Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Guide: How to Set Your Brand Apart

Tourism and hospitality marketing delivers high returns when content and advertising extend and elevate the customer experience. 

Let’s think about customers who are planning a trip. A vacation itinerary likely holds at least one or two special meals or excursions plus myriad logistics, all heavily influenced by the destination, season, and length of stay. A business trip revolves around flight schedules, rental cars, and finding the right hotel, merging the traveler’s comfort with work needs. A weekend getaway packs in local attractions alongside much-needed R&R — a mini adventure suitable for various budgets and travel styles. 

With every detail, the customer decides which activity or amenity is worth their time and money. And nearly every decision starts with an online search for information and reviews. 

That’s where you come in! 

Digital marketing for the hospitality and tourism industry uses impactful branding and relevant content to build curiosity and confidence. In an industry dependent on customer service, marketing is a storytelling proposition. 

What story is your brand telling? Will customers retell the story for years to come? 

Can potential customers relate to the images on your website? Do they feel the pull to learn more and book from your social media? Are you providing helpful content in the weeks and days before the customer’s arrival? 

Do you let the story end when the guest departs? 

Let’s talk about marketing in the hospitality and tourism industry and address some specific strategies that will help you stand out from the crowd.

What is Hospitality and Tourism Marketing?

Before we get into the why and how, let’s get into the what, starting with a hospitality and tourism definition. Tourism refers to events and attractions that entice people to visit a particular place, whereas hospitality caters to guests who are either considering or are committed to visiting.  

With superior timing and messaging, tourism marketing effectively:

• Builds brand or destination awareness
• Motivates and inspires travelers
• Associates your business with long-lasting memories

As an extension of a brand’s service, hospitality marketing works to: 

• Set the tone for customer expectations
• Enhance guest experiences with personalization
• Light a path for reconnecting — driving repeat business

From savvy business travelers to family vacationers, hospitality and tourism marketing strategies must hit on every aspect of the target customer’s journey.  

Often, it’s a long-tail, cascading journey – where the traveler expects to be drawn in by sensory-rich content and destination-driven narratives. Your target audience forms a first impression of your brand long before their travel begins – first as a prospector, then as a customer.

This is dually a unique challenge and a special opportunity for your digital marketing approach. 

Digital Marketing for Tourism and Hospitality

Promotional methods used by the hospitality and tourism industry must carry not only consistent branding and clear messaging but also a personal touch. 

How do you connect deeply with consumers before they’ve even arrived at your business? How can you land your message when you’re competing with countless others for limited space in the consumer’s mind? 

This guide will equip you with answers and ideas! 

We have deep expertise across the tourism and hospitality universe. We’ll show you how to zoom into customer experience, making marketing more than advertising or sales-focused messaging. You’ll help shape the inevitable personal memories that the customer starts building from the moment they click on your website. 

Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Solutions 

Strong experiential branding goes beyond ad slogans and a well-designed logo. Both are essential but your brand is a bigger concept. Every act on social media, every website pixel, and every in-person interaction feeds — or muddles — your brand. 

For tourism and hospitality businesses, branding takes into account what you do or what you sell — but that’s only a starting point. 

For instance, a mid-sized boutique hotel invites guests to its chandelier-lit lobby for Saturday morning mimosas and partners with a guided tour company for a mid-week urban art walk. Marketing highlights what’s on offer but each activity is a device for the brand strategy. Decor imparts inspired living. Local tours uncover hidden treasure. Mimosas let you savor the experience.

Hospitality marketing concepts like this center on the customer’s desires, wants, needs, and expectations. Success ultimately depends on the follow-through of your service or product, but branding is the pillar from which all marketing strategies flow!

In this guide we’ll cover:

• Engaging social media 
• Relevant email marketing 
• Diversified digital advertising 
• Purposeful content 

Tourism and Hospitality Social Media Marketing 

No matter your peak season, there’s a year-round conversation on social media — and it’s well worth your time to invest in marketing strategies here. 

One study by marketing experts at Northwestern University found consumers will actively respond to brand prompts (as long as the message is relevant). Consumers who share experiences on social media increase their spending and influence others to buy — an indirect marketing gain. Interestingly, the data points to user-generated content and participatory contests as highly effective means to drum up engagement and sales on social media. 

