Author: SolimarInt

Destination Arctic Circle in Greenland, a destination marketing organization supported by Solimar, produced a new social media video campaign to set their destination apart from other arctic locations. 

When I ask people what they think of when they think of Greenland, they inevitably say something like “volcanoes” or “Bjork” – both of which belong to Iceland. For some reason (geographic proximity? identical suffixes?), Greenland gets assigned Icelands assets and liabilities all the time, even by discerning and experienced travelers.

Because of this, raising brand awareness has always been a priority of the national Greenlandic tourism board (Visit Greenland ), as well as the four regional tourism boards.

This month, I spent a few weeks up in Greenland working with one of the regional tourism boards, Destination Arctic Circle  (DAC), on the second phase of a project called Rough.Real.Remote. These three words are the tag-line for the brand of DAC ,which was designed in 2010 to shift the tourism narrative away from outdated elements that were resulting in unrealistic tourist expectations (igloos, Inuits, etc.) and toward the true modern, arctic life that tourists actually encounter when visiting Greenland today.

Once this brand was articulated, DAC had to decide how to effectively (and cheaply) bring it to life. The chosen medium was video, and in April 2011, we created six short films for social media that focused on winter tourism products.

The videos accomplished what we had hope: they delighted stakeholders and captured the imagination of tourists. So this year, we started working on Phase 2 – six short films about summer products; only with a solid proof of concept from last year, we were able to pull in more sponsors and collaborate with Red Bull who sent Petr Kraus , a World Champion trial biker (a trial biker, as I learned, is a biker that jumps over stuff, often very big stuff) to star in the videos.

The focus of summer products (kayaking, hiking on the icecap, visiting settlements, biking, and fly-fishing) will hopefully inspire tourists in the destination awareness stage and inform those in the planning stage, as well as connect them to operators offering these products. As for the sharing stage, we found last year that people who hadalready visited the destination shared our videos after the fact with posts like “I’ve been there!” And as it did last year, we hope it will also engender pride in stakeholders.

Being behind the scenes of the filming really opened my eyes to the work required to produce high quality content in the wild. We had two videographers who have extensive experience in Greenland. MMP used a Red Camera, which was treated far better than any human member of the team, you can imagine what this means for 10km treks over the ice! Fragile as it was, the Red wasn’t allowed out in the rain – of which we had several days – requiring us to quickly adapt our plans. I also learned that good light appears at ungodly hours like 4:30 a.m.

The Red’s raw footage is stunning – and its clear to me that destinations can’t rely exclusively on user-generated content for their online videos, rather UGC needs to be complimented with authoritative, beautiful and professionally produced films – to show the destination at its best.  Furthermore, you don’t need a Turismo Mexico budget to pull this off – you need stakeholder buy-in (and in-kind donations) and excellent producers who already understand the destination and its conditions.

Although created for social media, we hope the films will be so good that they will be used in other places, such as on board Air Greenland and in hotel rooms. But ultimately, the goal is to ensure that instead of being lumped in with Iceland, these videos will help people have an accurate picture of Greenland today – a place of endless beauty, challenging adventures, breathtaking wilderness and resilient and resourceful people living in an arctic climate.

The MCC-funded “Conservation Destination” campaign reaches over 6 million people through social media, education and a sweepstakes to raise awareness for Namibia’s exceptional conservation-based tourism assetsFour animated characters were used as ambassadors for the campaign.

Launched on Earth Day 2012, “Conservation Destination” wasdesigned and implemented by Solimar International for the Namibia Tourism Board  as an innovative social media and inbound marketing campaign to raise awareness of the country’s diverse tourism products – specifically wildlife-oriented travel opportunities.

For six weeks, a high-profile sweepstakes and rich educational content about Namibia’s conservation activities and the role they play in creating exciting travel opportunities were pushed through Facebook Twitter , and the Namibia Tourism Board’s blog.

The campaign led to significant growth in the size of the NTB’s online communities, over 6 million global impressions, and nearly 3,000 new sales leads.

Namibia’s excellent conservation record offered a competitive advantage when considering destination branding. Market research indicated that travelers are more likely to select a destination that preserves its natural, historic and cultural sites. Highlighting “wildlife conservation” rather than just “wildlife observation” as a travel activity also allowed for broader outreach to communities in non-traditional tourism marketing audiences such as zoos, wildlife conservation and non-profit organizations.

