The Ultimate Guide To Travel Advertising – Gain Success

While tourism is one of the dominant industries in the world, it is also one of the most unpredictable, which is why having the right travel advertising is crucial.

With proper travel advertising, you can entice and captivate local natives or tourists from all across the globe to take part in the services and offerings that your company or location has to offer. Taking steps to craft a marketing plan catered to your industry sector requires precise planning and resource allocation.

To help you navigate the volatile realm of travel advertising, we’ve created a guide to staying relevant and rising above the competition. Continue reading to learn more. 

What Is Travel Advertising?

Travel advertising is a broad term that means tourism-related marketing, typically directed toward audiences abroad. However, travel advertising can also be for locals, depending on the services offered. 

There are many forms of travel advertising, though they are typically divided into two main categories, including advertising from private or public entities. 

The role of travel advertising is to inform travelers about the place they are going to or entice them to visit new places by informing them of all the unique offerings a place has. 

Travel Advertising Digital Trends

Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or part of a large travel agency, the main goal of your travel advertising is to reach new customers and expand operations in your destination. 

Let’s take a look at a few advertising trends or marketing channels that you can use to incorporate your marketing strategies.

Video Advertising

Over the past decade, video marketing has surged. In fact, even a few years ago, YouTube reported 1 billion hours of watch time per day on its platform. Since then, the numbers have grown exponentially. 

Over 75% of internet users watch videos online each week. Essentially, if you’re not utilizing video marketing as one of your primary channels, you’re missing out on a lot of potential customers. 

The beauty of video marketing is that it is very well-suited for travel companies and brands. Nothing can entice a tourist quite like a well-thought-out visual representation of a destination. 

This visual representation can showcase everything from the food to the services, to the accommodations to the sights. Potential visitors will have a much better idea of what to expect before they even book their tickets.

As you probably already know, customers love knowing what they can expect to find when they visit somewhere, especially when they are spending quite a bit of money to be there in the first place.

Video directly impact purchase decisions

However, well-made videos not only deliver that peace of mind but also directly impact purchase decisions. More than 88% of people that watch explainer videos say they are more inclined to purchase a service because of it. Make the right kind of video for your products or services, explaining what makes them stand out from others, and you have a much better chance of locking in customers. 

Remember that it takes ten seconds to grab the attention of a viewer before they disappear. As a result, spend time making sure your video ads come in with a bang.

One of the reasons we’re such major fans of video advertising is that it allows us to get creative and explore numerous methods to capture the attention of our audiences. Video is one of the most immersive ways to capture someone’s attention, and the possibilities are endless. 

Display Advertising

Display advertising is essentially advertising that you find online on third-party websites. The beauty of display advertising is that you don’t need a large budget to get started. You can simply reach out to relevant websites to use banners and other visual aid formats, including photos or GIFs, to get your message across. 

The main idea here, as with any form of marketing, is to focus on the aspects of your services that make you unique. For example, if you’re marketing a tropical beach hotel outside of Bangkok, you might showcase the pristine waters and warm weather or how you can access these distinct amenities for much less than you could elsewhere.

As you begin collecting data from your display advertising across various websites, you can start to get a better idea of your audience and their interests. With this information, you can begin crafting better-targeted ads. 

Native Advertising

You can think of native advertising as a similar form of marketing to display advertising. As a matter of fact, they are both forms of paid advertising.

What sets native advertising apart, however, is that consumers don’t feel like they are looking at an ad when they see it. 

This is because native advertising is carefully crafted to match the tone, look, and feel of the page on which it appears. Designers will work to gel native advertising with specific media formats so that it seamlessly flows with other content. 

Native advertising produces incredible results, especially when it’s informative. For example, the layout found on the Islands of Adventure StoryWorks campaign for the Philippines Tourism Ministry is gorgeous.  

The advertisers created a lovely user experience, making visitors feel as if they were taking a stroll down a tropical island beach. As you continue scrolling, you reach a sign that reads “More Fun Awaits,” acting as a type of call-to-action to get more information regarding Philippines travel. 

The key to this type of advertising is approaching it in a non-disruptive manner. You want to showcase the best elements of your destination and location to the potential visitor without them feeling like they are watching an ad. 

It’s crucial to put in research before initiating this type of advertising to get a better feel for the platforms you’re planning to integrate with. The synergy between the brand or advertiser and third-party platform must feel cohesive. 

Augmented Reality

Nothing is more immersive in the world of modern travel advertising than augmented reality. It enables hotels and other local businesses to showcase their physical environments and let potential visitors step into their world. 

There are many ways to implement augmented reality into your travel advertising campaign. For example:

• Augmented tourist destinations, where a tourist can point their phone at a nearby restaurant and instantly read a menu.
• Interactive hotel elements, where someone can walk through various rooms to get a better look at them before booking.

In fact, augmented reality is one of the most effective hotel digital marketing solutions today for increasing bookings.

Best Travel Advertising Campaigns

Visit Portugal

Portugal has become a top travel destination over the past few years.

With the country’s excellent series of videos with varying messages and themes, they’ve inspired thousands of new people to come to a country they had likely never thought to visit before.

Portugal’s tourism board even went as far as to create an Emotion Travel Guide for visitors looking to get the most out of their trip. It was one of the most brilliant travel advertising campaigns we’ve seen in the past few years. 

MGM Grand

MGM Grand created a unique campaign to promote its new LEVEL UP gaming center. They used a combination of storyteller-style native advertising and video advertising. The content was fun to navigate through and kept us on the edge of our seats when we first saw it. 

MGM Grand is clearly already well-established, but knowing how to reach out to a new crowd in such an exciting way was what truly surprised us. 

Inspired by Iceland

Inspired by Iceland campaigns have been running since 2010. Each time we see one, they feel more and more exhilarating.

The visuals are absolutely stunning, and each campaign provides a unique, well-crafted look into the various ongoings of Iceland. From food to culture to nature and beyond.

The Swedish Number

This campaign from 2016 is nothing short of iconic. The idea was that you could call up a national phone number to talk to a random Swedish person who agreed to be on the phone at that time. The great thing was that the people answering the phones had no training and would talk about whatever they wanted. 

It was such a silly and absurd campaign that it received international attention, reporting over $147 million at its end. 

Final Thoughts

Having a comprehensive digital travel advertising campaign can help you stand out in the market. If you want to learn more about travel marketing and create a successful plan, get in touch with us today.