Can you believe we’re already a month into 2015? We hope your year is off to a great start and that you are still keeping with those New Year’s Resolutions. One resolution we think you shouldn’t forget about: Travel more! To help you out, Solimar has compiled a list of the top 10 places we think should be on your bucket list for 2015. Check out these great sustainable travel options for ideas to inspire your next trip.

1. Myanmar

From gorgeous Buddhist temples to snaking, serene rivers, Myanmar has much to offer the adventure traveler. The rich cultural diversity of this “untouched” country makes it a must-visit for those looking for a unique Southeast Asian escape.

2. Great Himalaya Trail, Nepal

Nepal is on the bucket list for many adventure travelers because of the legendary Himalayas, but they tend to visit the same well-trodden destinations. The Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) is a network of trails that span across the mountain range. Trekkers enjoy spectacular views on these challenging trails, while also meeting and interacting with Nepali locals. In late 2014, Solimar started work with the GHT to ensure effective online promotion of trekking in Nepal. A must for the truly adventurous!

3. Tanzania

Home to the Serengeti and Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is the adventure traveler’s dream. Don’t be alarmed if you spot the king of the jungle during your visit – the Serengeti is believed to hold the largest population of lions in Africa.

4. Colombia

The Colombian archipelago of San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina are the epitome of beauty and relaxation. Visitors are sure to enjoy the islands’ picturesque, sandy beaches and waterfalls. Make sure to explore the plethora of colorful marine life that live there! Solimar is currently working with National Geographic to create a strategic business plan and marketing strategy to provide a long-term geotourism solution to Colombia.

5. The Mississippi River

Looking for a unique adventure in the heart of North America? Try a Mississippi river tour! The largest river system in the US, the Mississippi is an excellent option for exploring the geographic, ecological, and cultural diversity the US has to offer. Solimar’s Mississippi River Geotourism Project is working to create a destination marketing and branding strategy to provide the Mississippi River area with attractions to support geotourism in the area.

6. Namibia

No surprise here – Namibia has been and will continue to be one of our favorite sustainable travel destinations! The gorgeous sunsets over desert and coastal landscapes, big game encounters, and rich culture is truly unparalleled.

7. Nicaragua

Nicaragua is 2015’s Central America travel hotspot. Boasting a rich tapestry cultural history (home to one of the oldest cities in the Western Hemisphere) and amazing natural wonders like Pacific Coast beaches and volcanoes, Nicaragua has something for everyone. Nicaragua is also home to Solimar’s newest ecolodge development project.

8. Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an excellent place to see the crossroads of African and Middle-Eastern cultures. For the history and culture lover, Ethiopia is sure to not disappoint. But don’t forget the wildlife! Ethiopia is also a perfect spot for bird-watchers and animal lovers.

9. Bethlehem

While most people know Bethlehem as the historic birthplace of Christ, this Palestinian city has so much more to offer. Along with the Church of the Nativity, travelers must also visit the ‘Land of Olives and Vines’, a hiking trail through ancient Roman terraces, and the desert Monastery of Ma Saba: just for a glimpse of the area’s long and rich cultural history. Solimar is currently working to create a master plan and strategic marketing plan for the Bethlehem governorate to make this location a competitive sustainable tourism destination.

10. Malawi

Get up close and personal with a rhino, lion, or giraffe in Malawi at one of its numerous wildlife reserves. The friendly, charming people and beautiful, varied landscapes are wonderful attractions for any traveler.

What is Integrated marketing & why does it matter?

Integrated Marketing is a strategy that reinforces your company’s ultimate message and is consistent across all communication platforms. It is important because consumers are present online as well as offline. In the tourism industry, in order to be competitive, you need to be where the traveler is and create relevant content that travelers trust. Unifying all channels of communication is key to having an effective marketing plan. Solimar International’s approach to integrated marketing (or inbound marketing) does exactly this, and much more!

Here are 7 key components of a great marketing program:

+ Brand Analysis – Prior to implementing a campaign, Solimar will provide you with a brand analysis containing actionable recommendations to improve your look and focus your message. Our in-house design team can also help you update or refresh your current brand and logo.

+ Marketing Strategy – After a thorough analysis, an integrated marketing strategy is developed and will serve as a roadmap for the implementation of the integrated marketing program, which is tailored to the needs of a specific consumer. The strategy will integrate current and targeted use of all channels: social media, search engine optimization, blogging, content, public relations and trade relations.

+ Website and Content Development – Once a consumer finds your website, the goal is to make it so captivating that they want to stay on the site, engage in your content and share it with others. Developing a contant calendar and assigning content generation resposibilities will help you decide the type of content to post, where you will post it and how frequently. We know your day is already full, so Solimar helps engage your team, so that everyone participates in the content generation process.

