Tag: tourism business

How can mobile app boost your tourism business to success?

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Did you know travel applications are the seventh most popular category of most downloaded apps and over 60 percent of travelers choose to use mobile apps while traveling?¹ In the future, there will be thousands of new mobile applications with new facilities that offer travelers daily movement without the assistance of humans while traveling. Therefore, it is important for the tourism industry and mobile technology developers to improve or create a mobile application that understands the landscape of mobile applications in the market and sees what is absent.² After reading this blog post, you should gain more information about mobile apps and how can they benefit the tourism industry.

Mobile Apps in a nutshell

In 2019 there were over 3 billion mobile app users and it has been studied that the average mobile app user spends proximately 3,7 hours a day in applications. Mobile applications have been designed for smartphones and tablets for micro-problems that the app designer has identified, and the app’s purpose is to come up with a solution. ³ Currently, there are two major App stores that are designed for specific devices: Apple Store (for iOs devices, iPhones, iPads) and Google Play Store (for Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi). There are mobile apps that are free to download and apps with a fee. The mobile app’s idea is to be an easy and quick way to use and it can be downloaded whenever you want or where ever you are. In addition, mobile apps are designed for several purposes: To offer entertainment, gaming, helping users in everyday life tasks (E.g., counting calories, budgeting, food delivery, etc), social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc), seeking company, finding a transfer and sending messages or video calls. ³ The app’s purpose can be educational, ideal for business, or for a daily lifestyle.

A mobile app can also consist of help in augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). Mobile AR technology has developed nowadays greatly and travelers can access tourist resources for their travel choices directly by using smartphones.⁴

The behavior of tourism apps users

It is clear as of the day that a successful mobile app is an app that benefits the user. By understanding the user’s behavior as well as motives and needs it is possible to create an app that is useful for the user. Moreover, external and internal motivations, cognitive beliefs, contextual promotion, and tourists’ past experience of smartphones during a trip and experience of smartphones affect tourists’ acceptance and apprehension of mobile apps.⁴

I found out that research shows that mobile AR apps have an important role in tourist behavioral intentions in making unexpected purchases. Notably, as the utility, user-friendly, and interactivity of the apps increase, the perceived enjoyment, and satisfaction of the user increase and give rise to a stronger impulse buying behavior. In addition, many researchers have noted that the role of AR in mobile apps has affected tourist intention to visit a particular destination.⁵

According to research done by Google, over 70 % of leisure travelers have downloaded or used travel applications during their trips and over 60 percent of business travelers use the application for reservations. More than half think applications are convenient, and over 40 percent think it’s easier to book through the application than a mobile browser: Intention to more frequently search for information from the brand, having a bonus point, and using loyalty systems. Friends, family, or colleagues acting as recommenders such as reviews and recommendations in app stores. In addition, consumers think that a poorly designed mobile app drives potential customers to competitors and it affects negatively the brand image. ⁶ To summarize this chapter, smartphones are used throughout the travel process, including for inspiration during the trip for buying activities or ancillary services. Almost half of those who use their smartphone for leisure travel inspiration ultimately book through another method. ⁶

Picture from Unsplash.com

Benefits of Mobile Apps

For many tourism businesses, mobile apps are very important tools to help customers quickly search for specific information or make quick reservations. According to previous research, mobile devices have the plausible to have an enormous effect on the tourism business. The key elements in the development of mobile applications must be taken into consideration. The key elements are, costs, opportunities to operate on a wider range of devices, and accounting for the specific needs of users. Mobile applications not only serve the purpose of being smart and fast but to overcome the dependency on human work and reduce costs. ³

Travelers prefer mobile apps over websites since there are many benefits mobile apps can offer. Mobile devices offer for tourist do last-minute purchases which are used in all phases of the tourist service process, from a destination survey and online booking to post-travel suggestions and reviews. In addition, travel agencies see efforts and invest money in mobile apps which put wise to that service providers surely see benefits in the mobile apps.7  Here are listed some of the top advantages of mobile apps:

–  Purchasing services: Flight tickets, ancillary services, accommodations

– Accessibility & having information at any time of the day, even without wifi connection

– Tourism mobile application improves and shows the best available trip packages for the destination. Users can get details from the destination and view the itinerary.

-Travel apps assist in planning the trip, routes, and travel guides give precise information  about various famous and even lesser known

– The app can be a travel guide and even a map to take the traveler to the destination

-Usage of simple tags such as Quick Response codes, that can greatly enrich the tourist experience at a destination.