In order to strengthen the of the campaign, Solimar enlisted the support of four groundbreaking Namibian conservation organizations: Cheetah Conservation Fund Nambian Coast Conservation and Management Project Namib Desert Environmental Educational Trust  and the Save the Rhino Trust . These organizations added significant global credentials and supported the development of unique content for the two elements of the campaign: a conservation-focused sweepstakes and cross-platform educational engagement activities.

The unique content, contest and conversation were promoted through several online channels:

    • “Conservation ambassador” characters were created on Facebook and Twitter to represent each partner and highlight real-life conservation issues while driving traffic to the NTB Facebook page and sweepstakes.
    • Over 30 blog entries, 100 Facebook posts and 200 tweets were created to ensure that the country remains the world’s “greatest conservation story ever told.”
    • 53 campaign distribution partners such as international tour operators, environmental non-profit organizations, world-renowned zoos, were enlisted to help spread the “Conservation Destination” message.
    • Facebook advertising was used to target specific groups and interests within the Facebook community such as wildlife conservation and safaris.

Needless to say, wildlife conservation is a topic that inspires people all around the world. Namibia’s commitment to conservation and the tangible results that enhance the visitor experience have inspired a new global audience interested in traveling to the country.

    • The tourism board’s Facebook community size grew nearly 3000% over the duration of the campaign – welcoming nearly 3,000 new members into Namibia Tourism Board’s online family.
    • The number of individuals interacting with the Facebook page – those stopping by to read an article or watch a video – was over 8,000.
    • The campaign’s reach – the number of people exposed to the campaign as a result of the NTB’s Facebook activities, was 1.6 million.
    • Including the community reach of the conservation partners, the campaign’s total reach was over 6.4 million.
    • More than 2,700 new “leads” were created from individuals who registered on the website, allowing the NTB to continue to supply the new online community with targeted messages about Namibia – driving them from interest to bookings.

Are Tourism Marketers Bad at Dating?

Luckily I have been out of the dating scene for over 13 years, thanks to my wonderful wife who I somehow convinced to marry me. I use the term “lucky” not just because I married a woman out of my league, but also because I am glad to be out of the dating scene which seems way more complicated today than it was 15 years ago. Thanks to social media and online dating sites, today’s dating world allows people to learn about each other with a few clicks of a mouse.

It’s fascinating to watch how dating sites have adapted the offline dating process to an online environment. These sites facilitate introducing strangers to each other so they can initiate a conversation and move-on to a real world date. What they don’t do is encourage users to place bold call to actions like “Marry me!” on their sites even if that is the ultimate reason why people use online dating.

Tourism marketers could learn a thing or two from these dating sites. Why are so many tourism marketing efforts focused on creating awareness and driving travelers to a website where they are only asked to “Inquire or Book Now?” Our ultimate goal to convert website visitors into real visitors or customers, but that process can’t be rushed. We need to get to know each other first. Why is your destination or tourism business right for me? You haven’t even asked me what I like or what I am looking for in a vacation. How do you know if I should visit your destination?

As tourism marketers, we need to act more like singles on the dating scene. We need to attract strangers and then convert those strangers into leads, leads into customers, and finally, satisfied customers into promoters of our destination or tourism business. This is called inbound marketing and it’s how Solimar can help your tourism destination or businesses stop marketing and start marketing with a purpose.stop marketing and start marketing with a purpose.

Here are four essential steps of tourism marketing described in a dating context:

1) We need to attract strangers to our site. Through keywords, search engine optimization, blogging, social media, and good website content, we can attract our defined target markets to our website. It’s similar to getting ready for a night out on the town – you want to do everything possible to present yourself in the best light.

2) We need to convert website visitors into leads. “Call-to-Actions,” targeted landing pages, and a good customer relationship management (CRM) system can capture a website visitor’s contact information by offering the content they want or need. If you want to keep communicating with someone you are interested in, you’ll need their contact information.

