Marketing for the tourism and travel industry post covid matters now more than ever before, so it is going to be key in 2021 to stay atop of the newest trends happening worldwide in the tourism and travel industry. As many of you already know, quarantining in 2020 caused online usage to increase by a staggering amount and it is expected to increase as the whole world is changing how it connects, interacts, and buys things online. So what exactly does this mean for your business? Well for one, it means adaptation, adapting to the current trends that will help your business stand out, locally and outside of your municipality, especially important if your business is located here in Galveston,

Texas, the majority of business being influenced somehow by tourism and travel.

Social Media as a customer service channel

Now more than ever customers are reaching out to brands on social media platforms like Twitter to address their concerns and adopting this trend with your business will be of great advantage in these upcoming months, a trend that might last for more than a couple of years. Not only is handling customer concerns through social media more efficient but it is infinitely cheaper than a traditional customer center.

TikTok

With over 500 million active users worldwide, an average of 1million videos viewed daily on the app, early adopters of Instagram and Snapchat have proved it to be of an advantage to be an influencer from the start making the most from the marketing on the platform. With marketing that doesn’t look like marketing, user-generated content, and being an easy way to build communities, TikTok is the ideal place to get the benefits from having one of its early adopter's positional advantage in the industry.

Local outdoor activities

In addition to travelers being more focused on safety, they are now looking for destinations that have more outdoor opportunities that are easier to practice social distancing, so promoting your local outdoor activities if your business has them, great, if not it would not hurt to promote other outdoor activities in your area.

Empathizing with your customers

Especially in tourism, it is key to utilize empathizing marketing with your audience, the hotel resort Hyatt launched an initiative with the app Headspace the meditation app, and promoted it as “Get Some Headspace with Hyatt” not only empathizing with the current events happening but also providing real value to existing customers. This not only causes people to benefit from using the Headspace app but also causes people to interact with Hyatts app.

Facebook Ads

With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social media platform used worldwide. And whether you handle the management of your Facebook ads/ content, or you let agencies like us handle that for you, Facebook is a great platform you need to get acquainted with since in the Tourism and Travel industry it is ideal to have people outside of your locality find out about your business. Facebook not only lets you target people based on a specific location but you can get really creative when it comes to targeting people based on your specific demographics. Overall Facebook is a great platform you definitely want to get acquainted with.

Live

As video marketing continues to grow, Live marketing is a trend you want to adopt in your marketing strategy asap. Not only is it a more cost-effective way to drive engagement with your audience but it is also a more authentic way of presenting your business. With Live marketing, you can create direct Q&As with your audience, live workshops, classes, live wine tastings, or even do a live interview with an influential person within the industry. Live is a great way to differentiate your business from competitors.

"Work-cations"

With remote working statistics steady on the rise and something that might go on indefinitely in 2021 you might want to take advantage of the opportunity of people who only need Wi-fi and a laptop to complete their work! These people might only need a change of scenery without having to use their vacation time, great for people not too far from your locality, or if you are a local vacation rental company you would greatly benefit from marketing to different local demographics.

Mobile optimization

You might have a website, but is it mobile-optimized? With a majority of people using their phones for online use, it makes a big impression if your website is mobile-optimized, good if it is, not so good if it isn’t. If your website is not mobile “friendly” your website will experience lower rankings, less traffic, and fewer leads and sales. Luckily, if you are unsure if your page is mobile-friendly there are plenty of online tools you can use to test your website.

POD traveling

Pod traveling is a new idea that involves few groups of people traveling in small groups so as to stay safe as they quarantine or travel together. This is a great opportunity to market your business to these groups of people as safe and pod-friendly locations as Texas is one of the few states to lift the mask mandate and many tourists are still wanting to stay safe.

Local marketing

With many people not feeling safe enough to travel to other countries open for tourism, local marketing has become a top marketing trend since 2020 and now this year, which means ranking on local SEO is pivotal. Other examples of local media your business could utilize include magazines, newspapers, radio, regional television stations, or just plainly being active in your community.

Want to apply any of these strategies to your business Call Us at (409) 502-8221.