+ Social Media Strategy and Blogging – Social media gives you a place to talk to your consumers before they travel, while they’re on their trip and after they have returned. Social media strategy encompasses social networks, blogs, micro-blogging sites and third party sites. Solimar will help you determine the best channels to use for your target markets, and what content to post.

+ Creative Campaigns – With all pieces of your marketing foundation in place, Solimar will implement a series of creative campaigns and sweepstakes designed to draw visitors to both your site and social media platforms while synchronizing your marketing message and brand value for maximum effectiveness.

+ PR/Media Outreach Strategy – Solimar will help you employ simple but effective monitoring tools and indicators to allow you to identify influencers in your market. Then you can “listen” to the conversations taking place online, join ongoing conversations, build trust, and demonstrate expertise. Solimar will also help you develop a database of contacts and design effective outreach campaigns to reach local and international media, relevant bloggers, guidebooks and sales intermediaries.

+ Trade Distribution Strategy – If you work with business to business sales, Solimar will help you take your relationships online by developing a dynamic database that tracks all communication with trade partners; from the initial email/call, to in-person meetings at trade shows, and shares on social media sites by each partner.

A great example of an Integrated Marketing project that Solimar has implemented is the Namibia Online Campaign. The goal of this campaign was to ensure the necessary tools and capacity to combine online marketing activities with their current overall marketing strategy.

Solimar was able to increase quantity and quality of Namibian tourism information, created a globally integrated virtual marketing team to implement online cohesiveness, as well as significantly increased worldwide knowledge of Namibia as a tourist destination. Click on the picture below to check out the Namibia online website:

Also, click on the image below to see Namibia’s Facebook page:

Solimar’s integrated marketing program strategically focuses on attracting the traveler consumer and ensures that all messaging and communication strategies are unified across all channels. Solimar believes that marketing is about coordinated marketing strategies and tactics that earn people’s interest, instead of trying to buy it. For more information, contact us and read more on What we do. Also, click on the images below for more tips on inbound marketing and website design!

1. Where are we?

After you have identified an area prime for destination development, one of the next steps should be conducting a destination tourism assessment. This assessment will provide an analysis of the competition in your region as a tourist destination and help implement the steps you need to take for your tourism planning.

The market ultimately decides the boundaries of a destination as well as it’s physical and cultural limits, which is why you should keep in mind the following:

• Attractions: What draws people to this destination? The culture, the biodiversity, landscapes, architecture, history, agriculture, festivals etc.

• The Environment: The climate, safety, what are the cultures, religions, infrastructure, resources, facilities, services, etc.

• The Policies: Government type, laws, you need to know what you can and can’t do when developing a tourism plan.

• The Competitors: What is being implemented in your destination already? What are neighborhoring destinations offering?

• Key Stakeholders: Who will be involved in tourism activities in this destination? How should they be involved in the planning stage?

• Potential & Opportunities: In what areas can further development be useful? Is there untapped potential in the destination? 

You can learn more about destination assessments and read about assessments Solimar has completed here: http://bit.ly/1kMaQjM.

2. Where do we want to go?

After assessing the destination, you can move toward the planning stage. One of the most important aspects of planning is visioning. You need to have an ultimate vision for the destination. This vision will help you set goals and determine how your destination can acheive the desired outcomes. These goals should be attainable and feasible, some examples are:

• Increased visitation

• Higher sales

• Increase awareness of destination among target markets

• Increase awareness of vision (eg: ecotourism, community-based tourism, protect natural resources, improve water quality, help local economy) among target markets

• More tourism products offered

3. How do we get there?

After creating a vision for your destination, the real work begins. How do you get where you want to go? In order to reach your vision and meet your goals, you need to create strategies and tactics that will engage community members & key tourism stakeholders while raising awareness among your target markets to drive sales & visitation. Here are a few inititiaves you might need to reach your goals:

• Get community involvement from key tourism stakeholders

• Focus on the creation or improvement of tours, lodging, attractions, events, and visitor services that can enhance the visitor experience. This in turn can increase your opportunity to attract investments.

• Set up social media platforms & integrated marketing efforts

• Implement marketing contests and campaigns.

• Create partnerships with investors, government agencies, etc. 

