The leisure, tourism and gastronomy offer that our country offers to the whole world is protected by great professionalism and above all by an excellent digital communication model.
The summer season has already passed its halfway point and the figures for this year in terms of tourist influx are really good, both in number of visitors and in expenditure per sign made.
The geopolitical situation of our environment has surely been one of the key factors to achieve the relaunch of our tourism industry, but we must not only think about the evil of others to be able to see how a sector is on the rise.
We are already in the XNUMXst century and it is already more than fifteen years where the different factors that surround tourism are changing and above all transforming.
Crises and changes in economic cycles make, as is logical, that the players in the sector change their value proposition and, above all, the way they establish relationships with their clients.
The Internet is here to stay and the way to be visible on the Internet is no longer an accessory, it is essential to have an online presence and carry out active digital marketing actions to be able to consolidate itself as one of the target destinations for Internet users or potential consumers of tourist packages , travel, apartments, leisure, restaurants, etc …
The growth and consolidation of foreign tourism
It is not worth clinging to the past and proof of this is that this rebound in national tourism, as the recent data from the Survey of Tourist Movements on Borders (FRONTUR) of the National Institute of Statistics.
A number of 32,8 million foreign tourists arrived at our borders during the first six months of the year, which represents a growth in the number of individuals that is more than 10% higher than that of the previous year on the same dates.
The origin of these travelers is also an interesting piece of information to see if there has really been a new recruitment of visitors in countries that until now did not decide on Spain as the main destination or it has been the traditional countries of origin that have increased their decision. to travel to the peninsula or islands.
The Brexit country, the United Kingdom, is the main country of origin with 7,9 million tourists, an increase of 16,5% compared to the first half of 2015. Then there is Germany, with about 5 million tourists. visitors and an increase of 6,7% and the France podium culminates, with 4,6 million tourists and a growth of 8,2%.
It is clear that the instability in almost the entire Mediterranean has favored the decision of the British, Germans and Gauls to choose Spain, but… Are we doing something right?
This is the key factor to ensure that the social and political situation of summer destinations in Mediterranean areas is one of the booming factors of our tourism, but the constant professionalization of our hotel establishments, our restaurants and, above all, the offer of global leisure that our country proposes is seen as another of the fundamental levers of growth and especially of the experience that new travel consumers are looking for.
Technology at the service of tourism, leisure and gastronomy
Behind we leave the classic offer of the city, monuments and gastronomy that, although fundamental for the visitor to be at ease and consume art and national food, the new trends in disruptive formats in travel models have made part of the young public choose Spain as a nation of reference to spend a few days on vacation.
Coming to Spain is cool, trend or whatever the new travel consumers want to call it.
From their smartphones they decide in a matter of seconds or clicks, the flight or transport that they have just provided in one of the mobile applications of the tour operator platforms to which they are subscribed, and of course our establishments already offer their services in them.
Technology is the beginning, it facilitates and above all it is consolidated as an acquisition channel and in turn of subsequent opinion where a good user experience will guarantee the recommendation and surely the new decision to repeat that special trip that we have lived.
Being digital and being digital is the main thing
It is unthinkable since within the management of a hotel, holiday apartments or rural houses, there is no heading for the communication or promotion of their offers through different media and digital platforms.
Many join the large operators to offer product packages but there are also independent actions where they themselves are able to reach their target audience by carrying out digital marketing campaigns through social networks or with their loyalty tools that they have integrated into their databases to get customers to give their opinion and above all to repeat their stay or cover.
Social networks are an incessant world of surprises, but in them we have something very effective which is visibility and the possibility of offering those who follow us what they are waiting to find, and not only globally but also individually.
Before, the offer was for all travelers, regardless of origin or their tastes, now we cannot make a German see on their Facebook page our excellent offer of accommodation or closed menus with red wine tasting, which is exactly what they were looking for and I did not know where to reserve it….
Likewise, a British person will be able to see the forceful and economical leisure offer that we propose in a coastal accommodation … all this only segmented our group of ads by target audience … A miracle that is increasingly accessible thanks to Big Data since we are all in the Network and day by day we share and demonstrate to the “duels of our data” what we want, what we like and above all, what we are now trying to buy …
Damn cookies! Some will say, but these virtual cookies are an excellent tool so that we can reach that potential or real customer who needs to find what they are looking for in a few seconds, even if it is by filling their screen or their mobile with images of what they have just visited, read or almost buy …
Convert your physical establishment into an online communication channel
Now is the time to get down to work and in order to reach all that public that awaits us outside our borders, there are several options and formulas that can end successfully, not without effort and work.
The most important thing is that we can find solutions for all budgets and thus be able to increase our advertising investment as we generate conversions.
Advertising on google, Facebook or other platforms is logically not free, but by doing a good job of our online profiles and our web space, we will be able to spend moments, and if we want to deepen, we can improve the positioning by working our keywords.
Investing in these Ads (paid advertising online) is interesting, but to better reach the individual, we must be clear if we already know him or we want to reach that group of consumers who still do not know of our existence and we do not have data.
For the first block, we have to have information on that individual, couple or group who came to our business and who consumed, spent the night or ever requested any information from us.
This database is necessary to do a great job of loyalty and communication that we can start with different budgets through any of the email marketing tools, or global communication that are in the market, these are progressing more every day to integrate customer data with an agile or dynamic platform that facilitates the establishment, communication and especially the subsequent evaluation of services.
In this field, companies such as Mail Relay offer ISP (Internet Service Provider) and ESP (email Service Provider) services, commonly known as emailmarketing, to retain and attract customers with easy handling and with all kinds of subsequent statistical and reporting solutions to see what we have achieved in each communication and how we should act for the following.
For the second case when we do not have data of possible clients, we must go to the campaign formula through internet aggregators such as the well-known ones, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Booking, etc … or generate our campaigns in social networks segmented by public and country in order to convert more accurately.
Remember that “On the internet, clients are not captured by gunshots, the network is a tool for snipers“
Now let’s get to work and above all to continue doing that fantastic daily work that tourism, catering and leisure professionals have been developing for decades, hence the growing appreciation of part of foreign tourists from our country.
But above all we must also highlight that the offer-satisfaction binomial is key to ensuring that the expectations of the client who opts for our services are not only fulfilled but also clearly exceeded in something that is increasingly demanded by society, than its moment is remembered as an Experience.