Travel and Tourism industry has boomed in the past few years and with it, the competition. Along with Advertising and Marketing, public relations play a major role in the industry. Public Relations succeed better at brand and image building as it is mainly third-party endorsement. Most of the public prefers believing some article/blog rather than trusting the self-indulgent advertisements. Public relations is used alone or with other elements such as marketing communications and advertising. The main goal of Public Relations is to create desire to travel, persuade to take action and provide a pleasant experience during the visit.
Taking this in consideration let’s look closer to different uses of PR in Travel and Tourism industry.
Promotional tools.
PR is used alone or with other elements of promotional mix. The aim of promotion is to create positive impact on public. An organization may wish to promote new activity, change in objectives, change in management, etc. PR is very important here, as promotion will be run through press releases, press conferences, sponsorships and prizes in competitions, invitation of journalists/influencers to try new activities (hotel, attraction, flight) for free.
Communicational tools.
Internal and external communication is very important areas of business existence and PR is widely used in both of them. Internal communication means communication with company’s employees. Is often underestimated, which may result in bad morale and affect quality of products and especially services of the company. Service part is very important for tourism industry, as most of the products here are paired with services. External communication means keeping external parties (customers, shareholders, etc.) informed about changes in business. Is usually done through media releases, conferences (where the news are communicated face-to-face).
Creating awareness.
Awareness translates into attention and credit from public (customers, investors, money lenders) and it is important for any business. Awareness may be general, created through advertisement, supporting local charities; orientated to special person/organization, as to business plan presented to money lenders (bank); a simple note about changes in opening hours in the shop window.
Building credibility.
Credibility means successful operation of business. PR is important here as simple advertising will not have the same effect as for example well done press release (people tend to pay better attention an article than to “annoying” adverts). Advertising is done and hidden in journalist review of restaurant or attraction. The key of success here is first-hand experience, Tourism industry sells experience mostly.
Travel and tourism is consists in selling services, and services are hard to manage. That’s why PR and Promotions are widely used here. Importance of PR is hard to underestimate, it helps tourism businesses grow and expand, make profit in quickly changing circumstances. It is relatively new, but growing more popular area of science, with demand for good PR specialists. PR is about creating and managing the image of companies, products and whole industries and Travel industry is not an exception.
Arranged by Karla Gracin.
source: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/pr-in-travel-and-tourism-sector-marketing-essay.php