According to the State of the American Traveler Report from January 2012, travelers are using multiple touch points of media when planning their travel.
Creating integrated, strategic marketing plans for DMOs, travel, tourism and the hospitality sector is becoming more important than ever.
Marketers having a love affair with only one medium will quickly find that travelers live in an online/offline world and they use multiple media to inform the travel desicions.
Print resources are not dead even though some digital enthusiasts would argue otherwise - according to the report - 46% of travelers used print resources to help them make travel decisions.
24.5% of travelers use social media to inform decisions.
46.9% of travelers utilize user generated reviews.
Making user generated reviews a key part of your strategy is incredibly important as according to Nielson, "North American Internet users trust recommendations from people they know and opinions posted by unknown consumers online more than advertisements on television, on the radio, in magazines and newspapers, or in other traditional media."
How about incorporating a social media walk in your destination, hotel or attraction? Check out #wewalkla , this is what the Los Angeles CVB did to help create user generated content for their destination.
Did you know that Instagram, has created a world wide meetup for social sharing?
What have you created to help increase user generated reviews and sharing at your destination or property? Share below!
