The truth about Global Distribution Systems

Not many of us, even frequent travelers, know much about what happens when we book an airline ticket. Irrespective of the airline or destinations you book a ticket for, what your online portal or travel agent is using in the background is what is commonly known as a Global Distribution System.

According to Wikipedia, “A Global Distribution System (or GDS) is a network operated by a company that enables automated transactions between travel service providers (mainly airlines, hotels and car rental companies) and travel agencies. Travel agencies traditionally relied on GDS for services, products & rates in order to provision travel-related services to the end consumers. A GDS can link services, rates and bookings consolidating products and services across all three travel sectors: i.e., airline reservations, hotel reservations, car rentals.

GDS is different from a computer reservations system, which is a reservation system used by the service providers (also known as vendors). Primary customers of GDS are travel agents (both online and office-based) to make reservation on various reservation systems run by the vendors. GDS holds no inventory; the inventory is held on the vendor's reservation system itself. A GDS system will have real-time link to the vendor's database. For example, when a travel agency requests a reservation on the service of a particular airline company, the GDS system routes the request to the appropriate airline's computer reservations system. This enables a travel agent with a connection to a single GDS to choose and book various flights, hotels, activities and associated services on all the vendors operating in the same route who are part of that GDS network.”

Considering that there are so many airlines, hotels and car rental companies, it might come as a surprise that there are merely a handful of GDS companies. The market is dominated by just four: TravelPort, Amadeus, Sabre and Pegasus. However, some of the all of these also have a customer facing website. There’s really not much you can do on it except to check if your ticket is really confirmed or not or to view your itinerary. Only ViewTrip goes a little further to offer Passport and Visa information, Local Things to see and do as well as relevant travel advice. However they are worth checking out, if only for a peek into the system that runs global travel.

Virtually There from Sabre

Check My Trip from Amadeus

ViewTrip from Travelport

5 reasons why mobile is critical to tourism marketing success

It was in 2014 that mobile marketing became a mainstream marketing tactic. In 2015, it consolidated its position and started getting more preference (and advertising money). However, it is only in 2016 that mobile marketing has firmly come into its own. Nowhere is this more evident than in the tourism and destination marketing category.

In this post, we will attempt to understand how the humble mobile has come to become ubiquitous in the tourism marketing industry.

The possibilities of personalization

No other device is as personal as the mobile. For the majority of us, it is the first device we look at when we wake up and the last device we use before we go to bed. Through the day it dominates our life with constant updates, calls, messages, chats etc. It would not be an understatement to say that very few people can live without their mobile devices.

However, if you look beyond the near complete domination of our lives, you will notice that no other device is as personalized as your mobile. You have the ability to customize the home screen, add caller tunes to distinguish your callers, store your photos and videos, use apps that are meaningful to you and even link all your social media accounts to it all the time! What this personalization means for marketers is that it gives them a closest-to-reality picture of the real you. One peek into your mobile will help them identify and present options that resonate with you. And guess what happens when you get such options time and gain? Of course you succumb!

The rise of the ‘moment’

Mobile is truly instant. When you look for directions, or a restaurant, or even your friends, you are looking for them near wherever you happen to be at that point in time. Most searches have moved from generic queries to instant queries about the next few minutes. Most activity searches have moved from generic activities to activities near you. Because of the immense convenience it offers, users are more than happy to share their personal information in exchange for immediately useful information. Marketers can harness this to deliver custom services at specific moments in time.

Location, location, location

Think of the number of apps on your mobile device that ask for your location information in order to offer you the best results. The taxi apps need that information to find and send you cabs nearest to you. The food apps ask for that information to identify specific restaurants or cuisines closest to you. Even e-commerce apps ask for your address or location information in order to estimate the time to delivery! When consumer behavior is moving in this direction, should marketers be far behind?

Tourism marketers should include location information in every aspect of their online and mobile communications. With the right kind of tagging, it becomes easier for consumers to find and use that information – leading to greater visits and increased spends.

New lease of life for email marketing

There once was a time when every digital campaign worth its salt included an email marketing campaign. But as social channels arrived and people started spending more time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, email became less dominant. But does it have to be that way? Consider this: Nearly everyone who owns a smart phone has an email app enabled on it. This makes reaching out to them over email as instantaneous as say any other social channel. The mobile has actually resurrected email marketing by putting it right in the pocket of the consumer, 24/7. Use it wisely and you can gain incremental returns from it over time.

Free Wifi – the Holy Grail

Probably the one time consumers miss their internet connectivity is when they are travelling. The prohibitive roaming charges by telecom operators are just one reason. However, savvy marketers who are able to offer free Wifi can actually earn the gratitude and loyalty of these internet-starved travelers resulting in greater usage and repeated usage of their destination. Consumers will happily trade their email address, phone number and even a pay-with-a-tweet/post in return for temporary or longer term access to Wifi. And if your destination includes cafes, restaurants, libraries, museums etc, offering free Wifi should necessarily be a part of your digital strategy.

