Travel marketing

Travel marketing is a combination of activities and strategies aimed at promoting and selling products related to the travel industry. It helps hotels, airlines, travel agencies, and tour operators catch potential customers’ eye, encourage them to buy a specific travel service or product, and convert them into clients.

In this article, we’ll unveil why marketing in travel and tourism is essential and review 10 travel marketing strategies, ideas, and tips. We’ll also explore some excellent examples of travel marketing campaigns.

Why is marketing important in travel and tourism?

Marketing is crucial to the success of any business, and the travel industry isn’t an exception. It helps tourism companies in various ways, and in this section, we’ll uncover the most important advantages.

• Stand out in a highly competitive market. The travel sector is filled with numerous hotels, airlines, destinations, and tour operators, so competition is increasingly high. To stand out from the competition, business owners use marketing to communicate their unique value proposition and connect with customers.
• Establish customer awareness. In our digital world, clients search for new destinations, travel products, and services related to tourism online. Companies striving to introduce their products and services to a wider audience and establish brand awareness use advertisements and online content. Once travelers visit specific sites, they can instantly see their options.
• Build a positive brand image. Strong branding, recognition, and trust are a must in the travel industry. Companies with a positive brand image attract more customers and generate more revenue. By utilizing marketing strategies, business owners succeed in creating awareness about the numerous options available, encouraging potential travelers to consider specific products and services for their future adventures.
• Generate higher revenue. Effective marketing strategies can increase the number of tour bookings, hotel reservations, and ticket sales, bringing higher revenues. In turn, this contributes to a business's success and financial health.
• Improve customer engagement. Social media, email marketing, chatbots, content marketing, and other channels help communicate with customers regularly. Travel companies engage with prospects and clients and update them on new trips, destinations, tickets, and promos, turning the audience into loyal customers who return and repeat their bookings, reservations, and purchases.
• Educate clients on specific travel products and services. Travel agencies, airlines, and hotels use marketing for educational purposes. Various marketing channels like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, chatbots, and email campaigns can become sources of valuable information about new destinations, travel tips, and the best locations for different types of travel.
• Adapt to new trends quickly. Like any other, the travel industry changes very quickly due to changes in customer preferences and technological improvements. Marketing enables companies to stay afloat, align with customer needs, and adjust their strategies to stay relevant.

Now that you are aware of the main reasons to consider travel marketing for your tourism business, it’s time to review 10 effective strategies that will help you start implementing it.

10 Travel Marketing Strategies

In this section, we’ll provide 10 strategies you can consider for your tourism business. They’ll help you figure out where to start and how to make your travel marketing efforts work.

1. Email marketing. Despite numerous marketing strategies and technology innovations, email marketing is still among the most effective approaches. With the help of email campaigns, you can update customers on the new destinations in your tour agency, inform them about the reduction in ticket prices, provide enticing travel offers, or send personalized recommendations based on users’ searches. It is fast and effective, especially when using a bulk email service like SendPulse. The platform lets you send up to 15,000 professional emails for free, using a no-code editor and ready-to-go templates.
2. Content marketing. This strategy is a must for every company involved in the tourism industry. You can significantly improve clients' engagement and desire to buy your travel products or services by writing valuable articles, sharing travel tips, and posting stories about new destinations. To make content marketing work, you need to create high-quality, informative, and engaging content for blog posts, videos, and social media. It will help you demonstrate the unique aspects of your products and services.
3. Social media marketing. Utilizing social media like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest allows you to establish awareness, generate engagement, and gain recognition. Social media networks can bring a lot of benefits to business owners when they use these channels correctly. Consider sharing visually appealing content through these platforms: creating informative reels with tips, best destinations, and attractive prices. If you do everything right, social media will promote your content for free, making your company well-known among users.
4. User-generated content. Establishing transparency and credibility can be challenging for companies, yet you’ll achieve it faster with user-generated content. As you know, people trust other customers’ recommendations, so it’s essential to let your clients share their travel experiences and make them visible to your target audience. Collect positive customer reviews and showcase them on various platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, to establish a positive image.
5. Video marketing. Video content plays an important role in establishing eye contact with clients, building emotional connections, and demonstrating your travel products and services from the best perspective. Visually appealing videos for Instagram and YouTube will help showcase your unique offering and catch customers’ attention. To generate more conversions, consider creating compelling videos covering destination highlights, travel itineraries, hotel overviews, etc.
6. Chatbot marketing. Adding a chatbot or AI assistant to your travel company’s site or social media is necessary for instant help and assistance. AI will help you analyze customer behavior and actions on your site and personalize communication with your audience. After utilizing a chatbot, you can quickly respond to FAQs and improve customer satisfaction with your brand. If you are searching for a perfect solution, consider leveraging SendPulse, where you can build a helpful chatbot for Instagram, Facebook Messenger, your site, WhatsApp, and Telegram without knowledge of the code and programming skills.
7. Influencer marketing. Opinion leaders greatly influence their audience, especially when recommending products and services they can benefit from. Consider collaborating with influencers related to the travel industry. Today, you can find dozens of couples and solo travelers around the world, and they can become your promoters. Think of the strategy and a powerful message promoting your travel agency, hotel, or spa services. Add videos of your business so that people can instantly see the perks of visiting your place or ordering your services.
8. Live streaming events. Engaging with the target audience is useful for your business when you can share useful tips, interesting destinations, and travel experiences. This information can entice customers to buy your travel products or services. You’ll get more conversions when you invite travel experts who can organize Q&A sessions and find the best solutions for those who plan to travel.
9. Virtual and Augmented Reality. It’s important to use technology when showcasing your travel products and services. Augmented reality is the best way to provide potential clients a virtual tour of destinations and demonstrate hotel rooms and amenities. It will help you show your unique selling proposition, improve engagement, and help future travelers make well-informed buying decisions.
10. Loyalty programs. Lastly, it's essential to establish contact with potential customers and show care towards existing clients. You can do it by implementing loyalty programs. They will help reward repeat clients and encourage them to stay with your travel agency, hotel, airline, or resort. Consider providing exclusive discounts, perks, or access to special events.

