Encouraging travellers to return to a country in the months and sometimes years following a natural disaster can be a challenge. I was reminded once again of Iceland with the May 21st eruption of 'Grimsvotn' volcano appearing in the news, and their Inspired by Iceland campaign - www.inspiredbyiceland.com which followed the eruption of 'Eyjafjallajokull' in 2010.
This video from the Inspired by Iceland campaign is an inspirational example of a country telling the world that their tourism industry is open for business.
As many tourism providers will know, there are a large number of providers that you can choose to join that offer Channel Management. Some profess to be the "Best" some profess to be "Free", some say they have the most channels and others just use the hard word to get you feeling that if you don't go with them you will miss out on the all important bottom line of increased bookings.
The true test of any system is two fold:
1. Do they offer channels that are actually relevant to your property and the market you want to target?
This is an important point to take into consideration as you can be sold on the idea that they have 20, 30 or more sites that you can connect to via their system, but in reality, there will only be a small number that really mean anything to your...
Through IDS Softwares, the Hotel Management Software Specialists, Tomahawk brings the latest in Hotel software technology to the South Pacific. We're excited to share their recent partnership with twelve Best Western hotels in India:
"The usual, sir? Room no. 603 facing the poolside?". A lot of backroom technology goes behind that seemingly spontaneous greeting at your favourite hotel.
Binu Mathews, President and COO of IDS Softwares and Sudhir Sinha, President and COO, Best Western India , speak to IndiaTechOnline's Vishnu Anand on new technology trends in the hospitality space and their 12-property partnership
Bangalore-based IDS softwares has been providing solutions to the global hospitality industry for more than 20 years.
If you want a steady stream of online bookings, you need to have an emotive and a compelling home page that loads quickly.
The emotive aspect is the "wow" factor that immediately transforms the guest to the fantasy of experiencing your tourism product. The compelling aspects are what give them the confidence to book. Flaunt both of these features and you are lined up for success.
How do you create both an emotive and compelling home page? Here are the four key aspects to flaunt:
1. High quality photos - one of the best ways to get a message across quickly is pictures. Spend the money on getting professional photos taken. It will make all the difference to your marketing efforts. Think of a website that you like - I would venture to guess that they have clear, crisp and...
When marketing a tourism product you need to stop thinking like you and start thinking like your customers. Thinking that your customers are like you is a common mistake which often results in tourism business owners thinking that website optimisation doesn't work or marketing in general is total fluff and doesn't get results.
Classic Case
We were working with a gorgeous "B&B" just north of Auckland that was owned by a lovely German couple. They desperately wanted to tap into the Auckland weekend getaway market and felt that they had done everything possible to get it. They optimised their website, offered a weekend package on their site and did Google Ad Words but to no avail. They were convinced that online marketing didn't work and came to us for other...
As the recent 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch, it was Social Media that we turned to, getting messages and information out to family and friends across the globe within a matter of seconds. The online sentiment felt worldwide was one of tremendous pain; and messages of sympathy and hope for those affected blanketed our twitter feeds, our facebooks and youtube accounts.
An earthquake of this magnitude touches all facets of a community's economy and lives, and as Christchurch is one of New Zealand's key tourism destinations this will be a significant blow to "Christchuch" as a brand. Our strategic partner Dr. Mathew McDougall, CEO for the China based firm SinoTech Group, is a South Islander himself, and one of the global experts on Social Media Strategy and Analytics.
