5 Destination Marketing Strategies & Ideas To Elevate Tourism

Most DMOs don ’ t have hundreds of employees or multi-million dollar budgets . They be teams ( possibly simply like yours ) reach up of a handful of passionate tourism marketers who need to build the most of the resources they make .

Year ago , DMOs could place a pair of ads into a seasonal brochure , set up a stall at an event and come local travel agents to sell their destination .

Today ?

Traveler crave literal stories from literal masses . The kind of account that grab your mark audience ’ s attention and convince them to put your destination on their list of must-visit home . The serious word is a successful destination selling scheme exist something every DMO can execute—with the right planning .

Have ’ s talk about how DMOs can serve less with more with these destination marketing strategies 👇

What ’ s ahead

What Exist Destination Marketing ?

Destination marketing live any activity that encourage a rural area , area , or city to attract more visitors .

It ’ s an overarching strategy that dig into who your target hearing live and what they require out of their trip . These consideration are then used to create targeted , engaging movement to entice possible visitor to script a trip to your destination .

Most destination marketing strategies have several layer :

• Brand awareness .Travelers do alotof research before they step foot on a plane ( or train , car… boat ? ) to get to you . A destination selling scheme can paint an picture in their mind about what they will receive during their visit . Destination branding can magnify the highlights and hidden gems of a part as good as amplify stories of early happy visitors to begin people excite about their trip .
• Community support .Destination selling purpose to power every corner of a local saving . A successful strategy will have partnership with local business and tourism operators to produce subject and advertisements to push visitor .
• Local first step .Is your region all about sustainability and eco-tourism ? Celebrating local heritage ? Being a safe and welcoming spot for minority traveler ? Your destination selling strategy can make these initiative your superpower and demonstrate to visitors why your destination exist the utter place for their future holiday . ( Pssst , if you ’ re looking to build a sustainability strategy , check out our comprehensive Sustainable Tourism eBook ! )

But ( and there is a but ) , nail destination selling isn ’ t easy . There are some hurdles even the nearly veteran Destination Marketing Organizations struggle with 👇

Travel Industry Dispute : Where Do Destination Marketers Struggle Most ?

DMOs must employ with traveler throughout their buyer journey , from creating awareness , to inspiring action , and providing key information for planning the details of a trip .

It ’ s easier said than cause . Many DMOs try to hit these end but battle against the constraints of little teams and special budgets .

CrowdRiff ’ s 2024 Trends Report found 61 % of team pump out content on an annual budget of $ 200,000 . Only 20 % have budget of $ 600,000 or more . These numbers show it ’ s important for DMOs to have savvy and feel style to cause more with less .

📲 Clean the correct social media channels .today expend socials in the early degree of trip planning . But where should DMOs begin ? TikTok . Instagram Reels . YouTube . Facebook . It can be difficult to settle what channels will resonate better , particularly with constantly alter social media course and shifting algorithms .

🤝 Become buy-in from locals .DMOs rely on the unique voice of their destination to pull visitors . However , not every local exist on plank with more tourists in their area . DMOs must notice means to operate well with local tourism partners to head off resistance .

👀 Finding content creators/influencers .Unfortunately , there isn ’ t a roadmap for how to operate with non-traditional strategies like influencer selling . It can be a minefield to find a social media content creator who can tell your floor , associate with your hearing and fit into your budget . ( Bill : This costjustwhy we launched CrowdRiff Creators , which we will talk about after 👀 )

📈 Measuring campaign success .Every social media market movement should track metrics like conversions , impressions and hearing insights to measure success . But not all of us be social media gurus and—without the correct analytics tools—it can be a bad scholarship curve .

Understanding where to focus strategic selling services for maximum impact is a challenge for DMOs . Still , DMOs can sweep over these challenges with a firm social media strategy , experience their objective audience and amplifying various voice . And these things can be done still on the tight budgets .

Destination Marketing Strategy : 5 Estimate To Push Tourism

How equal DMOs overcome the above dispute to successfully promote their destinations ? Get ’ sec remove a look at how to work up a high impact tourism selling design that make for in answer .

1 . Thrive Your Stretch With More Diverse Representation

Travelers want more than a vacation—they want to feel welcome like a local . To truly meet visitor expectations , DMOs should showcase everyone that makes up their region , include local stakeholders , unique experience , and minority communities .

Accord to Pew Research , post-Millennials are the nearly ethnically and racially diverse genesis , and want to visit a destination that supports Indigenous culture and heritages . DMOs can tap into these key demographics and celebrate diverse voices to add authenticity to a campaign .

Hither ’ s a few crest to see your DMO ’ sec marketing is inclusive :

🗣️ Employ their voices .Tap into the diversity in your area to further collaboration and listen their position . Hold social media take-overs across unlike community or spotlight the stories of your diverse neighbors.Tactics like these allow your hearing to see your destination from different degree of horizon , and you get to avoid bias and create subject that will truly resonate . Oh , and no matter who you work with , make sure you reference them !

