As travel begins to open up again, it’s a great time for small, tourism-facing businesses to put in place some practical measures that will support recovery. For these businesses, which have been some of the hardest hit by travel restrictions, reviewing and optimising marketing could deliver a much-needed boost. Our guide, ‘Promoting your Tourism Business’ gives a wealth of advice and practical tips on how to do this. Here, we’ve pulled out five top tips to improve your presence on third-party websites, such as Trip Advisor and Google. To download the full guide, click here.
1. Take control of your listings
Make sure you register your business listings on any relevant third-party platforms, including TripAdvisor and Google My Business. Find out where else you are listed by googling your business name and see where you appear. Additionally, in Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > Referrals to find your site’s top referrers. For more on how to create your listings, download the full guide: Promoting Your Tourism Business.
2. Boost your presence
For all listings, add your best images, update your descriptions and be sure to mention your latest offers, awards plus any offers and book direct benefits. Make sure you are listed everywhere possible and consider any enhancement opportunities with your local tourism board.
3. Don’t forget the OTAs
Online Travel Agent sites like Booking.com, Expedia and Trivago have a huge reach and enhancing your profile on them will help increase bookings. Make sure your business information and product descriptions are updated and you have added as many great images as possible. This will help increase your ‘profile score’, which will mean you rank higher on the platform’s listings. You can add your latest COVID-19 safety measures here too.
4. Encourage reviews
One of the best ways to build trust and win new customers is by gaining endorsements on third party sites. Ensure that your team is aware of the importance of reviews and consider incentivising them to reach targets. Ask every visitor who has had a positive experience to leave a review on TripAdvisor, Google and Facebook. You can print review cards for staff to give to guests and/or e-mail visitors with a link.
5. Monitor your reviews, listen, and respond.
Respond to as many reviews as possible, always in a professional manner. Listen to feedback and use it to improve. Keep track of your number of reviews, scores and rankings. You can also monitor your key competitors’ reviews to learn what customers appreciate about them and where you can tweak your own offering to win more business.
For more marketing tips, including on branding, optimising your website and social media download our full guide Promoting Your Tourism Business.
