THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTENT IN TOURISM
The psychological aspect plays a vital role in modern travel. Before making a decision, a potential tourist necessarily evaluates the attractiveness of the destination in relation to the possible risks to his health. And the information that he can find online about a destination will be greatly important. The engaging content is of particular importance, as it can tip the scales in the direction of travel decisions. A trip will definitely take place even in the future, if the competent content made the right impression on a tourist. There is a good Russian joke:
– I want to go to Paris again.
– Have you been there before?
– No, I’ve already wanted to.
If a person has a positive impression of the destination, he will want to go there.
Of course, popular travel destinations sell themselves. But what about less popular destinations, especially small tourism businesses, hotels, museums? What should they do? This question produces several more:
What content should be attractive for tourists?
Who should create this content?
Where should it be published?
How can this content be conveyed to the tourist?
Answering to the first question, we assume that technically it could be text, audio or visual information. The text can be in the form of articles, blogs, descriptions of objects, reviews of other tourists. Audio information is most conveniently perceived in the form of audio guides. Visual information can be presented in the form of photos, videos and virtual tours. The main requirements to the content are quality, attractiveness and uniqueness. And in the case of texts and audio, a mandatory requirement is to be multilingual.
The second question is difficult to answer specifically. Undoubtedly, these should be specialists in their field. Moreover, the list of such specialists can be very extensive. These are scientists, researchers, writers, announcers, actors, photographers, cameramen, directors, etc.
You can post content on your web site. There is an interesting example of several virtual tours here.
And on this resource the virtual tour is combined with an audio guide. A very interesting solution.
But from the point of view of a tourist, it would be more convenient to use one web site or mobile application, where he could select a country or city, and then find attractive and useful content about the destination in a familiar language. Unfortunately, there are very few such global resources, but they are. As an example, we can cite the izi.Travel. It is an extensive library of audio guides around the world in different languages. Moreover, it is quite simple to create your own audio guide in this system. This is a good option for hosting content for DMOs and museums. Even a hotel can create an audio guide for the surrounding area, which will only contribute to the loyalty of its guests.
As for the last question, there is only one answer – competent internet marketing. Even if your content is posted on some global resource, it still needs to be promoted and popularized. And no one will do it for you, at least for free. If you can’t afford professional marketers, learn to do it yourself. Our open lessons will help you to understand the basics of Internet marketing in the tourism industry.
In conclusion, we would like to say that a tourist who is interested in content is exactly the tourist that the destination needs. He will spend his money on travel, he will promote sustainable and safe tourism. So don’t waste your time and start winning your tourist by creating competent content. Good luck!