-AR technology in destinations is a fun and immersive way to learn more about the destinations

As a result, tourists can have an immersive, more favorable, and gain richer experience. Mobile apps have a positive impact on the tourism business: Gaining new leads, service quality and competitiveness, providing information, encouraging customers to use your services, brand awareness, the possibility to promote new products, and the chance to gather customer data.7

Tips to design a successful mobile app

Van Baker, vice president at Gartner, states that effective app development requires businesses to rethink business processes and a mobile employee works to take advantage of the benefits that technology offers. When designing a mobile app that improves business productivity with a real return on investment and satisfies user needs. ⁸ You must take into account three elements:

  1. User experience (UX) – means how someone feels when interacting with an app, well designed UX takes into account user attitudes and behaviors and it compasses under the control of a developer or designer. An easy and clear user interface (UI) is also important to take into consideration in context.⁸
  2. Architecture—  Proper architecture in a mobile app is critical to designing successful mobile apps that positively impact the business and facilitate the rapid development of apps that work with existing record systems. They incorporate services that improve the mobile app’s functions.⁸
  3. Business process – By changing and extending the current offers in the tourism business process it can create an impactful mobile app. This can be done by adding new abilities to the business concept.⁸

The quality characteristics that affect mobile applications quality are: portability (if an application has a tendency to run on multiple platforms or not), extensibility, and adaptability as applications adapt to changes from their environment like adaptability in input methods and different orientations of handheld devices, efficiency, maintainability, usability (user-friendly), and data integrity.¹¹  Forbes’s research on mobile apps states that mobile all should be simple and ensure that users can use the app with the fewest possible taps and swipes, use chatbots, and promoting the app on social media and optimize app store content and elicit user reviews. You should also spread awareness of the mobile apps through ads, encouraging downloads via SMS and email offers, and adding the app download QR code to your website homepage. 9

Recognizing your target demographic is important when designing an app since different individuals have their own unique habits when it comes to smartphones. Understanding the needs of different generations, you can design an app that serves many users.¹⁰ When creating an application, you must also think about if your target group is iOS users or Android users and whether AR technology would benefit the users.

Conclusion & suggestions

To summarize this blog post, mobile apps are highly appreciated and their usage is continuously rising. A well-designed mobile application serves the user and creates value for the user as well as for the tourism business. There are many different types of mobile applications with different purposes. I brought up here three of the most important benefits that mobile applications serve for tourism businesses, sales leads, or clients. To put the most important components in one figure, I create this module to understand clearly the whole context more. Blue boxes describe the benefits for tourism businesses and green boxes describe the benefits for the customers or sales leads that mobile apps offers.

Source: Author

Businesses can gain data on their customer’s paths in a mobile app, the business can improve its UX when they gather more data about the client’s path in the application. To improve the mobile application in tourism businesses, industries could have surveys in the application that the customer could answer and earn rewards. By using surveys they could lead the app user to different platforms in the app and after visiting all platforms, the customer could give reviews about the app. Regularly reading online reviews from app users will help firms prioritize features that matter to users by gaining data about clients’ needs, motives, and UX by an improve mobile applications all the time to meet the needs and expectations of the customer or potential leads.¹²

In addition, there are many travelers who have a disability or they are oldster, I could suggest that the mobile app designers could concentrate the mobile app marketing for older people to reach out to them.  By marketing mobile apps as user-friendly they could also target older users. Perhaps, marketers could market mobile apps by marketing how simple it is to implement and use. Another suggestion is that the mobile app could speak and direct the user to use the app’s features since older travelers can have impaired vision. In this way, tourism businesses could have more value for the app.

Every new step that tourism industries take to develop mobile applications to meet customer needs, is a win for the company and key to success. As earlier mentioned, mobile apps can reduce human work and thus generate savings, create brand awareness and competitive advantage, and many other advantages. These advantages are all very important aspects to head up for success.

References

¹GoodWorks Labs. 2015. How mobile app benefits travel and tourism industry. https://www.goodworklabs.com/how-mobile-app-benefits-travel-and-tourism-industry/

²Roswati Abdul Rashid et al 2020 J. Mobile Apps in  Tourism Communication: The Strengths and Weaknesses on Tourism Trips. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254250344_Tourism_and_the_Smartphone_App_Capabilities_Emerging_Practice_and_Scope_in_the_Travel_Domain

³Lupton, D. 2020. The Sociology of Mobile Apps. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341568463_The_Sociology_of_Mobile_Apps

⁴Chen, S. 2020. Mobile Technology in Tourism.https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/2239
⁵Do, H., Shish, W., Ha, G. 2020. Effects of mobile augmented reality apps on impulse buying behavior: An investigation in the tourism
field.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402031511
⁶Google. 2014. __qs_documents_918_2014-travelers-road-to-decision_research_studies.pdf.
7 Iskren Tairov 2017. Tourism mobile applications – development benefits and key features. ttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/344467609_Tourism_mobile_applications_-development_benefits_and_key_features
⁸Gartner. 2016. Three Elements of Successful Mobile Apps. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/three-elements-of-successful-mobile-apps

9. Rao, A. 2021. Seven Ways To Create A Successful Mobile App Strategy.https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/02/17/seven-ways-to-create-a-successful-mobile-app-strategy/?sh=5b95308e5279

