Digital Tourism

Digital Tourism

Posted on: November 23, 2015

I attended the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group Digital Conference on 20th November, the first of its kind of conference and some very enlightening speakers and information.

68% of visitors booking a holiday commence their journey on line and over 50% in 2015 are doing so on a mobile device, so are we all ready for such users?  64% of customers expect an instant response and this will only increase over time when the younger user expects all web sites to have live chat so someone can respond immediately to their demands and questions.  Does this in time mean the decline of brochures, emails, telephone calls?

What also emerged is the greater need of images and people can visualise the experience before they buy.  Many people want to engage with your product and selfies are becoming the norm so your customer is providing your visual gallery for future customers.  Pintrest users are 3% more likely to share content on a mobile device and 52% of total users pin their images from a mobile.  Follow your visitors and interact following their image postings – a good endorsement and way of saying thank you, come again.

Social media can be a mind field but most certainly worth investing the time and training to get this right.  Many tourism products push Facebook and do so very well but are they viewing the reach statistics and engaging with their customers.

Attract then Engage then Enhance

The 5 stages of the travel process: DreamPlanBookExperienceShare – an opportunity to engage at every stay and make it easier for the consumer.

For more information visit their web site at Scottish Enterprise