Tech in tourism: say hello before you get there
Posted April 15th, 2010 by Sheila Scarborough
It used to be that when you visited a destination, you picked up a couple of brochures at the airport or the train station or the bus station, to go along with your guidebook.
Sometimes, there was even an opportunity to wander into a physical Visitor’s Center and talk to a knowledgeable human from the tourist bureau.
Today, with travelers Googling for information, asking questions on Facebook and tossing out queries on Twitter, many of the places that you’re going to visit are learning to reach out and say hello before you even get there.
Some are using a Twitter hashtag to keep track of your questions:
- #inPDX is monitored by the Portland, Oregon CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau)
- #abilenevisitors is monitored by the Abilene, Texas CVB.
Some are using blogs to give you the inside scoop:
- the Indiana Insider blog
- the ShoreLines blog for Virginia Beach, VA
- the blog for the Boise, Idaho Basque festival Jaialdi (held every five years in Boise, which has a large Basque population)
- the New Bedford (MA) Whaling Museum blog
- the Christchurch and Canterbury blog in New Zealand
- the Fargo, North Dakota/Moorhead, Minnesota CVB blog (they share tourism responsibilities)
- the Cape Town, South Africa blog
- (Update – by popular demand from our Twitter readers) the Columbus (Ohio) Experience blog
Some are using YouTube video to show their destinations:
- the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Visit Philly channel
- the Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio) channel (for you roller coaster fans) (Update – I originally had this in Iowa. D’oh!)
- the Travel Nevada channel
- the Loudon County, Virginia channel
- the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion (every Labor Day in Rollag, Minnesota)
- (Update – by popular demand from our Twitter readers) the Visit Findlay, Ohio channel
They’re on Facebook (Discover South Carolina,) on MySpace (Nashville’s Visit Music City) and sharing photos on Flickr (Visit Idaho.)
Here’s the good news: a CVB or tourism organization is non-commercial. They exist to “sell” you on the merits of their destination and convince you to visit. Nothing else.
Someone whose whole job is simply to make sure you have a nice visit?
That’s worth a follow….
Related posts:
- The BP oil spill and Florida beaches: a social media response from Florida tourism
- Thoughts from a Taco Bell in Waco, Texas
- Meeting tech history 650 feet down
- It’s a Tough Sell: Tourism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
April 16th, 2010 at 8:49 am
They want you to come and have a great time at their destination. . . but they want you to stay, shop, eat, etc., with their “members.”
I LOVE the area CVB’s and tourist boards. They do a great job for general information to an area. However, they aren’t entirely without bias, as they have an obligation to promote their members. I’ve talked with CVB reps about this and it can be a difficult line to walk. The ones who do it well are real gems.
April 16th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Hi Mary Jo,
Very true, but not all towns have membership CVBs (my hometown of Round Rock TX does not, for example, but Seattle does.)
Just depends.
April 16th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Tourism Vancouver (as in British Columbia, Canada) tweets, blogs, Flickrs, YouTubes and Facebooks! Why wouldn’t we? They’re fantastic ways to reach out to potential visitors. You can find out how to get in touch here: http://bit.ly/bIuZwI
Mary Jo certainly has a point – a lot of CVBs, though not all, are member-based and we do have a commitment to them. But that’s why social media is so helpful for visitors – we can ask everyone else for their suggestions in the comments section of our blogs and on our wall on Facebook. And we actually have a few really popular Vancouver bloggers contribute to our http://www.InsideVancouver.ca blog so that it’s not just written by CVB staff.
April 16th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Hi Wendy,
Thanks so much for stopping by the blog and giving us an update on everything that Tourism Vancouver is doing to reach out online. I need to come visit!!