Travel Takeaway Tuesday Part IV

As the country slowly begins to open up again, there is now a beacon of light at the end of a very long tunnel. While there is still a lot of work to be done to get the travel industry in a good place again, destinations can begin to take action. 

We’ve connected with some inspirational travel experts over the past couple of weeks in Connect Travel’s webinars. 

Here are our latest takeaways: 

Be Transparent

Now that some states are re-opening one by one, messaging is going to be critical. They say it takes 3 weeks to form a habit, and most of your audience has been in quarantine for 9 weeks. As people transition into the new normal, your destination needs to be up-to-date on the latest guidelines based on your location, and share that information with your audience. Don’t just resume your pre-pandemic messaging. 

Engage and Survey Your Audience

Some travel experts recommend using a survey to poll your audience on what they’re looking for in their communities. It’s better to understand what content they’ll be searching for when they feel comfortable traveling again. 

Some important questions to consider are:

• How far do you feel comfortable traveling? 60 miles? 90 miles? More?
• Will you feel comfortable eating in restaurants when they open, or would you prefer to takeout for a while?
• Are you interested in hearing what businesses are doing to clean and sanitize?

Work With Local Influencers 

The big focus of the summer will be working with your local businesses and drive market. Keep engaged with your local audience by building relationships with local influencers. Have you worked with them in the past? Reach back out and see what you can do with the content they’ve already curated. 

Move Marketing Efforts

Has your destination decided to eliminate creating a travel guide this year? If so, take the efforts you were going to use for the travel guide and move it to another marketing area you need to focus on now. Strong content creation is going to continue to be important to educate and inspire your audience as they transition to the new normal. 

It’s time to get your destination prepared for what’s to come. Stay tuned for our latest travel takeaways, and stay connected as we navigate these times together. 

By Bethany, Social Media & Public Relations Strategist | May 19, 2020