To jump in, ground your strategy in a well-organized social media content calendar. A mix of paid, organic, and user-generated content keeps things fresh and allows for targeting audience segments. 

Don’t skimp on video and visual packages, especially on platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. Paid Facebook ads can target key markets and user interests with optimal timing while some platforms offer unique opportunities such as augmented reality campaigns on Snapchat.

Video shot with 360° technology or edited for augmented reality is a powerful option for any experience-based business – from ecotours and water sports to all-inclusive luxury resorts and cruise lines.

Influencer partners on social media are particularly effective for content focused on travel, food and drink, hotels and resorts, and popular attractions. Pew Research finds 30% of Americans have spent money based on influencer marketing, and women aged 18 to 24 are most likely to follow influencer recommendations.   

Capitalize during your busiest times with posts about seasonal experiences, packages, and availability. During the slower months, build loyalty with messages targeting prior guests or by promoting special pricing for in-town customers or staycations.

In off-peak season marketing, identify your target traveler and their most likely ramp to your page. Intercepting this audience early in their wide search for destination information is key. Focused posts and ads about prime attractions and experiences will spur the wanderlust. This is a great time to emphasize low crowds, ideal weather, special events, and limited-time packages. 

Combine your social media strategy with email marketing during every season. It’s best to keep the text short on social media, but email offers more space for details about tour packages, in-depth city guides, and more. 

Tourism and Hospitality Email Marketing 

A large email distribution list is marketing gold — but results will depend on whether you fully optimize this channel. 

Using audience segments or groups allows the most precise targeting. For instance, your email content for a traveler who clicked on an ad for a flash deal in the off-season should look different than emails for a customer who left an unfinished booking for your most expensive package. And you’ll want to give special consideration to email marketing aimed at inviting previous customers to return. 

Capture email addresses with a variety of methods and channel prompts. Pop-ups and buttons promoting exclusive pricing, 24-hour deals, upgrades for subscribers, and sneak peek package sales can drive interest and growth. 

Ongoing email marketing via rewards programs, surveys, giveaways, and location tip sheets keeps your brand top of mind. Add a personal touch or direct communication style whenever possible by featuring  captivating images accompanied by timed messages such as: “See You Soon” or “Check into Quality Time” or “Wish You Were Here.”

Keep a close eye on email marketing analytics like click-through rates and study which content and CTA garner the most interest. Offer a variety of ways for customers to reduce email frequency or select the newsletters they’re most interested in. 

Focus on high-quality content and accessible CTAs in emails without using a heavy sales approach. Design at least a few campaigns for the long game. One survey found 57% of trip planners book parts of their travel at least three months ahead of time. Combine this with the fact that many Americans spend more time planning vacations than their financial future and you can see the necessity of email marketing to stay relevant, fresh, and attractive. 

Of course, you aren’t in everyone’s inbox — yet! The next two sections offer ways to build top-of-funnel site traffic by offering your customers information at an ideal point in their research. If the journey really is the destination, we’re about halfway there. The second leg of our trip focuses on Google ads and how digital content leads to more bookings. Let’s continue our quest!   

What is Tourism and Hospitality Marketing and Sales?

Of every $10 spent on global travel and tourism, more than $6 comes from online booking. 

Customers predominantly use their phones to look up accommodations, tours, restaurants, and more when planning a trip or picking activities once they’ve arrived. And travelers increasingly want all-digital options for booking. 

Still, online window-shopping ups the ante for internet tourism and hospitality marketing: A whopping 9 out of 10 potential travelers start but don’t finish web-based purchases. 

The numbers show a huge market — and the need for strategy, patience, and optimal placement. 

For many, the solution is Google. 

Remarketing and targeting tied to a user’s search history or previous actions let your brand pop up when a customer is at a natural inflection point in trip planning. Below we’ll show you an example of how it works. 

What is an Example of Tourism and Hospitality Marketing?

Earlier we said digital marketing for tourism finds customers on a cascading journey. Here’s what we mean by that: Nearly every type of travel customer will make a series of decisions, all layered with time and taking into account other purchases or plans. 