So there you have it. Just 5 of the many reasons why mobile marketing is critical for tourism marketers. Use these wisely and you will earn the gratitude and interest (not to mention business) of travelers to your destination.

Book an A380 Aircraft every time you fly

Most airline travel booking websites offer a multitude of options. You can filter by origin and destination airports, preferred airlines, class of flight, number of stopovers, lowest price etc. None of them however tell you up-front what type of aircraft you will be flying in. Until you are halfway through the booking process and go through the flight details link in detail. But that is about to change with the launch of a new website that caters exclusively to the A380.

Why is this important?

The A380 is not just the biggest passenger aircraft in operation. It has a host of other features that make traveling in it a true experience of a lifetime. Consider these: Quieter cabins, better leg room and comfortable features like double beds and spas! The catch: only 13 airlines offer A380 flights and the travel is restricted to about 55 cities worldwide.

iFlyA380

The website exclusively caters to those who want to fly on A380s. Never before was this option available to most commercial travelers. Set up by the parent manufacturing company, Airbus, the logic is understandable. The site makes it easier to search for A380 specific routes and destinations. You are guided to a regular booking site to make the actual booking though. The website also provides a page with additional information about the A380 and a social wall featuring social chatter about the A380 as well. Interesting effort!

So the next time you are travelling to a destination that the A380 flies to you can check this site out. I know I will. Sounds like a filter that may soon catch on? Your guess is as good as mine! 

5 ways influencers actually help your tourism brand

In earlier posts, we've seen how influencers have become an important part of tourism digital marketing efforts and  how you can reach out to engage with them. Today, we will take a look at the actual and tangible ways in which social media influencers can help grow your tourism or travel brand. The fundamental reason to reach out to social media influencers is well established - they have a unique and popular take on nice topics and enjoy a certain amount of clout in the online space. So reaching out to them has a very good justification. In addition to the bigger picture, here are some specific ways in which engaging with influencers can help.

1. Peer recommendations

Most followers of influencers follow them due to their own interest. As such, they view the influencer as someone who is a peer or a trusted friend. They follow the social feed of the influencer in order to gain access to curated and personal information, knowledge or entertainment. Hence, anything that the influencer recommends (in a natural, honest manner) serves as a positive reinforcement of your brand and its products/services. The more specific the recommendation, the better!

2. Influencer created content

While your brand may be creating, curating and collecting content on a regular basis, collaborating with influencers will give you more unique content you can use. Most influencers, especially in the travel and tourism verticals, prefer to experience the brand or destination first-hand. This will allow them to create blogs, photos, videos and other multimedia posts which are personalized and incorporate their unique perspective. This is something that can prove to be invaluable to the brand.

3. User generated content

Having your influencer promote a contest (centered around your brand) to their followers is a great way to not only encourage participation, but also to get hold of relevant user generated content. When the reward is a personalized travel experience, you can be sure that the number of participants will rapidly grow - as will the amount of usable content centered around your brand. Rather than using generic gifts and giveaways, it is better to offer brand experiences to winners. This will weed out the contest junkies while giving you high quality content.

4. Promotions and discounts

Giving your influencers the opportunity to offer their readers/followers with relevant promotions and discounts is a great way to create engagement. Not only does the influencer get the opportunity to reward their followers' loyalty - your brand also get deeply integrated with their audience reach. These promotions and discounts can be used in a multitude of ways. Probably the most effective are time-sensitive discounts which ensure that any unsold inventory you have is quickly disposed!

5. Newsletter Audience

Most influencers who have a blog have the ability to offer a newsletter service through subscription. Getting your brand message integrated into these newsletters gives you yet another way to capitalize on the reach of your influencers. Most subscribers read through the newsletters at their own pace which makes them ideal for reinforcement messages which are not time-sensitive.

These are just some of the tangible ways in which influencers can help your tourism brand reach a larger and more relevant audience. However remember the basic tenets of influencer marketing like allowing them their own tone of voice, giving them relevant inputs and rewarding their followers and you stand to reap great benefits. As digital platforms evolve and more come up every day you need to experiment in order to stay relevant. It is best to plan this as an activity for the longer term, not just as a one off to realize its full potential.

How to use influencers in Tourism Marketing

Of all the categories of blogs and social media posts online, it is safe to assume that a very high percentage is related to travel and tourism. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat seem almost custom-built for travel, tourism and allied topics like food and fashion. Needless to mention, the ranks of social media influencers are swollen with followers of this niche. However, very little is common among these influencers. Take travel for instance. The spectrum ranges from shoestring budget travellers, to backpackers, through adventure travelers all the way to luxury and bespoke travelers. This becomes a challenge for tourism digital marketers who hope to reach out and recruit influencers to help with their tourism marketing campaigns.

This post deals with some tips to choose the right influencers and the things one can do to make the most of the symbiotic relationship. Specifically, how the right influencers can help grow the brand online.

