Integrated, Multichannel Tourism Marketing: Gadgets, Books, Films & more

When content is king and there are multiple channels to distribute various types of content, how can we make sure that the right message appears at the right people at the right time? Today that travelers are using a combination of offline/online sources and platforms throughout the travel buying cycle, it is crucial to develop integrated, multichannel marketing campaigns as a result of proper strategic planning. Right content at the right time means appropriate messaging per channel, smartly using available tools which will all come together to complement the overall destination brand. DMOs are called to utilize any given opportunity to pull their audience deeper into the destination's brand, by being active content distributors, combining traditional promotional tools and marketing activities in smart ways which place excellent content where their target market is. Let's have a look at a variety of recent destination marketing initiatives across various channels and mediums:

First Google Glass Tourism Campaign

Tourism authorities at The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel have become the first to use Google Glass technology for a tourism marketing campaign,  wanting to give visitors a hands-free way to capture their vacation. The Floridian beach area saw 1.3 million people create 17.9 million social media impressions in four days earlier this month when five bloggers, writers and authors visited the area under the #FindYourIsland hashtag, with the new glass technology to test whether this could actually be a new way of visitors' destination experience.

Google Glass can show users various information through the lenses while it allows the user to take photos and video and share them on social media platforms by voice command. New way of experiences on the way?

The five ambassadors showed the region’s natural beauty, history, outdoors, art and culture and culinary offering through a series of challenges. Potential tourists participating had the chance to win a holiday to the area or a pair of Google Glasses when they become available in 2014. Tweets included the #throughglass hashtag to maximize the spread of all the images, videos and blogs.

Tourism Ireland Launches Online Foodie Films

Tourism Ireland has launched the first in a series of new online short films, with the intention of enticing foodies across the globe to visit Ireland.  For the first short, online now and available to view here, Cobh and Cork are in the spotlight.

Tourism Ireland aims to tell the story of our indigenous food, to capture the attention of foodies worldwide. The short videos, called Flavours of Ireland, aim to whet the appetites of those interested in a culinary journey on their holiday or short break. at the same time,

Florida Tourism is Getting into Reality TV

The chief marketing officer for Visit Florida recently announced that the state's quasi-public tourism marketing agency is supporting three new reality TV shows with three cable networks. The shows on the Golf Channel, Telemundo and BET will feature Florida settings and start running next year. It's the first time Visit Florida is getting into the reality TV business, although the agency has supported other television ventures, including a Florida cooking show with Emeril Lagasse that will have a second season. Meanwhile, going beyond movies,

Hong Kong Tourism Marketing through Books

In its latest marketing drive, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has collaborated with bestselling Indian author Durjoy Datta to write a romantic novel set in the city, "Hold My Hand". The HKTB firmly believes that the passion of Indian consumers for books and Datta’s popularity in the market will generate huge interest in Hold My Hand and Hong Kong, the city where the love story in the book takes place. HKTB Executive Director Anthony Lau said, “India, with its rapidly growing outbound tourism, is one of Hong Kong’s five key new markets. Seeing Indian's passion for books, we decided to go for an unusual way this year to attract more Indian visitors to Hong Kong.  We hope that our ground breaking PR initiatives, including the book, will help us consolidate Hong Kong’s presence in the market and attract more Indian visitors to Hong Kong.” Leveraging the novel, the HKTB will collaborate with major attractions and other trade partners in Hong Kong to develop a special “Hold My Hand” Travel Package that features the romantic places visited by the novel’s protagonists. It will also partner with Macau and Indian travel agents to promote multi-destination itineraries to Indian travellers. Sources: Hong Kong Tourism Board, Visit Florida, Tourism Ireland, The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel