{"id":20053,"date":"2024-10-16T20:49:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T18:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/?p=20053"},"modified":"2024-10-16T20:49:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T18:49:13","slug":"the-power-of-personalised-marketing-in-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/hospitality-industry\/the-power-of-personalised-marketing-in-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of personalised marketing in travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowing where travellers come from is key to meeting their wants and needs\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We live in an age of hyper-personalisation. Every ad you see online, every show you watch, and every book you read is recommended to you based on your tastes and preferences (however badly some companies may do it). The travel industry is no different. No destination or accommodation provider can cater to every single person\u2019s travel desires.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s therefore critical that they know who they\u2019re likely to appeal to and market themselves accordingly. A good starting point when it comes to doing so is identifying which countries make up the majority of guests and visitors. That\u2019s because, while there\u2019s obviously variation within countries, it is possible to pick up broad preferences and drill down to more individualised preferences from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Doing so not only means that players in the travel and hospitality sector are better placed to understand why they\u2019re hitting the mark with citizens from certain countries, but also that they can ensure they\u2019re targeting the right people with the right message at the right time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Understanding country preferences\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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But what do these preferences look like? McKinsey\u2019s <\/span>The state of travel and hospitality 2024<\/span><\/i><\/a> report<\/span><\/i> provides some useful insights. The report, which reveals that the travel industry is on track for full recovery by the end of 2024 and that luxury travel is the fastest growing segment, also provides some interesting insights into what people from different countries are looking for in their travel experiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sixty nine percent of Chinese tourists, for example, said they plan to visit a famous sight on their next trip, versus the 20% of European and North American travellers who said the same. Respondents living in the UAE, meanwhile, also favour iconic destinations as well as shopping and outdoor activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In other words, city hotels might have an easier time attracting Chinese tourists if they\u2019re close to a famous landmark, while somewhere that bills itself as a quiet retreat or which is centred around interesting food experiences may find it easier to attract European and North American tourists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Attracting German and UK visitors<\/b><\/p>\n

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Those are all important markets for the African travel sector, as are Germany and the UK. According to a report from <\/span>SA Tourism<\/span><\/a>, outbound travel to sub-Saharan Africa from Germany is growing by 21.2% annually. And in the <\/span>first quarter of 2024<\/span><\/a>, 125 420 UK tourists visited South Africa alone, a 5.3% increase on 2023. In <\/span>Kenya<\/span><\/a>, UK and Germany were fourth and sixth in terms of 2023 tourist arrivals to the country, growing by 19% and 46% respectively. It\u2019s therefore especially critical to know what the preferences for these markets are too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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According to the McKinsey survey, both Germans (45%) and UK citizens (38%) place importance on \u201cgetting away from it all\u201d. Both also like beach getaways, expressing \u201csoaking in the sun\u201d at twice the rate of American respondents as a main reason they travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A <\/span>study from TGM Research<\/span><\/a>, meanwhile, found that the top three needs for German tourists are quality and comfort, security, and competitive prices. Their favoured activities are beach and leisure, cultural and gastronomic, and shopping. While UK residents have the same top three needs, they\u2019re more security conscious than Germans. They\u2019re also more invested in beach and leisure activities than their German counterparts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Another growing travel trend is sustainability. According to <\/span>a 2022 report<\/span><\/a> carried out by Opinium on behalf of the Spanish Tourist Office, 86% of UK tourists value sustainability as either \u2018important\u2019 or \u2018very important\u2019 when selecting a holiday destination. A 2023 study by Germany\u2019s environmental protection agency (UBA), meanwhile found that \u201c61% of the population have a positive attitude towards sustainable holiday travel.\u201d This shows that destinations and providers targeting these markets can gain mileage by punting their green credentials, but only if they\u2019re actually earned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Interestingly, neither value traditional hospitality marketing initiatives such as loyalty programmes and hotel branding as much as visitors from China, the UAE, and North America. Make no mistake, there\u2019s still value in such programmes but it does show that there\u2019s room for innovation in these markets, particularly in the luxury segment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The right marketing partner\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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Of course, knowing what a country\u2019s preferences are and marketing to those preferences are two different things. It\u2019s therefore critical to choose marketing partners that don\u2019t just know how to market effectively according to specific insights but also have deep knowledge and understanding of the markets you\u2019re trying to reach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s important for a few reasons. The first is that they can ensure that your messaging will actually land in those markets. They understand what tone and language to use and also which platforms to target with that messaging. Perhaps most importantly, however, they can take the insights around a particular market and drill deeper into them, providing additional levels of personalisation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Positioned for growth\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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Ultimately, even as travel numbers to Africa from the UK, Germany, and other markets keep growing, players across the hospitality sector must remember that success isn\u2019t guaranteed. That means understanding their customers as deeply as possible and working with experienced marketing and communications partners who can turn those insights into results.<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knowing where travellers come from is key to meeting their wants and needs\u00a0\u00a0 We live in an age of hyper-personalisation. Every ad you see online, every show you watch, and every book you read is recommended to you based on your tastes and preferences (however badly some companies may do it). The travel industry is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2759],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hospitality-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20053"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20056,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053\/revisions\/20056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}