¹⁰A Definitive Guide to Mobile App Stats and User Behavior. 2021.https://www.webiotic.com/a-definitive-guide-to-mobile-app-stats-and-user-behavior/
¹¹ An Efficient and Effective New Generation Objective Quality Model for Mobile Applications. 2013. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274048560_An_Efficient_and_Effective_New_Generation_Objective_Quality_Model_for_Mobile_Applications
¹² App Development Tips for Small Businesses. 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354418736_App_Development_Tips_for_Small_Businesses?_iepl%5BgeneralViewId%5D=25k5u8Xb3cPIJpVc1HqGzqFMLDH0Ik72QQWI&_iepl%5Bcontexts%5D%5B0%5D=searchReact&_iepl%5BviewId%5D=FUNJkGq0CUuPy9QCxFfTCmREvf2oqp1GX7r7&_iepl%5BsearchType%5D=publication&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BcountLessEqual20%5D=1&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BinteractedWithPosition4%5D=1&_iepl%5Bdata%5D%5BwithoutEnrichment%5D=1&_iepl%5Bposition%5D=4&_iepl%5BrgKey%5D=PB%3A354418736&_iepl%5BtargetEntityId%5D=PB%3A354418736&_iepl%5BinteractionType%5D=publicationTitle

Sharing economy – five things everyone in the tourism business should know

 

The sharing economy has grown its popularity as a phenomenon in the past ten years a lot. Still, it is surprising how hard the definition is or how academics are finding the same issues which need further research. Defining sharing economy (from now on SE) is difficult since it has many other names such as collaborative consumption, access economy, peer-to-peer services and the gig economy. Roughly, SE is people using internet to share items or services. Botsman and Rogers (2010) have defined a great practical example of SE. In American households, there are 50 million power drills just collecting dust. Often people would have just needed to make a hole, not necessarily buy the tool. How easy it would be just to borrow someone’s power drill when you know that you need it only once? SE is about utilizing already existing unused resources better.

Sharing itself is not a new idea, it’s something you learn as a child. SE can be found in several fields, for example, accommodation, transportation, finance and consulting. Sutherland and Jarrahi, M. (2018) found out in their review article that the most common examples referred are Airbnb, Uber, Amazon mechanical Turk, Taskrabbit and Zipcar. Other examples in Finland are for example Facebook ridesharing groups, Restaurant day, Mesenaatti.me or Nappi Naapuri. Moreover, in Finland houses often have a common sauna or washing machine, which are simple forms of SE.  Why in the tourism business you should pay attention to SE?

Nature of sharing economy

The first thing everyone in the tourism business should know is the nature of SE and the relationship to tourism and hospitality. Cheng (2016) has studied in his literature review about SE in general, but also how it’s related to tourism and hospitality. In his other article with Edwards (2017) he continued with this topic by using automated content analysis to compare the current academic literature and news topics about SE in tourism and hospitality. Tourism is a pioneering field in SE. It is possible to share homes, cars, bikes, working space for business travelers, meals, expert local knowledge (local guides) or the experiences and knowledge in general (social media or Wikipedia). It’s important to recognize your competitors as a traditional tourism entrepreneur or seek alternatives when planning to start a new business. SE is about matchmaking (Sutherland & Jarrahi 2018). By using digital platforms, users can find people offering their resources. Additionally, companies can utilize the platforms to find workers, which is the key concept in flexible gig jobs. Temporary workers are vital to many tourism businesses. (Cheng 2016; Cheng & Edwards 2017; Sutherland & Jarrahi 2018)

Picture 1: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1558420488-0ed4bebf615d?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1189&q=80

Changes in consumption trends and lifestyle

In order to understand why SE is blooming, we move on to the second point, being current trends in consumption. New generations are becoming to the peak of consuming age and digitalization is not a new thing for them. According to European Travel Commission (2016) more and more people have mobile access and mobile internet. On the other hand, 65 % of consumers are carefully budgeting their money every month.  Hawlitschek et al. (2018) researched consumer motives for peer-to-peer sharing. They found out that motives could be connected and presented with the theory of planned behaviour. Motives to choose SE service are financial benefits, uniqueness, variety, social experience, ubiquitous availability, ecological sustainability, anti-capitalism, modern lifestyle and sense of belonging. This is supported by a study about SE and lifestyle changes by Niezgoda and Kowalska (2020). Respondents wanted to embody their lifestyle when travelling and it affects the choices made. SE offers consumers better value for money, sustainability and authentic experiences. (ETC 2016; Hawlitschek et al. 2018; Cheng 2016; Niezgoda & Kowalska 2020)

Create trust

A dealbreaker in SE is trust. If you can create trust between users and providers, you are on the way to success. Factors beneficial to trust-building are reputation scores, review systems and profile pictures. It’s better if the platform only allows us to make a review after actually using the service to guarantee the trustworthy of the rating. Möhlmann et al. (2019) suggest that data is transferrable between platforms and one option could be to transfer good reputation from one online platform to another. Therefore, when creating a new account, you could in a way prove to be a reliable person. Linking pages is possible, but in practice, this idea is controversial regarding GDPR and data security. It’s not only about trusting “a stranger” but also about trusting the platform. Indicators that are the functionality of the platform and how it is managing the community of all users. (Möhlmann et al. 2019; Sutherland & Jarrahi 2018)

Picture 2: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1521791136064-7986c2920216?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1050&q=80

Another issue in the trust is instructions for both parties what to do if something goes wrong. What if you crash with a carsharing vehicle? What if the Couchsurfing host doesn’t show up? According to the European Commission’s study (2017) around half of the users had faced a problem over the past year using SE platforms. More than half of the respondents did not know or was not sure how to act in a problem scenario. Here rises the issue many studies state too, the slowness of new regulations and inflexible insurances. One way to tackle this problem is to have transparent and clear practices of trust and safety (Park & Tussyadiah 2019). For instance, the platform could have Q&A-page or a trust advisory board.

