Category Archives: Marketing Mythbusters

It’s easy to see why this myth feels true. In tourism, reviews can have a huge influence on booking decisions. Guests want reassurance that the accommodation, attraction or experience they’re considering will live up to expectations.

Even for consistently great tourism businesses however, a bad review can come in - it happens! It's natural to worry about whether everyone is going to see it, believe it and decide to book somewhere else.

While a negative review feels like a very public black mark, customers don’t expect businesses to be perfect, and they certainly don’t expect every guest to have exactly the same experience.

The good news is that, if handled well, negative reviews can be turned around to actually make your business look more credible. What future guests are...

At the beginning of 2026, this seemed like a pretty straightforward myth to bust - "You don't need to be on every social media platform."

Trying to maintain a presence on Instagram, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit and whatever new platform appears next week can quickly become a recipe for mediocre content, a marketing team not keeping up, and a lot of time spent posting without much purpose.

Our advice was simple: choose the channels that matter most to your audience and do them well. We still stand by that advice, but...

Plot twist: AI search means you also need a broad digital footprint.

The rise of AI search however, has changed the conversation around what it means for a tourism business to be visible online because while you don't...

For many tourism operators and small businesses, wearing multiple hats is just part of the job. You're the owner, the salesperson, the customer service team, the operations manager, and somewhere in between, you believe you can do all of the marketing too.

But it's a myth, in reality while DIY marketing has its place, trying to do everything yourself can eventually become one of the biggest barriers to growing your business.

Why Businesses Choose the DIY Route

It feels like a natural decision to manage your own marketing when no one knows your business better than you do, social media and AI tools make marketing look easy, and you're trying to keep costs down.

In the early stages of a business, doing your own marketing can make sense to help you understand your...

Online Travel Agents (OTAs) like Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb, Viator and Get Your Guide have become an important part of the tourism distribution landscape. They provide visibility, reach new audiences, and can help fill beds, tours, and experiences that might otherwise go unsold.

But we often hear from tourism businesses that "the OTA can handle the customer relationship."

While OTAs are great at helping guests find and book your business, relying on them to manage the entire customer relationship means you're giving away one of your most valuable assets: your customer data.

Why Being Dependent on OTAs is Costly

When a guest books through an OTA, the platform manages much of the relationship. They control the booking journey, the communications, and often limit the...

When many people hear the word “brand”, they immediately think of logos, colours, fonts, or maybe a slick-looking website. And while those things are important, they are only the surface layer of branding.

Your brand is not your logo.

Your brand is the feeling people associate with your business. It’s the reputation you build over time. It’s what customers say about you when you’re not in the room.

A logo is simply the visual identifier attached to that reputation.

This misunderstanding is one of the biggest marketing myths we still see, particularly in tourism and hospitality, where businesses often invest heavily in visual design but underestimate the importance of consistency, customer experience, and trust.

Brand is Built Through Experience

Think about...

Don't believe it when someone declares SEO is finished, because in reality it still growing in importance.

What’s actually happening isn’t the death of SEO, it’s a shift as search has evolved. User behaviour has changed, and with AI now shaping how travellers discover and compare experiences, the old playbook is needing a new chapter.

What People Mean When They Say “SEO is Dead”

Usually, they’re reacting to things like:

• Traffic dropping despite “doing SEO”
• AI-generated answers reducing clicks
• Keyword rankings feeling less predictable
• More competition than ever

They’re not wrong to notice the change, but the conclusion is off.

The Modern SEO Space

Older SEO strategies have evolved, here's what's no longer good SEO practice:

• Keyword...