If you follow these general guidelines, your tourism plan should be effective. Remember to monitor and evaluate your plan by collecting data and analyzing the success of the destination initiative. For more information on tourism plans, please contact us! Solimar offers strategic planning services which include destination assessments, tourism marketing strategies, and many more services which you can read about in this section: http://bit.ly/1n2q05t

Has your destination just completed a marketing training exercise? Or maybe you’ve just begun creating a new marketing campaign? Or perhaps you are even in the weeds of implementing a marketing plan. No matter where you are in the process, it’s important to make sure you aren’t leaving out the final key step of marketing planning: measuring & evaluating.

There are four basic questions you should ask while creating and implementing a marketing plan. During the planning stage, the strategy is concerned with “Where are we now?” and “Where could we be?”. These questions help determine the direction your marketing plan should pursue. “How do we get there?” focuses on the practical steps and objectives that will help you reach your marketing goals and move the firm towards the desired direction.

The final question, although sometimes overlooked, is perhaps the most important, “Are we getting there?” This last step is concerned with measuring and evaluating results and progress, and it is crucial for the following 3 reasons:

1) Regular Accountability of Marketing Activity

The tools to measure & evaluate marketing efforts are very necessary. Having metric systems in place allows a firm to track all of its marketing activity and growth. This information is vital as it helps a firm conduct analysis on the performance of various marketing channels and campaigns, and see if they’ve materialized in sales. A metric system can be as simple as an excel spreadsheet recording all of the marketing activity. For example, see a sample social media tracking spreadsheet below:

2) Overall Performance Indication

The marketing activity can be analyzed using KPIs – Key Performance/Progress Indicators. The Key Performance/Progress Indicators are designed alongside tactics in the planning stages to understand how the success will be measured. Gathering marketing activity allows a firm to compare the real time data with the targets they set out to achieve. An example of the key performance indicators is as following:

3) It informs new strategic direction and tactics

Upon comparison a firm can identify which marketing tactics are working and which are not. The metrics also allow a firm to evaluate the factors that led to the growth of sales and those that deterred it. This information allows the firm to change it’s strategic course if required, change tactics and/or implement new ones, and lastly, allows a firm to improve it’s opportunity pipeline.

Solimar International provides an array of services, including comprehensive marketing training for our clients. As part of our marketing training, we help design key indicators to measure & evaluate the success of a firm’s marketing efforts. Learn more about how we can be at your service at the following here. 

Sierra la Giganta in Baja California Sur, Mexico is a remote and remarkable desert landscape where soaring red rock mountains plunge into the clear and cool waters of the Gulf of California. Solimar International and local partner RED Sustainable Travel have been working in the region for the last year to develop a destination management and marketing plan that promotes Sierra la Giganta’s unique natural and cultural resources, local communities and sustainability.

The following photo essay highlights our work in Sierra la Giganta, captured during a recent site visit.The region’s stark desert landscape is juxtaposed by the Gulf of California, one of the most biologically diverse seas on the planet and home to many species of reef fish, sharks, whales, and marine turtles.

Solimar and RED team members meet with private landowners considering the development of the region’s first ecolodge, which they hope will help them to maintain a conservation easement on their property.

 

 

Local resident “El Hachi” Amador has been harvesting sea salt by hand his entire life, selling 20 lb. bags to local fishermen for just over one US dollar. Interpreting his work for visitors would allow him to augment that income.

 

 

Park guard Pedro Amador checks a motion-activated game camera that captures images of big horn sheep and puma in a private reserve in Sierra la Giganta. The reserve is managed by a local conservation group that is working with Solimar and RED to develop guided tours that would allow visitors to experience the region’s conservation efforts first-hand, while at the same time generating revenue for the reserve.

 

One of the main reasons Sierra la Giganta hasn’t succumbed to the mass tourism model seen in other Mexican coastal destinations is its isolation. Accessible almost exclusively by boat, the region’s stunning coastline is a playground for sea kayakers, divers, snorkelers and other adventure seekers.

Words carved into a rock by some of the region’s earliest settlers share the most important rule to live by in a desert region with more than 300 days of sunshine and only about 6″ of rain per year. “Water is Life”.

The ruins of a Spanish mission, one of many built in Baja California between 1683 and 1834, stand solitary and defiant in one of Sierra la Giganta’s remote desert valleys.

 

 

View from the top of El Pardito, a tiny island in the Gulf of California that has been home to five generations of local fishermen.

 

 

Sierra la Giganta’s estuaries, mangroves and desert oases create vital habitat for both migratory and resident bird species.

 

 

Although most visitors think of Sierra la Giganta as a coastal destination, the region’s interior offers trekking, mule trips, and visits to local “rancho” communities that continue to maintain their traditional way of life – raising cattle and goats and making their own cheese, metal and leather goods (Photo Credit: Chris Pesenti/RED).