Let’s meet a new friend, we’ll call him Simon, to illustrate this point. 

Stressed-out Simon needs a break with his family from the 9 to 5 grind. In the spring, he uses a flight price aggregator to research potential destinations. He’s prospecting and dreaming — looking for the ultimate vacation but he has no timetable yet and he’s still determining his price range.

A targeted Google or social media ad for “Scenic Summer Escapes” or “Unique Stays + Best Times to Book” would make sense for the hypothetical traveler in this example. By contrast, property-specific or single-destination ads are likely too narrow at this step of the customer journey. (But in the final section below we’ll connect the dots between useful content and conversions).

Let’s stay with Simon for a moment. After a few days, he eyeballs the week he’ll take off work in late June and he’s deciding between Anchorage or Vancouver after seeing both listed in an article about ideal summer trips. He sets a price alert for both cities. Now, the top of his search results and Facebook feed regularly feature Alaskan cruises, seaplane tours, and whale-watching trips.

At this stage of the customer journey, tour operators especially shine with Google’s “Things To Do” ads. Hoteliers, hospitality businesses, and other travel services gain traction with content that helps the customer do research. This could be content you publish for a search engine results page (SERP). Think titles like “Top Vacation Packages in Vancouver” or “Free Anchorage Travel Planner.” Both sets of keywords could work for a SERP sponsored ad or an article hosted on your website. 

Serving useful content at the right moment will tee up remarketing ad potential or build email marketing channels, too. And this is a great place on the customer journey for tourism-adjacent hospitality businesses to jump in. For instance, a restaurant in Anchorage might use the Google Display Network to advertise “The Best Steak in Alaska” to users with a recent flight purchase. 

With behind-the-scenes strategy, a slew of digital ads and marketing have guided the traveler to the best experiences in a top destination. Bon voyage, Simon! 

Now let’s look a little closer at the content marketing that equips the full range of digital ads, powers email marketing, and creates a customer trail from social media. 

There are nearly endless ways to do content marketing — keep reading to learn! 

Content Marketing For Hotels, Tourism and Hospitality 

You can – but it may not be ideal – to link from a digital ad or social media post to a booking page on your website. 

This is because many people you’ll reach are still shopping, planning, or haven’t chosen a travel date. For this wide pool of potential customers, you’ll want branded content aimed at answering questions and helping them filter their options. 

For tourism outfits or marketing in the hospitality industry, creating content specific to a destination casts the widest net. This can be as broad as a city guide or take the form of a blog featuring niche interests. For example: “Ten Must-See Waterfalls in Hamilton, Ontario” or “The Top 7 Brewery Tours in Charlotte.” 

Always include a call to action (CTA) that connects your business to the topic. Example: “Our guests enjoy the hotel’s spa and sauna after a day of hikes around Hamilton waterfalls. See room options and book today for convenient lodging near the region’s top experiences.” 

Link generously to non-competitor businesses featured in your content and ask others to do the same for you on their blog. 

Check for guest post opportunities with destination marketing organizations where you can highlight area experiences with a brief call-out and link back to your business. 

Similar to targeted digital ads, keywords are make or break for content marketing. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a multi-faceted essential task when it comes to hospitality Internet marketing. Metadata and tagging on your site tell Google and other search engines how to “read” your content. On-page SEO includes strategic internal and external links, optimized headlines, careful content selection, and much more. 

Many websites house content marketing articles under a “News” section or “Blog.” However, content can take many forms. For instance, you might try a video series highlighting your destination’s best-kept secrets. Or take guests behind the scenes to highlight a part of your service (Check out Hilton’s “Off the Menu” series). 

Content marketing converges branding and (depending on your publishing platform) social media strategy, digital advertising, and email marketing. It all adds up to position your brand as the traveler’s top choice – whether they’re exploring exotic, secluded locations or creating family memories. 

At Beyond Marketing, we believe exceeding customer expectations is the silver bullet of marketing. Our digital strategies empower you to weave this mentality into every aspect of marketing your business. We’d be thrilled to supercharge your hospitality and tourism marketing – call us today!