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Travel firms tap into social networks via blogs

Tourism companies are turning to travel bloggers as a route into the vast global market of social network users, industry insiders say.

Published: 9 March 2014 12:27 CET

At Berlin's ITB tourism fair this week, bloggers and tourism professionals were brought together at a "speed dating" event to swap tips and further their cooperation in a highly competitive sector.

Catharina Fischer, of the German Tourism Office, said blogging opened up an effective and inexpensive way "to generate content, do marketing on social networks, expand one's presence, and all in different languages".

With the likelihood that a blogger will post YouTube videos or photos on Instagram to illustrate their post, it is easier to create a buzz on the Internet, via Twitter or Facebook, bloggers and companies say.

In today's world of real-time news and constant information, blogging, where an individual writes online about their own experience, offers an immediacy that traditional media and guide books cannot.

Marion Schumacher, of the Mövenpick hotel chain, also pointed out that a blog "is more subjective. It's often a first-person account by the blogger from their own experience."

"Bloggers mostly post their blogs online before, during and after a trip" which then remain on the Internet to be read time and again, explained Anja Beckmann, of specialist communication agency Red Mod.

The guidelines on collaboration between bloggers and the travel industry still vary and have not been formalised — some bloggers plainly state when a trip is financed by a travel company, while others do not.

Angelika Schwaff, a former head of international communication for an airline, launched her blog "Reisefreunde" ("Travelfriends") because she was always having to search back through business cards when asked for hotel or restaurant recommendations.

After around a year, her blog had attracted thousands of readers, and in 2012 she decided to leave her job and become a professional travel blogger — still a privilege for the very few — and consultant.

Today she says that 99 percent of her trips are down to partnerships with the travel industry but insists she retains her independence and always makes clear in her blog who has financed what.

"Even if they (partners) invite you on a trip, I make it very clear at the beginning in my letter of intent 'you don't buy my opinion'," she told AFP.

But for travel-lovers, blogging is a good way to fund their passion if they strike deals to get the travel or accommodation costs covered or are paid to provide photos or videos that can be used by the partner company.

Some agree to place adverts on their blog too.

But the role of the blogger and mutual benefits of blogging for a travel company can still be hard to define.

Sebastian Canaves, who is behind the off-the-path.com blog and works as a marketing consultant, grumbled about the avalanche of press releases he receives despite not being a journalist.

Even if the contours of blogging remaining relatively fluid, however, Yvonne Zagermann, of the blog justtravelous.com, said much had changed in blogging in the last two years.

"The blogosphere as a whole has made great progress in its professionalisation," she said.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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