Tackle the most common problems

As a fourth thing to know about SE, it’s good to be aware of the most common issues. The government level with regulations has not developed as fast in research or in practice (Cheng 2016). Paying taxes, social security of workers, impacts on rents and apartments available on the market, unfair competition and searching loopholes instead of a legitimate business model are worrying people (Cheng 2016; Cheng & Edwards 2017). In some cities, such as Berlin or Paris, the policymakers want to ban Uber or/and Airbnb. The confusion between stakeholders is not creating trust. According to Tussyadiah and Pesonen (2016) the lack of regulation is decreasing trust between users and SE’s acceptance in the market. Then again Dredge and Gyimóthy (2015) are criticizing SE in their article by for example paying attention to the circumstances of the workers. Workers don’t have safety nets or union protection. In SE there is a risk for the black market. If that was not enough, SE and mainly Airbnb have been accused to amplify over-tourism.

Sometimes the users’ motives/impacts are questionable. If users are not receiving economical benefits, they are not willing to use SE services. If the cost for an Uber ride is remarkably cheaper, it may encourage people to use a taxi instead of public transportation, which is not very sustainable. When the main motivation is just to have a cheaper price, it’s wrong to claim to be interested in the environment. (Tussyadiah & Pesonen 2016; Cheng & Edwards 2017)

Picture 3: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1577401239170-897942555fb3?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1100&q=80

Extended reach

Finally, the fifth point: extended reach of SE. The costs of starting a new tourism business by utilizing SE and API (Application programming interface) platforms are low. Never before it has been easier to reach a large crowd of providers, consumers or resources. This works both ways, when you are in the need to buy or when you have a skill or an asset to sell. Bigger platforms offer visibility and more potential users. However, if you are starting a new SE system, it’s challenging to compete against the big platforms, e.g. Airbnb. (Sutherland & Jarrahi 2018)

Sharing economy for future

https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1552986916-199296e1dfb9?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=334&q=80

SE has the potential for making the future more sustainable. For example, Guo et al. (2019) studied the impact of Didi Chuxing and Uber on new cars sales in China. Turned out that these platforms reduced the sales of new cars in the examined years 2013-2015. If this trend would continue, there wouldn’t be a need to produce so many new cars, which is influencing the amount of private motoring in a long run. In tourism, this same could be implemented in e.g. activity equipment. You don’t need your canoe or tent all the time, so instead of buying a new one and using it once, you could borrow it from someone. Furthermore, SE is one way to deduct the need for new products and to influence the environment. It can also be a way to have social interaction by helping people. SE cannot be overlooked, but it does require more research and development. Hopefully, by solving the main issues, it is possible to enjoy the best SE has to offer.

Acknowledgements

This blog post was written as a part of the Information Technology in Tourism Business course at the International Master’s Degree Programme in Tourism Marketing and Management (University of Eastern Finland Business School). Read more about the programme at https://www.uef.fi/tmm

References:

Botsman, R. & Rogers, R. (2010). What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. Harper Collins, 2010. ISBN: 0062014056, 9780062014054

Cheng, M. (2016). Sharing economy: A review and agenda for future research. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 57, 60–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.06.003

Cheng, M., & Edwards, D. (2017). A comparative automated content analysis approach on the review of the sharing economy discourse in tourism and hospitality. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(1), 35–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2017.1361908

Dredge, D., & Gyimóthy, S. (2015). The collaborative economy and tourism: Critical perspectives, questionable claims and silenced voices. Tourism Recreation Research, 40(3), 286–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2015.1086076

Guo, Y., Li, X., & Zeng, X. (2019). Platform Competition in the Sharing Economy: Understanding How Ride-Hailing Services Influence New Car Purchases. Journal of Management Information Systems, 36(4), 1043–1070. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2019.1661087

European Travel Commission (2016). Lifestyle trends & tourism: How changing consumer behaviour impacts travel to Europe. ISBN: 978-92-95107-06-9

Hawlitschek, F., Teubner, T., & Gimpel, H. (2018). Consumer motives for peer-to-peer sharing. Journal of Cleaner Production, 204, 144–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.326

Jourová, V. (2017). Key findings about problems consumers face in the collaborative economy. European Commission fact sheet June 2017. Available: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/key_findings_about_problems_consumers_face_in_the_collaborative_economy.pdf [Accessed 30.10.2020]

Möhlmann, M., Teubner, T. & Graul, A. (2019). Leveraging trust on sharing economy platforms: reputation systems, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. In Belk, R., Eckhardt, G., Bardhi, F., & Arvidsson, A. (2020). Handbook of the sharing economy, 290-302. Edward Elgar Publishing. IBSN: 9781788110549

Niezgoda, A., & Kowalska, K. (2020). Sharing Economy and Lifestyle Changes, as Exemplified by the Tourism Market. Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 12(13), 5351–. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135351