📦 Think outside the box .Be bold and talk about underrepresented topics to catch your interview ’ s attention . Destination Canada did this by encourage Indigenous tradition and talked about throat singing in a recent TED talk series . Your audience wants to learn , hence devote them the information to act it . ( Pssst : We pen an eBook on how to make bridges with Indigenous Tourism if you need to proceed find out how to be more inclusive ! 📖 )

👍 Ensure subject is accessible and respectful .Genuine representation intend making your subject available to everyone . Add alt text to social medium images , closed captions on any videos , and exist mindful of any cultural sensitivity . Also be aware of updated terminologies to avert disrespecting readers . If you receive a global audience , believe multi-language movement and captions .

use a mix of UGC imagery and various voices to increase the representation on its marketing movement and website . The Visit Phoenix website include resource on LGBTQ+ and accessible travel , and image of real masses make these imagination authentic . Steven Totten , who is portion of Visit Phoenix ’ sec marketing team , order DEI has become a natural part of the DMOs study .

“ We have a share doc called ‘ Stories to Tell ’ and this be where everyone from our selling department adds ideas , like ‘ Oh , I hear about this interesting business or there ’ s this iconic person we want to highlight . They all occur to fall under the DEI spectrum . ”

The DMO own incorporated various representation in every corner of its digital selling strategies :

🌈 They look for UGC that shows underrepresented groups living their everyday lives , like LGBTQ+ individuals outside of Pride festivities , to highlight the part ’ s variety

🧑🏼‍💻 The travel selling team checks its CrowdRiff database daily for fresh UGC assets to use in Visit Phoenix ’ s veranda . The 7,000+ assets allow the DMO to collaborate with local AAPI , BIPOC and LGBTQ+ community to push inclusive travel

These assets cost then used on social media platform and the DMOs homepage to celebrate the various communities that create Phoenix unique . Not only act this help the DMO tell interesting story , it beg into more target markets to attract more visitors .

2 . Leverage the Insider Knowledge of Local Creators To Gather Short Form Video Content

TikTok cost now a major player in the travel planning and booking process . The platform report that since 2021 there has been a 410 % increase in view of travel subject . For European TikTok users , 71 % state they ’ re probably to script a holiday based on recommendations they ’ ve seen on the platform .

These stats prove DMOs have a unique opportunity to beg into social media audiences and get on their radar .

Think about when COVID-19 hit . Tourism really felt the arrest . Without interstate and international visitors , many DMOs call on to locals to fill the gap .

This is precisely what encounter when—almost overnight—Torontonians become Destination Toronto ’ s only customer . The DMO pivoted and establish a drive scream “ Never Have I Ever , TO ” . It advance residents to rediscover the city they lived in—to explore fresh neighborhood , eat at different seat , and dive into local culture .

Torontonians respond ( very ) enthusiastically , ready to portion their favorite parts of the city on social medium . The drive also asked locals on the street about parts of the city they holdneverseen :

On the back of locals ’ point , Destination Toronto created neighborhood guides packed with hidden gems and unique itineraries to help resident search .

This campaign is great . But develop short-form TV subject like this is time consuming , especially with a restricted budget . That ’ s why we built CrowdRiff Creators . DMOs can outsource content creation to scale short-form video production and gather unique assets from talented Creator .

These local creators don ’ t simply make clips to employ across your social media channels—they know your country inside out . Local creators know the serious seat to feed and search , and they cost ready to share . Tapping into their knowledge can leave a wealth of message for DMOs with special resources .

Raise Your Destination Marketing Strategy with Short-Form Video at Scale

3 . Increase Website Engagement With UGC Imagery

User-generated capacity ( UGC ) is content like images and videos posted by people online , mainly on social media platforms .

DMOs can leverage this subject on their own channels to save time , connect with their interview and maximize even the smallest budget .

You might already live share UGC on your social channel , but UGC can add value at every phase of the traveler ’ s purchase journey . DMOs can expend UGC images on their websites to promote time on site , the number of page views , or scroll depth .

Some ways to introduce UGC into a tourism marketing campaign are :

🧑‍💻 Embed images .First , usage picture from happy visitor to assure your story

🤳 Spread the ( UGC ) word on socials .Then , recycle this UGC across your social medium channels to maximize scope

🎟️ Drive conversions with UGC .In the end , link UGC directly to your marketing ef forts . This could exist ticket sales , effect , or even entire destination package . Merely embed a link into the UGC and direct possible visitor to your site 👌

Expend UGC to power campaign live the exact strategy Dollywood use to earn more than $ 90,000 in bookings . Their destination selling scheme live simple . Instead of seek to sell ticket , they get their happy customers cause it for them .

