIMMA and the TUsCKns markets?

Click here for the new TrendSpotting 2013 to check out all the latest Tourism & Travel Trends!

and don’t forget to register to our new Blog  to receive new updates & articles straight to your email!

Global Tourism Survey: Visitors Expect Better Digital & Mobile Experience

Are m-tourism services and apps truly meeting visitors’ expectations?

Based on its reference global benchmarking survey TRAVELSAT© Competitive Index, TCI Research reports that destinations still have to improve m-tourism experience towards their visitors, pointing out that great technology is useless if it does not provide them the right content on the right time.

Image source: The Drum

With a Competitive Index hardly exceeding 100 (meaning just “Acceptable” on the TRAVELSAT Scale), digital hospitality today is not rated higher than the “Staff efficiency in Tourist Info Centers”.

However the survey highlights significant differences according to the destinations, markets and travel segments:

• North American and Pacific regions tend to offer a better experience than European destinations
• Digital services and mobile apps are powerful drivers of competitiveness amongst BRIC markets.
• Tourists coming for special motivations (cultural events, golf, shopping, parks…) tend to be more satisfied with digital hospitality experience during their stay.
• Apps and digital services quality should be improved for short stays in priority.
• Web influencers are happier than average with digital services…providing they have more abilities to find their way in the jungle of apps available!

Commenting on the results, TCI Research CEO Olivier Henry-Biabaud adds: “Competitive destinations are those able to find the right balance between digital and human-based hospitality services, each completing the other in a consistent way all along the visit. Paradoxically abounding development of mobile apps in the tourism sector may also loose visitors destinations make so many efforts to guide! Digital hospitality should better take into consideration fluctuant visitors’ information and assistance needs during the stay and Destination Management Organisations have a key role to play for clarifying existing applications available both at trip planning and visit stages. Expected benefits for those providing better m-tourism experience: increasing spending at destination, repeat visits and recommendation levels”.

Technical note: analysis extracted from the TRAVELSAT Competitive Index Survey based on 25 000+ representative international travellers (leisure, MICE and VFR) realized in 2011 and 2012 in 200+ destinations and markets.

About TCI Research
TCI Research is a Brussels based leading independent research agency specializing in destinations’ competitiveness evaluation. It carries out the UNWTO Innovation Award Winning TRAVELSAT Index, a reference global competitive survey benchmarking countries, regions and cities’  brand experience. TCI Research helps public and private tourism decision makers increase efficiency of their policy, management and marketing by providing global and comparable demand data combining structured surveys and web social media conversations audits. More on http://www.tci-research.com.

abouTourism is the exclusive representative of TRAVELSAT© Competitive Index in Greece & SE Europe/Eastern Med Destinations. For more information you may contact us at: info@abouTourism.com or  (+30) 210 8941610.

Note: Don’t forget to Subscribe to the dedicated Blog Section of our website, to keep receiving your abouTourism Blog Post updates!

UNWTO Online Tourism Campaign

With one billion tourists traveling the world in a single year in 2012, transforming these one billion tourists into one billion opportunities is at the heart of the online campaign launched by UNWTO to celebrate this historic milestone.

Recalling the power of travel and tourism in driving economic growth and sustainable development, the One Billion Tourists: One Billion Opportunities campaign asks the public to vote for the travel tip they believe would have the greatest benefit for the people and places they visit, from using public transport to buying locally, and pledge to follow that tip when traveling.

“Imagine the difference one tourist could make by adopting small changes, from using their towels for more than one day, to hiring a local guide or buying local products. Now imagine if these simple actions were multiplied by one billion; that is the power of one billion tourists,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, launching the campaign at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London.

UNWTO is encouraging all countries and the entire tourism sector to spread the word about the campaign by becoming official campaign partners and hosting their own celebrations on 13 December, raising awareness of the important contribution of one billion tourists, by voting for the best tip, by joining the Thunderclap campaign or sending travelling photos for UNWTO’s One Billion Facebook album.