3) We need to turn leads into actual customers or visitors. Is it too soon to call? Have I waited too long to call? These questions often cause anxiety in daters. Marketing is no different. Once we have a lead’s contact information, we need to be sensitive about how and when we communicate to them. At Solimar, we recommend a three-day rule before sending the first pre-defined work flow email. These work-flow emails should be designed to help your lead get to know you, trust you, and ultimately want to do business with you or visit your destination. We also recommend “contextual marketing” emails to make sure that the messages you are sending are related to the information that the lead has shared with you or the pages they are looking at. You wouldn’t spend a second date talking about how great your Van Halen and Def Leopard collection is if your date already told you they hate 80’s music.

4) We need to convert customers into promoters. Once a relationship has started, you need to continue to nurture it. As tourism marketers, we must also conduct marketing actions that ensure our visitors or customers become advocates for us and tell their friends and the rest of online world about how incredible your destination or product is. This is done through social media and additional contextual email workflows – deliver content that your existing customers love and they will share and promote it!

In summary, there is a lot tourism marketers can learn from the dating scene. We need to learn how to “ask for the phone number,” take the time to get to know our leads, and do a better job communicating based on what we know about them.

In 2010, Solimar partnered with National Geographic, USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank and other key stakeholders to improve market access for small and medium sized tourism businesses in Bocas del Toro, Panama and Roatán, Honduras. The economies of Bocas del Toro and Roatán rely heavily on tourism and fishing, the growth of which jeopardizes their respective natural beauty and biodiversity.

In response to this impending problem, Solimar and its partners rolled out the Go Blue Central America (GBCA) project with its core product being a National Geographic co-branded website. The interactive website creates a platform for local communities to tell their stories and showcase their unique and sustainable attractions, activities, products and experiences. In doing so, the GBCA program drives increased visitation to the region and attracts visitors most likely to enjoy and care about the cultural and natural experiences of the areas. To be featured through GBCA, a business must meet certain sustainability criteria; this incentivizes businesses to adopt sustainable practices.

GBCA proved to be successful. Solimar documented a $1.3 million increase in sales of GBCA businesses, and established a Geotourism Stewardship Council working closely with the Coral Reef Alliance to direct and sustain the program over the long term. Social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, were also pushed forward.

Solimar’s contract ended in 2013. It is always a challenge for development projects to sustain momentum and support after the end of the contract. A year later, we are happy to report that GBCA continues to flourish, in many ways due to the tireless efforts of Manlio Martinez, a consultant and coordinator for the local Geotourism Council in Roatán. Mr. Martinez has successfully rallied stakeholders in Roatán to develop new attractions & product nominations for the website, and to create and publish valuable content to GBCA’s Facebook page. At the end of Solimar’s contract, the Facebook page had approximately 200 likes; the page now has 556 likes. And while Facebook likes are not the end goal of our efforts, they are an important intermediary step in building awareness around the two regions’ sustainable tourism products and initiatives.

We had the pleasure to chat with Mr. Martinez the other day and hear his story. Prior to working with GBCA, Mr. Martinez was writing his own travel and tourism blog in Honduras. He was interested in writing a piece on the conservation efforts of a local dive site—Cordelia Banks—which put him in contact with the Coral Reef Alliance. Members of the Coral Reef Alliance quickly realized that Mr. Martinez would be a perfect fit for the GBCA. Mr. Martinez is a renaissance man of sorts—he’s a travel blogger, photographer, loves to make videos, and is dabbling in graphic design.

Mr. Martinez revealed that his efforts generating content for the GBCA blog and Facebook have proven worthwhile. Facebook, Mr. Martinez explained, is the most used social media channel in Honduras and therefore receives the majority of his focus and efforts. GBCA’s work is gaining exposure and he personally notices the word being spread; “Go Blue is being revived”, Mr. Martinez said. At the end of the day, Mr. Martinez is nothing short of an inspiration. A man truly dedicated to his work—”This is not a job for me”, he explains, “I am doing what I love”.

In today’s tourism marketing world, all the buzz is around discovering a destination like a local. If you search for “travel like a local,” you will find countless articles and websites trying to help travelers discover destinations through a different perspective. As an avid traveler that loves to escape tourist traps, I appreciate destination marketing organizations trying to help me connect with recommendations from people who live in the destinations I want to visit.

