How to grow tourism in my region

In a cutthroat, competitive industry such as the tourism industry, it can be difficult to think of the local travel businesses as your partners. It might be hard to imagine why it would benefit for your kayaking tour company to partner with the whale watching adventure company down the road. However, destination marketing can be a powerful way to attract more travelers to your region, which benefits every business in the local tourism industry. That’s why we’ve looked at this question: How to grow tourism in my region?

So, how can you implement a destination marketing strategy in your region? Here are a few tips to consider:

Connect with local tourism bodies to get organized

Getting started as a destination marketing organization can be challenging, especially without the right resources available to guide you and other local tourism companies along the way. Before you begin your adventure in destination marketing, contact local, national and international tourism organizations for help. They often have resources that they can provide you with, and may even offer training that can help you create and implement a successful destination marketing strategy. You may even discover that there’s another destination marketing campaign in the works and that you can join forces with the existing organization.

Pool marketing resources with other local travel businesses

On your own, your marketing budget can only go so far. You may be able to launch a few PPC campaigns, place some advertisements around town and invest in your website, but you likely won’t be able to run a national or international campaign to attract tourists to your destination. To create bigger and better promotional campaigns, work with other tourism businesses in the local area and pool your marketing resources. Use the combined marketing budget to create a large, widespread marketing campaign aimed at the most motivated traveler market segments around the world. It’s a bigger investment, but it likely will generate a larger return than a bunch of individual campaigns for separate travel companies within the same destination.

Become agents for one another

Statistics show that an increasing number of travelers are making last minute reservations for their tours and activities. Some travelers like to base their decisions on the weather or on their mood, while others prefer to be more spontaneous while seeking out last-minute deals. You and other travel businesses in the region can take advantage of this trend by becoming agents for one another. For example, allow the local hotel concierges to book your tours and activities through your channel manager. They earn a commission while you earn a booking. Rezdy allows you to have this type of technological infrastructure in place, making it easy for you and other travel companies to become agents for one another.

Destination marketing should be one component of your overall marketing strategy. Promoting your tour and activity brand online and across your distribution network is also necessary to increasing your bookings and reaching a diverse range of travelers. We hope you enjoyed this article about how to grow tourism in my region.

To find out more about how Rezdy can help you generate buzz about your brand and boost your overall bookings, begin your free trial today – or contact your account manager to find people to connect with as agents in your region.

Keen to learn more? Read on to learn what destination branding is, and how it contrasts with destination marketing.

Image credit: Roman Kraft