The campaign will culminate on 13 December when the most popular tip will be revealed and sent out to millions via social media. The date, 13 December, has been chosen as the symbolic arrival day of the one-billionth tourist. While it is impossible to know exactly when and where the one-billionth tourist will arrive, UNWTO forecasts point to December. The arrival of the one-billionth tourist will be celebrated by the UNWTO Secretary-General in Spain, home to UNWTO headquarters.

Source: UNWTO

Growing Mobile Travel Marketing

Travel apps are leading industries in usage growth at the same time that travel companies are digging deeper into mobile app development as they aim to connect with consumers at all points during the travel journey, according to the latest survey results. Services that support everything travelers are doing during the entire travel experience cycle, from planning to booking to sharing their experiences.

These efforts are getting consumers’ attention. A May 2012 Nielsen study, “Courting Today’s Mobile Consumer,” showed that in the US travel apps were seeing the highest year-over-year growth of any industry or product-related app category, at 116%, well above the growth in overall mobile app use (84%).

Travelers are showing a penchant for using their phones to do more than simply complete an on-the-go booking. For example, comScore’s “Mobile Travel Advisor” survey from February 2012 showed that US travelers were often using their smartphones for mobile hotel-related searches such as finding things to do nearby or places to eat near their hotel.

At the same time, the 2012 SITA Passenger Self-Service Survey has revealed that passengers want more self-service and mobile-based offerings to help improve the travel experience.

The annual survey – which included more than 2,500 passengers from over 70 countries – found that 70% of passengers now carry smartphones, which is fuelling demand for services such as self-boarding and flight information updates.

In response, travel marketers are incorporating social check-in partnerships, concierge services, customized coupons and other in-destination services into travel apps to create customer service touchpoints and brand loyalty opportunities as well as ancillary revenue streams. These recommendations are relevant to locals as much as they are to tourists, making the apps more widely marketable.

The trend toward mobile travel app usage points back to the fundamental nature of travel as a mobile activity. As smartphones proliferate, they’ll more often be looked to as the go-to resource for travel information on the fly.

Source: eMarketer, www.sita.aero

In Partnerships We Trust- Collaborative Destination Marketing

September, can also be considered as the month of fresh beginnings, and during the last few days we have seen the launch of quite a few exciting destination marketing initiatives. This week we have chosen to focus on the most recent collaboration and tourism partnerships at a destination level, this time especially focusing on examples of tight market segmentation profiling such as in the cases of France and Holland.

Also, in the spirit of the month, we are excited to invite you to check out our revamped website, where you can also find this and all the other blog posts gathered per category on the dedicated Blog section.

Europe’s New Campaign

Highlighting the diversity Europe offers to tourists, the European Union has just launched a new campaign promising a lifetime experience of the continent’s rich cultural heritage and stunning natural beauty to visitors  from India, Brazil, Russia, China, Chile and Argentina.

The Europe – whenever you’re ready campaign, which runs from this September to December 2013, is designed to remind tourists from these target markets to discover the old continent.

Thematic packages and itineraries, covering all four corners of the EU, are showcased, including pan-EU and regional tours on religious, cultural heritage and gastronomic themes—like wine and olive oil routes—and tailored packages incorporating historic and natural UNESCO sites according to Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice-President, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship.

The campaign, which is financed by the European Commission, would be organised in partnership with the European Travel Commission (ETC) — the umbrella organisation for national tourism boards in Europe.

It also aims to add value to promotional activities of member states and the European tourism industry.

Well known travel writers, journalists and bloggers would be part of the campaign which would showcase the wide variety of unique opportunities that Europe offers to international tourists.

More: www.visiteurope.com, Europe.whenever.youre.ready, ec.europa.eu

France Asks “What’s Your Vineyard Style?”

Atout France–the France Tourism Development Agency is putting French vineyards in the spotlight through a huge online campaign in partnership with its Wine Tourism Promotion Club, which encompasses 17 wine regions. Other campaign partners include the French Ministry of Agriculture and VBT, a tour operator offering walking and biking tours.