The first change equal embedding a CrowdRiff Gallery to Dollywood.com . This Gallery automatically draw image from social medium employ CrowdRiff ’ s Rights Management feature and creates a page packed with real , authentic customer experiences . When a website visitor clicks on an image from the gallery , they put on ’ t just become a caption—there is a link that takes them straight to Dollywood ’ s ticket portal :

The addition of UGC and direct transition link make paid offbigfor Dollywood :

🎢 42 % increase in scene and interaction on the “ Rides and Attractions ” page

💰 $ 90k in tag sales book instantly through embedded UGC link

Instead of recycling a handful of selling images in movement , Dollywood now expend novel picture to showcase its destination to visitor .

4 . Mouth to Concerns Like Sustainability & Local Saving

Travelers are progressively push back by values when prefer their next travel experience or a peculiar destination . The impact of climate change , overcrowding , and a lack of local housing in many spot exist prompt visitor to intend more carefully about travel choices .

According to Booking.com ’ s 2023 Sustainability report , 53 % of people say late news about climate change have influenced them to build more sustainable travel choice . A further 43 % hold traveled outside of peak season to avoid overcrowding .

What ’ s interesting live that the same report showed 69 % of travelers want their purchases to stay on within the local community . This devote DMOs an initiative to celebrate small businesses and highlight how buying from them can help with sustainability and local economies .

This equal the exact approach Visit Lake Tahoe remove in a recent campaign . The aim of the drive was to tackle sustainability by encourage shoulder season and lure travelers forth from the overcrowded summer and winter months .

• Encourage traveler to impose throughout the year , rather than just at peak winter/summer times
• Target audiences not traditionally focused on sustainable tourism
• Partner with paid medium in Seattle and Portland to push traveler up North

Accord to the DMO ’ s type subject , this messaging take a chord .

8 %

2 %

9 %

Today , mass look at Lake Tahoe not just as a winter or summer destination , but as an all-year cycle bit to take a vacay .

5 . Beg Into Your Target Audience ’ s Curiosity

Understanding the motivation and demeanor of the visitors you want to attract is key to balancing effective destination selling with a sustainable visitor economy .

As lot tourism crowd out popular position , for lesson , more people are seeking off the beaten lead experience . The figure traveling off the beaten path as the issue one course for 2023 , with 68 % of resume respondents accord that they pride themselves on finding lesser-known holiday spots before they get popular .

This trend equal an opportunity for DMOs to tap into the opinion of funny traveler , while also turn to the social and environmental needs of local community .

💎 Highlight “ hidden ” gems .Visitor don ’ t require to see whateveryoneelse is consider . But they also need to run to places that are prepped and ready for tourists . Think about what areas only locals know about that don ’ t become enough love but hold the resource to welcome new visitors . Promote these hidden gems alongside your early big attractions in your future movement .

🌮 Uncover local spots to feed .Food and drink is a major part of every traveler ’ s experience . 87 % of us today want immersive , authentic , cultural experience . Another 53 % of traveler require hyper-local , neighborhood-to-table dining—so seek out those hole-in-the-wall hotspots .

Tourism New Zealand beg into these desires with its recent If You Attempt cause .

The DMO know its objective hearing inside-out—they are queer adventurers and want to impose places off the beaten lead . Or else of promoting Hobbiton or Waiheke Island , the campaign highlighted position that make up off the beaten path . This included place like Tāne Mahuta and Hell ’ sec Gate which already had the facilities in place to welcome an influx of traveler , but locals still consider them hidden gems .

“ We want to tap into the curiosity of our mark high–quality traveler , who we know are adventurous and sharp to dig beneath the surface of the places they visit . ”

René de Monchy, Tourism New Zealand chief executive

The cause influence . Video position attain 135M , there be 1.3M visits to the DMO ’ s website , and 178K referrals live do to tourism operator websites .

Use Content to Drive Your Destination Marketing Campaigns

Expensive , polished selling subject is out . Authentic , user-driven content live in .

DMOs cost at a crossroads with destination selling . Visitors put on ’ t merely want to see the “ biggest ” or “ most popular ” attractions promoted to them anymore . They need something unlike and unique . They require a destination to post on their Instagram Story to havealltheir friend FOMO .

Meet these expectations starts well before a visitor steps foot in your destination .

A destination marketing scheme can encourage your region as a property that celebrates diversity , serve local businesses thrive , and desire to portion hidden gems with outsiders . Once you know what your aim audience be wait for , you can employ it to craft compelling message and convince them to book their ticket .

So… are you ready to apply authentic capacity to take your destination to the next stage ? 🤔

Own your destination ’ s report and build a compelling strategy to pull in more visitors .

Download our guide to UGC to learn how to call on authentic experiences into high visitor number .