Finding your influencers

Before you go about trying to locate the right influencer, it is important to know who your brand's current audience is. Where does your audience hang-out online? Whom do they follow in social media channels? Who influences them? What is the authority of these influencers? As you listen to online chatter and monitor social media, you will come up with a lot of insights. Not all thee insights will be in line with your planner positioning for your brand. All of them however will reflect the interesting ways in which your audience chooses to interact with your brand. Spend time finding and mapping these out.

Choosing the right influencer

It is important for a tourism brand to choose the right influencer. In order to do so, one needs to definitely look beyond the numbers. The questions you need to ask yourself before you shortlist influencers to help amplify your tourism or destination marketing efforts are as follows:

• Are they relevant to your category? - No point using a fashion blogger as your influencer if your niche is travel and tourism. Unless your destination has some fashion-association you need to amplify!
• Are they an authority? - Do they have a follower base that follows them for their unique style or insights? Do they have an original point of view about topics relevant to you?
• Are they regular and active? - Do they post consistently? Are all their social outposts updated regularly?
• Are they engaging? - What kind of traction do their posts on social channels get? How often are they shared or liked? Do they get comments? Do they respond to comments? What is the true reach they have?
• Is there a brand fit? - Is the prospective influencer a good fit for your brand? If you are focusing on luxury travel, a budget travel blogger might not be the direction you want to take, irrespective of the authority and numbers!

Do you have any personal travel and tourism bloggers you follow? Please send me your preferences.

Inviting your influencers

Today, a number of companies exist which claim to work with a set of social media influencers across verticals. However, my personal experience with such outfits has not been great. While it is true that they take the hassle out of managing an influencer campaign (think logistics, communication, emails, responses, clarifications, billing etc.) they often don't have the ability to give you a truly custom-built experience. As a tourism marketer, it is expected that you know your brand and its strengths & weaknesses better than any 3rd party agency. Hopefully you are also passionate about your destination or product. Spend some time trying to reach out to influencers to convey this passion across to them. Trust me - they will appreciate it.

What works best is a personal appeal to each identified influencer. When you get to know them, their style, their audience and their work, you will know exactly how they can add value to your brand. And when they see that you've taken the time to understand all of these aspects, their respect - and consequently engagement with your brand - will only grow. It also helps to follow them on social channels and to start sharing some of their relevant updates to your own audience/followers. Remember that you are not engaging with a vendor; you are actually trying to establish a relationship with an influential authority who can help your brand grow.

Getting the most out of your influencers

One of the biggest mistakes a brand can make is to treat influencers as an extension of their PR program. Any influencer worth her/his salt will never be comfortable with simply posting a press release issued by a brand on their channels. Remember that these influencers have spent an enormous amount of time and effort to cultivate an audience that trusts them and their opinion. A sure-fire way to disaster and audience loss is to 'plug' brand messages between their posts.

Invite your influencers to experience your brand. Let them savor everything that your product or destination has to offer. Allow them time to wallow in the experience. Let them write/blog/post about it in their own, inimitable way.

Most importantly, respect their beliefs and principles. Don't ask/force them to commit to anything they are not comfortable with. Provide them with the experience, the facts, the data and the information. Let them craft their own story. If you've done your homework, you will be pleasantly surprised!

In another post we will look at the ways in which your brand can specifically benefit from engaging with influencers.

How influencer marketing is changing tourism marketing

Contrary to popular belief, influencer marketing is not new. It has existed for as long as (or even before) marketing has been around. The very first influencer in the history of mankind was someone who recommended a way to do something or to try a new something. In principle, it stays true to that even today. Another misconception is that influencers have to be celebrities. That is good to have, but not a mandatory requirement. In fact, the more evolved the consumer, the less they are taken in by marketing-speak or brand endorsements. However, they are still open to recommendations from friends, peers and others they willingly follow on social media channels.

At the fundamental level, an influencer is someone who specializes in something of interest to you and has the social presence to distribute their message. They could offer knowledge, inspiration or even just entertainment in a specific niche. But what adds value is the manner in which they do it. Their specific tone of voice, sense of humor or eccentric mannerism that make it resonate with you. Which is why they command the clout they do and why brands - especially in the travel and tourism space are rapidly waking up to their potential.

Most online consumers have been through the entire marketing hype cycle. They are wise to the ways of brands and even wiser to the way advertising hopes to manipulate their feelings and emotions. Which is probably why conventional online channels like display media are slowly losing traction. They have literally become a blind spot for savvy consumers. Search is still very relevant, but the onus of initiating action lies with the consumer. All a brand or marketer can do is to lay out the groundwork and wait for the consumer to show up. Influencer marketing however makes use of the concept of peers - people like you who care about the things you care about too - to reach out to consumers.

Answer this. Would you much rather have a travel company stalk you with multiple messages online on every possible channel or would you seriously consider a vacation destination on the basis of the recommendation of a travel blogger you follow - and admire? Pretty elementary, right? That is in essence the thought behind using influencer marketing for the tourism industry.

In another post, we will look at what you need to do in order to identify the right kind of influencers and the advantages your destination marketing efforts can get by doing so in a planned manner.

Happy World Tourism Day!

Here's wishing all my readers a very happy World Tourism Day!