Discuss the content of the article "Tourism Marketing from 1990 - 2010" by Daniel R. Fresenmaier and Zeng Xian, answering the research question "How may the findings discussed in the article influence how film, photography and new technology are used in marketing of tourism destinations, and on what platforms?
In this blog post I want to focus on how the article expressed in several places that my generation, generation Y, has a differing opinion on life goals than past generations. The article states "The younger generation is more interested in highly individualized and more 'authentic' experiences (Benckendorf et al. 2009) The access to and use of technology has made travel so much more accessible to us, and the influences of social media emphasize this further as people share their experiences through platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, an element which has dramatically effected travel through the emergence of the internet over the last 20 years. |
Obviously there are a whole bunch of ways which information technology has changed the structure of travel agencies, from brochures morphing into websites and companies changing from walk in travel agencies to online interactive booking systems, but I want to focus on the ways that I think the social media, especial photo heavy platforms such as Instagram, can be utilized by travel agencies to appear to offer a "more authentic experience".This feeling of "more authentic" when based from an Instagram account is partially because the platform is known to be used to document events that people are experiencing as they happen or soon after. If a user is viewing idyllic pictures (of their amazing travel adventures) taken by a real person that they follow, they are going to feel as though they not only want to experience the same thing, but that they could in fact do so. The viewer will want to have the experience more, because they do not feel in danger of being sold a product by a travel agent that is unrealistic or the packaged, polished version.
This brings me to investigating weather travel agent instagram accounts are more successful than personal ones.
The first instagram account that appears when searching "travel" is TravelChannel. This account is a kind of interesting compromise between a user instagram and an actual travel agent's business account.
This user promotes destinations through beautiful photos of the places, but if a viewer is really curious they can eventually find themselves on Travel Channel's website. Even here there are no real direct links to package holidays that they themselves are selling, but there are links in advertisements to other agents, hotel booking services, etc. This kind of approach to marketing is what I think the article was talking about when it mentioned the shift in focus of tourism marketing from traditional methods to more simple, subtle promotions based on the success of organisations such as TripAdvisor, who capitalise on the reviews and experiences of other participants in order to let the buyer make up their own mind about the best options.
There are of course travel agents with their own direct Instagram accounts, such as STA travel, but these seem to be significantly less successful than Instagram endorsed accounts such as Travel Channel, which has 570k followers compared to STA's 14k, or even CNN travel's 50k. However, by far the most popular travel accounts are those who belong to travel photographers. They are sharing their actual, first person experiences and inviting you to join them in the journey unlike the other kinds which make you into more of an outsider. Although they are in my opinion much more friendly than straight up advertisements, following the adventures and journeys of a real person is something all together more inviting.
Platforms like Instagram, which I just chose as one example, but there are others which can and are being used in the same or similar ways, such as travel blogs etc. are very open to be made the most of by sponsorships of users with a wide audience from travel agencies. This makes media such as film, photography and other new media so powerful, as it gives users so much influence. The endorsement of big companies means they can have doors opened for them to keep doing what they love, as they encourage others to go explore, travel, and share their experiences.
This brings me to investigating weather travel agent instagram accounts are more successful than personal ones.
The first instagram account that appears when searching "travel" is TravelChannel. This account is a kind of interesting compromise between a user instagram and an actual travel agent's business account.
This user promotes destinations through beautiful photos of the places, but if a viewer is really curious they can eventually find themselves on Travel Channel's website. Even here there are no real direct links to package holidays that they themselves are selling, but there are links in advertisements to other agents, hotel booking services, etc. This kind of approach to marketing is what I think the article was talking about when it mentioned the shift in focus of tourism marketing from traditional methods to more simple, subtle promotions based on the success of organisations such as TripAdvisor, who capitalise on the reviews and experiences of other participants in order to let the buyer make up their own mind about the best options.
There are of course travel agents with their own direct Instagram accounts, such as STA travel, but these seem to be significantly less successful than Instagram endorsed accounts such as Travel Channel, which has 570k followers compared to STA's 14k, or even CNN travel's 50k. However, by far the most popular travel accounts are those who belong to travel photographers. They are sharing their actual, first person experiences and inviting you to join them in the journey unlike the other kinds which make you into more of an outsider. Although they are in my opinion much more friendly than straight up advertisements, following the adventures and journeys of a real person is something all together more inviting.
Platforms like Instagram, which I just chose as one example, but there are others which can and are being used in the same or similar ways, such as travel blogs etc. are very open to be made the most of by sponsorships of users with a wide audience from travel agencies. This makes media such as film, photography and other new media so powerful, as it gives users so much influence. The endorsement of big companies means they can have doors opened for them to keep doing what they love, as they encourage others to go explore, travel, and share their experiences.