For this campaign, Atout France is highlighting seven of France’s major wine regions: Champagne, Burgundy, Aquitaine, Rhone Valley, Alsace, Macon and Midi-Pyrenees. Participants are able to take the quiz “What’s Your Vineyard Style?” to form their ideal vacation itinerary based on their “character”, by choosing between preferences like cities or countryside and Beef Bourguignon or Salmon Tartare.

After completing the quiz, each person will be matched to a particular wine region based on their answers. Participants also have access to special deals, itineraries and trip ideas based on their matching wine region.

Approximately 7 million people will be reached through this online campaign, including subscribers of The New York Times, the Travel Channel, Smithsonian Magazine, Fodor’s and Atout France’s consumer newsletter.

More info: us.franceguide.com, heraldonline.

“Faces of Holland” & Orbitz

The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) and  Orbitz  just announced a joint marketing partnership to launch NBTC’s new leisure marketing campaign, “Faces of Holland.” The campaign encourages travelers to learn and explore the fascinating stories behind Holland’s most recognizable icons, like canals, bicycles, windmills, tulips and Dutch Masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Throughout the campaign, NBTC and Orbitz Worldwide will work together to leverage new cross-platform media programs that will increase awareness of Holland as a leisure destination and drive online travel bookings amongst target audiences.

A wide range of strategic marketing efforts are to be employed, including retargeted online ads, while in addition to the icons of Holland, major upcoming events are also to be highlighted throughout the campaign.

NBTC has launched a “Faces of Holland” website which includes original videos and specific itinerary suggestions to help travelers meet all the “Faces of Holland”.

More info: www.holland.com

The Destination Marketing Landscape: The Role of DMOs

2012 has been declared as the year of integrated online & offline marketing while digital technology is nowadays at the epicenter of the tourism experience.

Since the budget of a DMO and its allocation are determined in relation to the benefits which it ultimately brings to the destination and of course to its stakeholders, the fact that the majority of the marketing spent is now being allocated to the online presence and digital applications, shows among others the importance of a targeted digital marketing strategy.

According to “2012 DMO Marketing Activities Study”, a new research conducted by Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), destination management organizations (DMOs) are making “significant” investments in digital marketing, although they still spend a majority of their budgets on traditional marketing vehicles.

For the purposes of this benchmark study on DMO marketing practices, primarily in the leisure travel market, DMAI surveyed 240 DMOs from around the U.S and found that print advertising accounts for 33% of the typical DMO’s leisure marketing budget, while TV and radio advertising account for 8% and 5%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Internet marketing accounts for 30%, according to DMAI, which said DMOs have spent more than $39 million on website and mobile app development in the last three years.

According to DMAI, half of responding DMOs market internationally, and those who do invest one-third of their marketing budget outside the United States — mostly in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, which were identified as the most popular countries where DMOs are marketing.

“In order to reach these and other global consumers, more than ever DMOs are integrating their online activities, especially social media, into their overall marketing efforts,” DMAI reported. “Banner ads and search engine marketing dominate the online spending landscape, and almost all responding DMOs said they were present on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.”

Further illustrating DMOs’ increased spending on Internet marketing is the fact that more than three-quarters use a Content Management System (CMS) and almost half have at least one staff person devoted to website content management.

When it comes to mobile, meanwhile, half of DMOs have or plan to have a destination app by the end of 2012, and almost all have or plan to have a mobile version of their website.

As far as results are concerned, the study found that DMO’s new group room bookings grew 4.8% last year; a total of 35.6 million group room nights occurred as a result of DMO sales and marketing efforts; while, in the 275 markets where DMOs are active in group sales, DMOs represented 19%, or 1-in-5, of all group room demand in 2011.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the Atlantic, the European Cities Marketing (ECM) reports that 56% of DMOs have an annual budget higher than 5 mil., whereas 50% of their marketing budgets is allocated online.

More info: www.destinationmarketing.org, www.europeancitiesmarketing.com