Park, S., & Tussyadiah, I. (2019). How Guests Develop Trust in Hosts: An Investigation of Trust Formation in P2P Accommodation. Journal of Travel Research, 59(8), 004728751988465–1412. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287519884654

Sutherland, W., & Jarrahi, M. H. (2018). The sharing economy and digital platforms: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Information Management, 43, 328–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.07.004

Tussyadiah, I., & Pesonen, J. (2016). Drivers and barriers of peer-to-peer accommodation stay – an exploratory study with American and Finnish travellers. Current Issues in Tourism, 21(6), 703–720. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2016.1141180

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 easy ways to make online customer experience better in tourism

As technology develops it is necessary for tourism businesses as well as businesses, in general, to think about how they can improve online customer experience. There is a lot of talk about if technology will replace human interaction, but actually in business purposes technology can help make customers happier. Although we have to remember that to do so, it has to be done correctly and enhance the customer experience rather than make things more complicated.

Our class was brainstorming to find out how technology can delight customers in tourism businesses. We discovered a lot of different ways, but there were three that stood out the most for all of us: easily accessible information, photos & videos, and helpful marketing.

Easily accessible information

When planning a holiday or booking activities, one of the biggest things is that the information is comprehensive and easily found. Tourism companies should focus more on the content of their website as it is the main source of information for customers. This means that the navigation should be clear and there should be information available about everything the company is offering. Especially for tourism companies, online booking is one thing that will make customers happier as well as the possibility to give feedback online. Easier the information search process is the happier the customer gets.

Photos & videos

We all know the saying “a picture tells more than a hundred words”. This should be kept in mind when marketing your products or services. Photos and videos can increase the trust as well as the satisfaction of customers when they match with reality. As an example, if a hotel has a gym, but they have no pictures of it, the hotel might seem a bit shady for the customers. But then again, you should not use pictures or videos that are much better than the reality, as the reality will then disappoint the customers. It’s also good to remember that high-quality photos and videos are also quite nice to watch, and they easily caught the eye in social media.

Helpful marketing

No one likes when a business is by force trying to sell their products or services, at least not Finnish people. Tourism companies should use more helpful marketing, which means that you introduce the strengths and benefits of our products or services rather than use a phrase such as “buy now”. In helpful marketing, you create content that is helpful for customers and that creates value for your customers. In the end, it will also lead to better sales. Make the customer feel special and be interactive on social media channels.

Focus on online customer experience!

As said in the beginning, there can be multiple ways to make customers happier by utilizing technology. Get started with the three ways introduced here, but remember that you can always develop ways that suit your company and customers better. In the end it all comes down to understanding the online customer experience!

Get a master’s degree in tourism business

Are you looking for an international tourism-focused master’s degree programme in business? Tourism Marketing and Management programme by University of Eastern Finland provides a unique learning experience for students who have finished their bachelor’s degree and are looking for new skills and knowledge in developing tourism industry in a sustainable way. Read more about the programme at www.uef.fi/tmm.

Self-employed Business Owner: Why Learning Basics of Digital Marketing Saves you Money while Growing your Business?                                                                                                 

Are you preparing cottage rooms for next guests? Driving dog sledge through low-lying arctic hills? Preparing dinner for a group of visitors? If you’d take less than 10 minutes of your time to read through this blog post, I can promise you’ll be even busier after few months’ time.

So, do you have time to talk about getting better return to your hard-earned money that you put to marketing? Especially if the marketing and digital marketing frustrates you at the moment. I know – I’ve been there. And now I’m writing this blog post to You.

Most of the small tourism companies do have web pages and they are in the Facebook, but it doesn’t automatically mean that your customers will find you. You can be like the wall paper that is in the store but cannot be found. Or even like a pretty nice looking wall paper put on display but still don’t get customers’ attention. In order to break through from “the lost wall paper corner of internet” and get the awareness you deserve from potential customers, I recommend to consider the following three things:

  • What are the key words that your webpage is optimised for?

    Key words are crucial “tags” to help search engines like Google to find your web page when your potential customers are searching for services that also your company offers. Key words help your web page appear in the first page of Google search results. Also having links to other relevant web pages serve the same purpose.

  • Content is the King! 

    …in all channels. I understand that you don’t have time to be in Facebook or in other channels every day and figure out what you should post or write. You have real customers to serve. To make this easier to yourself make a list or even a calendar. Just listing what you’ll update and when keeping it simple and realistic. You don’t have to go from no activity to ten activities during a week at once. Good content frequently is ok. The content can be e.g. photos, happy customers (with their permission), positive customer feedbacks (testimonials) or even something cleaver about the weather. And of course, customers want to get to know you. Tell your story – in the extent that you feel comfortable with.

    While you are posting photos in Facebook you can do that as well in Instagram. You can open an Instagram page for your business here: https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/. In Instagram use those hashtags (#) with the words you want your business to be connected with.

By to way, all those likes, shares and comments in your social media pages are worth money. This is not online marketing basics anymore, but if you are interested in deepen your knowledge you can listen more about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im26jZT-eQw. I promise, this is useful.

