Your Guide for Booming Tourism in Summer ‘23

With the economic recovery underway, tourism is expected to boom this summer. After months of being stuck at home, many people are eager to get out and explore. Families want to reconnect with loved ones living far away, while younger people seek out new experiences for the lowest possible cost. Travel sales are pacing 47% higher in 2023 than in 2019, as travelers are willing to spend more for unique experiences. This is great news for those in the travel and tourism industry, but it also means preparation and planning must begin now. If you haven’t started campaign development – don’t fret! We let you in on the best trade secrets to execute a campaign that is sure to drive the conversions every marketer wants to see.

Consider Your Target Market Before Diving In

When it comes to creating your campaign, there are several key elements that must be taken into consideration.

First, you should dust off those old target market and buyer persona reports you have laying around. If you don’t have those, well, it’s about time you created them – and fast! Every great campaign begins with a fresh understanding of your customer base. Whether that’s young adults or AARP members, you should focus your efforts to align with their age, income level, and lifestyle. Ask yourself: what have I learned in 2022 about my audience? Then, focus your mind on where your offerings succeeded or failed.

Summer ‘23 Target Market #1: Rising Demand from Families

The pandemic has caused many families to spend more time together than ever before, leading them to seek out meaningful opportunities for growth and connection outside of the home. Many families are now considering extended periods of travel as a chance to escape their newly-acquired cabin fever and reconnect with family members who live far away. For those in the travel industry, this presents an opportunity to appeal directly to families looking for quality time together while also enjoying a change of scenery.

Summer ‘23 Target Market #2: Younger People Working From Home

Another great market opportunity comes from younger people working from home due to the pandemic. Since they are no longer forced into rigid 9-5 schedules, many millennials have begun utilizing their newfound freedom by embarking on spontaneous trips that cater specifically to their budget needs, as well as their interest in adventure. By presenting creative packages tailored specifically towards these young adults – such as discounted airfare or free rental car upgrades – you can be sure that your business will remain competitive in capturing this demographic’s attention and money.

Summer ‘23 Target Market #3: Value-Conscious Customers

Finally, despite the fact that more people are beginning to feel comfortable traveling again, many customers still prefer not to break the bank when doing so. As such, it is important for brands within the travel industry to pay special attention to creating packages that offer maximum value without sacrificing quality or comfortability. This could include anything from discounted rates on lodging or meals to free upgrades or even free access passes for popular attractions like amusement parks or museums. Whatever it may be, finding creative ways that provide value without cutting corners will ensure customer satisfaction while also keeping costs low.

Create Content That Speaks to Your Target

Once you’ve identified your target audience and it’s fresh in your mind, it’s time to create content that speaks directly to them. Think about the stories you lived last year that makes your destination unique and develop content around those experiences. If you can make a connection with potential customers through compelling visuals or stories, then they will be more likely to engage with your brand and book their vacations with you. To help get your ideas flowing, remember the best customers of your last year. How would you describe them? What made them so great? How can you tell elements of their story?

Bring Your Story to Life

Utilizing your internal creative brain power – or working with a creative agency partner – is where all campaigns are brought to life. Creatives are an invaluable asset for tourism brands looking to develop messaging, photo/video content, and campaign design. While internal teams know your brand on a personal level, agencies are well-versed in a variety of industries and trends to facilitate the creation of unique visuals that capture the essence of a brand to resonate with customers. Crafting compelling stories is an art form. With a little help, any tourism brand can create content that stands out from competitors and reach the target audience. 

Finally, consider launching campaigns across multiple channels such as email marketing, social media platforms, and digital ads. It’s important to diversify your campaigns, so as not to rely too heavily on any one channel, as each platform offers different benefits that could help maximize reach and engagement rates from potential customers. A key question to ask yourself: where does my target audience go for information about travel? 

Advertise the Campaign, Tell Your Story, Engage Your Audience

Once your campaign has been developed, and channels selected, it’s time to start advertising for summer travel in April 2023 (or earlier!). To do this effectively, it’s important to understand the buying cycle of travelers so that you can tailor your campaign messaging accordingly.

The Traveler’s Buying Cycle

1. Dream > 2. Consider > 3. Plan > 4. Book > 5. Prepare  > 6. Travel > 7. Experience > 8. Share

Knowing where your marketing campaign will fit in relation to the traveler’s buying cycle can be invaluable when trying to generate a return on investment. Being able to identify which stage of the buying cycle your content will be most effective to tailor your communications, will play into what travelers are looking for from their experience. For example, if they are in the “consider” stage, promoting information relevant to their needs and what differentiates your hotel will help them make an informed decision about their travel plans. By having this knowledge in your repertoire, you’ll be able to uniquely position yourself against your competitors and ultimately get your customer to the “book” phase.

Do not forget, leveraging seasonal discounts or promotions throughout peak travel times could be another effective way of boosting sales while simultaneously building loyalty among returning customers. 

Signs of a Successful Campaign

So you’ve identified your target market, developed your campaign, and pressed LAUNCH – congrats! Now it’s time to track performance and watch the return on investment. How will you know if your campaign was successful? It’s all in the data! A few measures of success include positive interaction with your campaign, increased visitors to your destination, and increased awareness/visibility of your brand. Be sure to keep track of the headlines, graphics, fonts, and copy that performed best (and worst). All of this data should be considered for optimizing future campaigns and ensuring you reach the most success.

Make it a Profitable Summer

Preparing and planning now is essential for any brand looking to capitalize on the booming tourism predicted for Summer ‘23. By taking a data-driven approach when developing campaigns tailored toward specific target audiences, brands can ensure maximum reach and engagement from potential customers. With these strategies in mind, you can look forward to an exciting Summer ‘23 full of profitable opportunities!