Now that you know the strategies, it’s time to explore some excellent marketing ideas and tips, so let’s dive in.

10 Travel Marketing Ideas and Tips

In this section, we’ll discover 10 travel marketing ideas and tips. Let’s get started one by one.

1. Send personalized travel recommendations. When the travel industry is enhanced with technology and the competition is high, ensuring a personalized approach to every lead is essential. Consider using your website as a source of information about user activity, behavior, and actions. You can provide personalized recommendations based on the flights, tours, or travel services your site visitors were searching for. To ensure a curated travel experience, you need to look through the interests, social media actions, and previous bookings.
2. Provide limited-time offers to establish FOMO. Use email campaigns, social media networks, or SMS campaigns to promote your exclusive discounts and offers. Utilize SendPulse for a convenient process of creating and sending email and SMS campaigns, messages in chatbots, and displaying web push notifications with limited-time offers. Limited-time deals will help you establish a fear of missing out and create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to take the desired action quickly.
3. Collaborate with travel bloggers. A partnership with bloggers involved in the travel industry can become a source of more potential clients, higher conversions, and bigger revenue. Consider collaborating with travel influencers to provide information about your destinations, products, and services to a wide audience of people who might be interested. This approach will help you reach customers worldwide and scale faster.
4. Develop attractive travel packages. Create exciting travel packages at an attractive price for couples, families, or specific destinations. These packages can cover flights, hotels, and activities to entice customers. Usually, these offers grab travelers’ attention and encourage them to go on a vacation with family or friends.
5. Use videos to share travel experiences. Create compelling videos to show the advantages of your company by including travel experiences, new destinations, and travel tips. They will serve customers as sources of valuable information and as channels for additional conversions for your business. Visually appealing videos will help you establish connections with potential clients, interest them, and consider traveling with your company. Videos featuring real travelers will help you establish trust and credibility.
6. Encourage user-generated content. Consider using numerous ways to encourage your customers to share their feedback, testimonials, and reviews of your travel products and services. It can be a comment, video recording, or post on social media. Encourage them to use your branded hashtag and share their stories with your company across social media channels. You can provide rewards, gifts, and discounts for further travel with your company in exchange for reviews.
7. Offer loyalty programs. Consider leveraging loyalty programs for repeat purchases and better engagement. Reward your loyal clients with perks and discounts to make them stay with your travel agency, airline, or resort. Loyalty incentives can encourage your customers to refer their friends and repeat reservations.
8. Provide virtual tours and experiences. Consider utilizing technology for better customer experiences and engagement by using virtual tours of destinations, hotels, or attractions. These tours can serve as a source of inspiration for travelers who will come to your company when they are ready to explore new locations. Your business will help them map out their routes and embody their plans.
9. Utilize geo-targeted ads. Localized ads will help you reach your target audience based on their location. You can offer your services to people from different countries when they are in the area you work in. These ads enable you to find individuals who are interested in your travel agency or nearby hotel.
10. Host live streaming events. Use live streaming to demonstrate events, festivals, and specific travel activities in real time. You can organize live Q&A sessions to provide travelers with all the necessary information about your company. Your travel experts can share some useful tips and tricks for people to consider when traveling to new locations.

Now that you know the working best practices, let’s proceed to the examples.

Examples of Travel Marketing Campaigns

Travel marketing campaigns have various purposes, yet they often strive to inspire travelers, uncover new destinations, and encourage reservations. In this section, we’ll review some great examples of companies related to the travel industry that use numerous marketing channels to make their products and services visible to customers and improve sales. Let’s get started with Pegasus and its travel marketing email campaigns.

Pegasus Airlines. Email Campaigns with Discounts

The Turkish low-cost carrier actively uses email campaigns to promote its services and encourage more ticket bookings. Subscribers can find various enticing emails from the company containing attractive discounts, introducing new routes, offering hotel discounts, and providing information about available tours and activities.

Below, you can see one such email campaign providing a 50% discount for flights to Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden during a specific period.

Luna Retreats. Sponsored ads on Instagram

Luna Repreats uses sponsored ads on Instagram to find its target audience and educate them about the company’s products and services. The brand strives to build a community of like-minded people who intend to join the transformative retreat training and empower them with new knowledge and skills for a healthy mental and physical lifestyle.

Bürgenstock Resort. Collaboration with Influencers

The luxury resort welcomes guests from all over the world and offers outstanding services. It uses Instagram as one of its promotional channels. The resort focuses on collaboration with opinion leaders who travel around the globe and share new destinations with followers. The Instagram post below includes a tag that will bring users to the resort’s account and a short overview of the spot and its services. The influencer’s pictures demonstrate all the beauty of the places and the perks people can experience when visiting this extremely beautiful location.

Congrats! Now you know what travel marketing is and why it is crucial for every company involved in tourism. We hope that our tips and examples will inspire you to develop an effective travel marketing strategy for your business. Register in SendPulse now to establish your communication with customers through the most popular marketing channels.

References:

1. This article defines the term and unveils why travel marketing is important.
2. In this article, you’ll find the latest travel marketing tips.

Last Updated: 25.01.2024