  • Get to know the magical place of Google Analytics

Measuring outcomes of our actions is as relevant in digital marketing as it is in other areas of the business. Addition to the fact that it shows you how well did you succeed, that you don’t end up buying possibly too expensive marketing actions which don’t deliver what you hoped them to. Useful tool to follow up your online marketing actions is Google Analytics. See easy first steps to take to get started here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZf3YYkIg8w.

Optimising your web page so that customers find it is the first step. But as a second step you can make advertisements online to boost your visibility. Just remember to have proper web page before you advertise it: updated, relevant information to customers and possibility to buy your services, if the online selling is relevant for your business model. There are free tools to test the quality of your web page like this one: https://www.seoptimer.com/. They also give recommendations to improve your site.

 

If you got at least a little bit interested in, please Google your business – not with the name of the business, but with some other words that you’d use as a customer looking for the kind of services your business offers. If you find your business web page from the first page and your competitors are below you in Google search results, you have done something right. Congratulations! If you, on the other hand, find yourself from the second or the third page in Google search results, you’ve been able to hide your business to the place where no one looks – to the lost wall paper corner of internet. But don’t worry, you can break out from there by getting started with the steps described in this article. If you find this difficult or you just don’t have time for it, you can buy this as a service. And now you have better understanding what you are paying for.

Get a master’s degree in tourism business

Are you looking for an international tourism-focused master’s degree programme in business? Tourism Marketing and Management programme by University of Eastern Finland provides a unique learning experience for students who have finished their bachelor’s degree and are looking for new skills and knowledge in developing tourism industry in a sustainable way. Read more about the programme at www.uef.fi/tmm.

How information technology can help in customer relationship

The customer comes first.  Classy saying, right? Surely that guideline, or perhaps a cliché, creates some kind of thoughts in your head. Do you consider it important?

Customer relationship is also such a classic term in the business world. Well, that for sure is essential! However, which elements in customer relationship matter the most for DMO’s and tourism businesses, and how could information technology could help?

Master level business students in Information Technology in Tourism -course figured it out, via rather a successful brainstorming. Firstly, all the possible elements that belong to customer relationship were considered. Secondly, the most important ones of them were marked. So, let’s start digging deeper into the world of the customer relationship, and how to combine it with information technology.

Five key groups were created out of all: interaction, customer engagement, networks, feedback, and personality. Each of these included numerous of subgroups. There is reallyy no point introducing all the subjects that came across. Instead, let’s have a closer look to the top 5 topics that were marked the most important of all and consider how information technology could help in tourism business generally.

Trust

Simply put: manage your customers’ expectations and do what you promise. Take care of your customers, for example by protecting their data. Show your reviews and customer testimonials, be open and transparent.

Co-creation

Listen to your customers, and also ask them. After doing by their suggestions, measure how you’ve been doing things to basically see if you’ve got it right. There are numerous ways to measure your online success, make sure you use at least one of them.

Customer Relationship Management

Naturally, managing your customer relationships generally is important. Your ideal CRM should form in simplicity, price, and relevance best suitable for your business. There are many software and electronic systems to help you with that. Why not give them a try?

Personality

In every step of your customer relationship, make sure that the customers recognize it’s you they are working with. If you have a personal style to do things, keep it and embrace it! That is easy to do in the digital world, just create a unique look to suit your company and publish similar looking style in each content.

24/7 availability

It might need resources to have 24/7 availability but do your best. Being a fast answerer creates trust. It also allows you to do co-creation with your customers. What comes around goes around. If a customer is so interested in what you are offering that they are contacting you, use this opportunity well!

Therefore, next time you are considering how well customer relationships are taken care of in your tourism business, think about the topics discussed and how well they are being managed. And trust it, you’ve got it.

 

 

The most important concept in destination marketing?

What is a concept or a term that every destination marketer should know and understand about destination marketing? I think I found it. It is very catchy. A bit marketing-oriented even. Quickly thought, something far-fetched? But coherent and makes a lot of sense when thought more deeply.

It gathers up something very wide in one tight, distinct term. It makes me go “aha” and to nod. Have I now learned the most important concept during my master studies in tourism?

Destination DNA

Understanding Destination DNA is the key to plan and implement destination marketing. The identity of a place, the code written there by nature, the basic framework of a certain destination. It is something not to invent. It is something that already exists and has existed for a long time. It cannot be faked to be something it is not or changed to something else.

Destination Marketing DNA

Destinations, embrace your identity!

Place DNA is the destination’s competitive identity, and that’s why it is important to dig out. It must be deeply understood and commonly agreed among the entrepreneurs and residents in the area – the destination’s ‘frontline ambassadors’: those with whom visitors come into contact.

It is the atmosphere, the setting, and surrounding, the natural staging of the destination. It makes the genuine holiday experience possible to happen, to exist.

Or can the DNA of a destination change?

Actually, will it – eventually – anyway?

No. It won’t. Destination DNA is something that stays as it is. Presence, personality, and characteristics change. Or rather, develop. It is important to distinguish these two.

As important as it is for a destination to be well aware of its DNA, it is important to understand that once it’s known, it cannot be ignored, left unattended or unutilized.

What matters the most in destination marketing?

