What do you mean by Travel & Hospitality industry?
The Travel Industry is the industrial and commercial sector that deals with providing services such as transport, hospitality services, accommodation facilities and related services, the latter suppliers of services and intermediaries such as tour operators and tourist agencies. An example can be hotels, travel agencies, airlines, trains, car hire, DMC (Destination Management Companies), etc. In Malta tourism is an important sector contributing to about 15% of the nation’s GDP.
The customer journey in the Travel & Tourism industry
It may seem strange to you, but planning a trip takes much longer than the journey itself. We dream, we get informed, we talk to the partner or friends, we do some online research, we read reviews and comments, we make a shortlist and finally, we decide, we book, the experience takes place and often we share it on social media.
The pre-purchase phase requires more than 25 days on average during which you visit more than 20 different sites.
At what time of the year does it take place?
365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is no longer possible to think of a communication with alternating phases that takes into account the seasonality, the lack of constant presence throughout the year turns into a lost opportunity. Of course, it is necessary to align the communication strategy with local trends, for example taking into account the Malta Carnival in February, the Christmas holidays in December and January, the school break in the summer months, etc.
What’s the best digital marketing strategy for the Tourism Industry?
First of all, we need to understand what the business objectives are: for each objective it is possible to adopt different tools and strategies, for example SEO or Paid Advertising.
If the goal is to increase the online visibility and be in the right place at the right time when a user is looking for your product or service you need to focus on an SEO strategy or a Google Ads Campaign.
Remember that more than 80% of a website’s traffic comes from search engines. The SEO allows to position the website in the long term among the organic results of search engines.
The Search Campaigns, unlike SEO, make it possible to position ourselves in a more immediate and targeted way among the first results (paid) of search engines. It is therefore possible to create generic campaigns about the company, about the brand or the product, and specific campaigns to promote prices, discounts and advantages.
When the goal is to be known by those who do not know you yet, and then create brand awareness, the most suitable type of campaign is the Display. Specific audiences can be selected based on interests and intentions to show ads only to potentially interested users.
If you want to reach those who have already visited and then abandoned our site, you can implement remarketing campaigns by showing users a personalized message with a call to action wherever they are (sites in the display network).
Internet and search engines are today the place where all phases of the customer journey take place, from awareness and consideration, to evaluation and purchase. Therefore, no user can afford not to use it and no business can afford not to be on it. This synergy compliments both ends and is a powerful medium, too important and exciting not to be part of.
Read also our blog post about the advantages of Digital marketing for your business in Malta
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