We’re back again with more news and tips for destination marketing professionals! This week, learn how to meet travelers’ needs more efficiently, what the metaverse can offer the travel industry, best tips for engaging influencers and more. Check it out!

To be clear, the metaverse will not replace in-person tourism. Instead, the new technology is simply an evolution of the market and this is receiving some interest from travelers. A survey conducted by Dynata revealed that 40% of people interviewed were interested in a virtual trip, and 50-55% of people are interested in booking a hotel stay or activity in the metaverse.

Instead of just virtual tours, visitors want to get more involved in metaverse travel. For travel organizations, this can look like more advanced websites and even futuristic advertising campaigns allowing people to visit places before booking their in-person stay. For some destinations, a non fungible token could be an innovative way to offer visitors digital memorabilia and also help fund your municipality, as shown by Cannes, France in this story.

The bottom line is that DMOs need to be thinking outside the box when it comes to the metaverse. Using your resources or talking with other professionals, you can start building a plan that will make waves in the destination marketing industry.

As travelers are faced with unique challenges such as inflation and flight cancelations, it’s more important than ever for DMOs and stakeholders to take time to understand their visitors’ needs. New technologies and tools make this process more accessible for destinations to help identify these needs and help visitors to feel heard. This article from Hospitality Net highlights five technologies that help drive visitor conversions, experiences and loyalty. Here are three to note:

• Visitor feedback surveys are a great way for visitors to share their experiences and offer insight on what worked and what needs improvement. Consider attaching feedback surveys to follow-up emails, offer opportunities to access them on your website or allow visitors to scan QR codes to share their reviews.
• Analyzing digital behavioral analytics plays a huge role in revealing what visitors are doing on your digital platform and how to increase the likelihood for conversions.
• A personalized booking process can make all the difference when it comes to solidifying conversions. Knowing why a traveler is booking your destination can change the kind of messaging you send their way, not only making it more likely for them to book, but also allowing your stakeholders to cater to the visitor’s experience.

These three technologies will significantly improve your ability to meet your visitors’ needs, making them want to come back again and again. Read about more technologies here.

As the warm summer weather gradually shifts into autumn, visitors from all over the country are thinking about a fall getaway. This is the prime opportunity to begin publishing content for fall and for the holidays. If only there was someone who could create super engaging content for you! Don’t worry, there is. You need a partnership with an influencer.

While some DMOs and CVBs hear the word “influencer” and roll their eyes, engaging an influencer to create content around your destination can benefit you immensely. Here are a few advantages:

• You can gain high-quality photography and video assets
• Some influencers can create long-form content such as blogs or longer videos
• Influencers often have access to niche audiences and loyal followers
• Influencers can highlight parts of your destination that may not get as much attention as other amenities
• You can experiment with new social media platforms and opportunities

By finding the right influencer for your destination and creating a detailed plan ahead of time, this partnership is a great opportunity to benefit from new marketing tactics. And it doesn’t have to come with a high price tag, either. Often, the best fit for rural destinations are micro- or nano-influencers with a smaller, more dedicated following, making it more likely for them to book their own vacations after seeing their favorite influencer enjoy your destination’s offerings.
Influencer marketing is a huge industry, expanding the opportunities for success. Learn more about DMO influencer marketing here or read about a real-life example here.

Constantly writing more content to engage your audience is exhausting. That’s why there’s a way out that is more effective and way less overwhelming. This is called content repurposing.

Content repurposing helps you spread out your content distribution, allowing you to hit more channels (and more people) with your message. It also helps you increase your publishing frequency and grow your online presence without overwhelming your writers or your staff, as well as increase your SEO.

There are multiple ways you can repurpose your content. Longer blogs can be turned into a series of social media posts or stories, design infographics from your blogs, turn video content into a blog or vice versa and so much more. This article from GatherContent highlights the benefits of repurposed content and gives you ideas to start repurposing your own.