People build the destination marketing

Destination DNA is the basis of “what” and the core for “how”. Also, it gives the visitor a purpose, “why”. What makes a certain destination special? How are the available attributes possible to experience during the visit? Why should someone visit in the first place?  Therefore, an essential concept in tourism marketing and management.

As I stated in the beginning, learning this term got me captivated by its importance. Destination DNA – I pondered, maybe even the most important realization considering my tourism studies? Well, it is a term. A written, nicely formulated concept. Putting into practice, another thing. And who does it?

The people.

People behind the product, the service,

the experience.

Heart and soul to destination marketingThe final touch, in connection with the customer, comes from the business owners and the employees. They, the people, are the ones who transform the destination into a tourism product. Into experiences which breathe the place atmosphere.

And they add their own personal DNA into it,

 to make it memorable for the people.

For the customer.

 

 

 

Get a master’s degree in tourism business

Are you looking for an international tourism-focused master’s degree programme in business? Tourism Marketing and Management programme by University of Eastern Finland provides a unique learning experience for students who have finished their bachelor’s degree and are looking for new skills and knowledge in developing tourism industry in a sustainable way. Read more about the programme at www.uef.fi/tmm.

From Marketing Strategy to Values Strategy

Having been processing the concept of marketing strategy during the ongoing autumn due to our course on destination marketing, the concept of strategy has been wandering in my mind. What does it actually mean and how important is it for a (tourism) company?

Applying the concept of strategy

In his book Valonöörin käsikirja (A lightneer’s guide) Frank Martela poses the questions What are our goals, what things are worth doing? and What can we do to reach our goals? as the central questions about the human life. He also points out that too often we do things that we didn’t actively choose to do. Too often we spend time on social media or Netflix though our goal is to do sports and be physically in a good condition. Or maybe we feel pressure to do certain things or maybe we just accept them because that’s how people always have done them. I think these questions and thoughts can be applied to business strategies as well.

During our course on marketing it was highlighted how important the mission, vision and values of the company are when creating a strategy. Another author and teacher Jim Collins reveals in his book Good to Great ways to develop a good company into a great one, based on a broad research. One of the core findings is to first find the right people around you, to keep them around you and then to “figure out the best path to greatness”. Also because with the right people you can more easily face changes in the changing world: “if people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, then  it’s much easier to change direction”. This can also be seen as a value-based approach: when there’s a group of people who share the same values and hopefully the same mission, it’s easier to set the direction.

Getting the right people on the bus (although the bus might need to be repaired along the way).

 

 

 

Don’t get stuck to the word: it’s about the content

Wikipedia, tells that the word ‘strategy’ derives from the Greek word stratēgia and the original meaning would be something like “art of troop leader, office of general, command, generalship” and that a strategy is a “high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty”. The other week I also had the chance to hear some thoughts about marketing from Timo Kiuru, who works as a creative director for different companies. In his opinion the term ‘strategy’ shouldn’t be used at all. He still stressed the importance of values and to on a weekly basis check if you have been acting according to your values.

It was a very inspiring speech and I also agree that we shouldn’t get too stuck to the word itself or think that if there’s some kind of a strategy, everything will fall into places. The importance of the content of the strategy, the goals and actions have to also be highlighted: a strategy is no use if it’s not concrete, applicable and if it’s not applied. For a company it’s quite essential to define some sort of a strategy. If there is a high level plan with at least some values or core thoughts that are important and/or motivating  it can’t go very wrong. Also, possible changes in the plan don’t necessarily mean it was wrong in the first place.

Setting a direction.

Get a master’s degree in tourism business

Are you looking for an international tourism-focused master’s degree programme in business? Tourism Marketing and Management programme by University of Eastern Finland provides a unique learning experience for students who have finished their bachelor’s degree and are looking for new skills and knowledge in developing tourism industry in a sustainable way. Read more about the programme at www.uef.fi/tmm.

Management by wellbeing

Mindfulness, victorious corporate culture, growth rates that the board cannot accept, going to the gym with your bosses, hiring a personal business coach, fighting loneliness… does not sound like a traditional Finnish management style, does it? In one company it is.

Managing corporate culture and people at SMT

Our Tourism Marketing and Management Programme had the privilege to have CEO of travel and event agency SMT Kirsi Paakkari as a guest speaker to discuss with us about managing corporate culture and people in a way that enables a tourism business to grow.

tourism business management
Kirsi Paakkari discussing corporate culture in tourism

She has successfully merged two ill-performing businesses into a victorious one in a shrinking market, not an easy feat at all. It requires a lot from a manager to change the direction of a business and reach double-digit growth rates. Sometimes traditional Finnish management by perkele (traditional Finnish curse word) style might just not do it. Managers make many choices that define company performance.

Focus on employees management

Kirsi has clearly chosen to focus on the employees of the company. It was great to see how she monitors and leads the wellbeing of her people. She is also managing her company with metrics and data as much as possible while still listening to people. This might be the only way to reach her goal, which is to make SMT the best service company in Finland. This goal is also dependent on trust. Leadership requires trust in many forms. Employees have to trust their leaders and trust in the future of the company. In addition, the manager has to trust the employees, why hire people you cannot trust?

tourism marketing and management
Management education for students

Our student Lari Turunen appreciated how Kirsi decided to bring new people from outside the industry to create new ideas for the company. Lari also noted that when you are building a new culture for a company you have to invest in it. Mergers should not be only about saving money and making companies more efficient but they should also be seen as an opportunity to start anew.

