One of the most pressing issues hitting the global tourism scene in recent weeks involved allegations of self-promotion against Philippine tourism secretary Christina Frasco.

Earlier this month, the secretary was summoned by members of the Philippine Senate to respond to these allegations and to explain why the country has failed to hit its tourist arrival targets for two consecutive years despite active, even aggressive, promotion both domestically and overseas.

However, the Philippines isn’t the only country pondering why its promotional campaigns aren’t delivering the results it wants.

The challenges of the digital age when practically everyone is communicating and transacting online has changed the game and the old methods are no longer up to snuff.

In which case, how can tourism boards and travel companies promote themselves more effectively on- and offline?

(Not quite) the end of conventional marketing and promotions

The experts at Connect Worldwide hit the bullseye when they pointed out how tourism marketing has undergone significant changes within the past half-decade.

As they put it:

“Old-school tourism marketing was a race to attract the most visitors to your destination by making it look exciting, new and trendy. Today, tourism marketing is more of a balancing act than a numbers game. Its goals and campaigns are more subtle. No destination wants to drop off the map, but gone are the days when the only thing that mattered was numbers.”

To put it bluntly, while we can’t really say that it’s less effective than it was in the ‘90s, tourism marketing has become significantly more complex, fragmented, and competitive.

This is particularly true now as the overall market mindset is shifting from wanting the same thing as everyone else (mass-marketing) to wanting something that is completely unique to the individual customer (hyperpersonalisation.)

With that said, traditional mass-market tactics should no longer be considered in the context of contemporary tourism marketing.

Instead, today’s campaigns are built from solid data, social media, and user-generated content; these are also more precisely targeted towards key markets or focus groups.

Authenticity is also a major factor that could make or break the success of a campaign, as marketers need to build the public’s trust from a particularly prized destination or an up-and-coming travel service.

Not without challenges

At the same time, crafting campaigns to attract digital-savvy / tech-centric target markets comes with its own rafter of hurdles.

Oversaturation is one such issue, especially given the sheer amount of both broad-spectrum and targeted content posted on visual-centric platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

With so many ads, reels, and what have you, both brands and destinations are struggling to stand out, thus developing a unique selling proposition (USP) well beforehand is a must for marketers.

Trust is another issue, and it stems more from the proliferation of influencers and key opinion leaders who may opt to do their own thing rather than align themselves with the bigger global players or brands.

The presence of influencers also calls into question the authenticity of both campaigns and the brands or destinations they focus on: how much is just hype and how much of it is real?

We also return to our previous example with the Philippines: especially in politically-volatile regions, the possibility that tourism promotion could be used for an individual's personal political agenda cannot be ruled out.

Now what?!?

To be fair, it’s not all doom and gloom; in fact, contemporary tourism marketing is in a position to be more objective and data-driven.

The digital age has made it possible for national tourism boards to target audiences which were not previously open to them, expanding their reach and improving the potential for meeting their targets.

Indeed, the broad range of digital marketing tools at one’s fingertips allows for better and more accurate targeting, leading to a greater potential for conversions.

Data-driven returns on investment (ROIs) have also been made more attainable thanks to tools for tracking engagement, page-clicks, and conversions that enable professionals to monitor campaigns in real time as opposed to waiting for a specific period of time to elapse.

As a result, recalibration may be done faster or in a more timely fashion for better results.

While these may not necessarily be infallible, they are proof that we have come a long way from the print ads and TVCs of days gone by and the results are well worth it.