I think this is why Airbnb.com and the sharing economy are taking off, not just because it provides a different type of accommodation, but because it connects visitors with locals. One of the benefits of staying at an Airbnb.com property is the ability to meet a local to give you recommendations for what to do, where to eat, and how to experience the destination away from the hop-on, hop-off tour buses. Who doesn’t want this type of local knowledge when planning a trip to an unknown destination?

The challenge for destination marketing organizations is how do you get locals involved and willing to share their recommendations with visitors? Destinations like Philadelphia, are launching programs called “Philly like a local” – Experience Philadelphia as its residents know and love it,” which recruits locals to take over the DMO’s social media accounts. But taking that approach to scale and getting hundreds or thousands of locals involved in a program to answer the question “What is so special about my place?” is not an easy task…

…unless you have the National Geographic Society on your side.

We have been very fortunate to work alongside National Geographic for the last 7 years helping destinations apply an approach to sustainable tourism development called Geotourism. A concept created by Jonathan Tourtellot, geotourism encourages destinations to develop and market tourism products that sustain and enhance the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, geology, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. 

The Geotourism approach is unique among tourism development solutions due to its focus on the establishment and empowerment of a private-public partnership that serves as a forum for dialogue, collaboration, and planning among local businesses, non-profit organizations, residents and tourism authorities. The goal is to better manage challenges through cooperation while also identifying, sustaining, enhancing, and promoting the destination’s unique assets.

As a tourism development and marketing professional working in the field for more than a decade, I can tell you that bringing stakeholders together to participate in a tourism development and marketing program is hard work. Every one of our projects involves some type of stakeholder engagement process to plan and implement destination and marketing programs, but getting government, businesses, and residents to come together for a meeting or complete a task is extremely difficult.  

This all changes when National Geographic is part of the program. The power of that yellow logo is incredible. People all over the world admire the brand immensely and jump at the opportunity to collaborate with such an respected organization. With the mission of inspiring people to care about the planet, they are extremely effective at getting locals engaged in caring for their destinations.

James Dion who leads the Geotourism program for Solimar and National Geographic Maps Division, kicks off every project with a public launch announcing the program. This brings together businesses, politicians, residents, and media to learn about the program and how they can be involved. After the public launch event, local residents are encouraged to visit a National Geographic co-branded website to nominate a business, place, attraction, or event that is an authentically local experience. This event and program generates incredible media attention at a local level, helping further distribute the call for participation from locals. 

We are currently in production of a U.S. Gulf States Geotourism program supported by national, state, and local partners to raise awareness of the unique cultural and environmental experiences in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. We are working to rebuild the area’s allure following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill that caused a devastating economic impact on the region.

Through local events and media outreach led by our local consultants, the program is generating incredible media coverage, which in turn has inspired over 1,000 nominations (and counting!) from locals for the Geotourism MapGuide. Once the nomination period closes, National Geographic’s team of cartographers, editors, fact checkers, and designers will work with the local public-private partnerships created at the beginning of the program to finalize the MapGuide and prepare for a public roll-out.

In summary, getting locals involved in destination marketing and management is not only a wise approach to ensuring a destination maintains it’s sense of place, but it also is a great way to help visitors discover the hidden gems of your destination. 

Contact us today if you are interested in bringing National Geographic to your destination to inspire your locals and visitors to care about your destination.

Here is some of the most recent media attention generated from the U.S. Gulf States Geotourism program. It’s just one great example of how the program effectively brings people together and generates immediate excitement. 

Alabama to be part of National Geographic geotourism project – Your Town Alabama

Residents encouraged to nominate areas for geotourism – The Selma Times-Journal

What’s special about Columbus? Nominate your pick for National Geographic map – The Dispatch

National Geographic launching locally built travel guides in BP oil spill states – The Time Picayune

Louisiana selected as part of National Geographic’s Geotourism interactive map – WAFB News

Let National Geographic help you – Natchez Democrat

Your authentic Florida location belongs in Nat Geo’s geotourism guide – Visit Florida

Alabama Gulf Coast site nominations sought for Geotourism MapGuide – AL.com

Massive geotourism project underway in U.S. Gulf Coast States – Destination Stewardship Center

“We rely confidently on Solimar's deep technical experience and professionalism as tourism consultants. You always are exceeding our expectations.”
Leila Calnan, Senior Manager, Tourism Services Cardno Emerging Markets

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