Management by employee wellbeing is similar to human sigma management and has a sound basis in academic literature. There are many challenges ahead for SMT as they integrate with American Express Global Business and are more and more focusing on a growing event market. It will be interesting to see how the company manages these changes and how management by wellbeing works in the future. Could it be the direction of future leadership in Finland or even globally?

Get a master’s degree in tourism business

Are you looking for an international tourism-focused master’s degree programme in business? Tourism Marketing and Management programme by University of Eastern Finland provides a unique learning experience for students who have finished their bachelor’s degree and are looking for new skills and knowledge in developing tourism industry in a sustainable way. Read more about the programme at www.uef.fi/tmm.

What is online business in tourism?

Online business in tourism, digital tourism business, e-business in tourism, e-tourism; call it what you will, it still has a huge impact on how tourism business is conducted. Most of tourism businesses and large part of marketing are now online. The internet is most often used medium to search for information about a holiday or destination. Skills and knowledge of online tools and channels are critical for the competitiveness of a tourism business or destination.

Director of our master’s degree programme in Tourism Marketing and Management, Juho Pesonen, has made his lectures on the topic freely available for anyone interested in the topic. The course was given for the students of Finnish University Network for Tourism Studies during Fall 2016. You can see the course content and access the lectures on YouTube through the course time table below. YouTube videos have links to SlideShare presentations if you want to take a closer look at them:

Juho Pesonen teaching the course

Thursday 3.11.2016 

9.00-10.30 Introduction to E-business in Tourism: history and context

10.30-10.50 Break

10.50-12.30 Theoretical background: central concepts of E-business

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-14.30 E-business in practice: what to do

– website

– E-commerce

14.30-14.45 Break

14.45- 15.50 E-business in practice: what to do

– social media and content creation

15.50-16.00 Break

16.00-16.45 Practical examples

Friday 4.11.2016

9.00-10.15 E-business in practice: what to do

– analysing and managing online business

10.15-10.30 Break

10.30-11.25 E-business in practice: what to do

– mobile devices

11.25-11.35-Break

11.35-12.30 E-business in practice: what to do

– Search engine marketing

– Security

– Customer Relationship Management

– Marketing automation, artificial intelligence

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-14.30 Destination management and marketing in the era of online business

14.30-14.45 Break

14.45-15.30 Future of tourism in digitalizing world: where are we going?

15.30-16.00 Final conclusions

 

These lectures provide an overview of a wide topic of marketing and managing tourism business in digital environment. A more in-depth view of the topic can be achieved for example in our Master’s Degree Programme.

Welcome to Tourism Marketing and Management

Koli, tourism marketing and management
Picture by Karelia Expert

Welcome to the blog of International Master’s Degree Programme in Tourism Marketing and Management by University of Eastern Finland. This blog is an essential part of the programme and will bring forth the ideas and news from the programme. We aim to build a significant international platform for making tourism better with this programme and the blog. 

The programme will start during Autumn 2017. The programme seeks to attract students from Europe and Asia in particular. The programme is also open to Finnish students interested in tourism studies and holding a relevant Bachelor’s degree. The international nature of the programme makes it possible to create new networks and showcase Finland’s strengths in tourism globally, as well as to obtain new information about tourists coming from abroad.

This kind of a programme in tourism marketing and management hasn’t existed in Finland before, and the programme’s strong focus on tourism marketing will bring new life to the Finnish tourism sector. The key themes of the two-year Master’s degree programme are built around the strengths and opportunities of tourism in eastern Finland: nature, well-being, sustainable tourism, and digitalisation. The launch of the new Master’s Degree Programme in Tourism Marketing and Management shows that the University of Eastern Finland is confident in the positive development of the Finnish tourism sector and wants to play a role in supporting that development. Already now, tourism is a major financial factor in North Karelia and elsewhere in Finland. Globally, the tourism sector is growing by several per cent every year.

Konnevesi National Park, Finland
Konnevesi National Park, Finland

The Master’s degree programme will collaborate closely with local, national and international tourism sector companies and other actors. This collaboration is based on close interaction, with the aim of jointly developing business activities and finding solutions for any possible challenges discovered. Graduates of the Master’s degree programme will understand the role of digitalisation, customer care, customer motivation, environmental aspects and nature for the business activities of tourism companies, and they will be able to translate their understanding of these aspects into practical activities. The programme’s graduates will have the skills needed to work in a variety of different roles, for example as entrepreneurs, marketing managers, experts, coordinators, community managers and other positions involving customer relations.

The application period to the Master’s Degree Programme in Tourism Marketing and Management will be open from 1 December 2016 to 13 January 2017. For further information, please see the programme website at www.uef.fi/tmm.

For further information, please contact:

Programme coordinator Juho Pesonen, tel. +358 40 184 2698, juho.pesonen(at)uef.fi