chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

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Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

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Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

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Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

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Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Ant — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:25:12 -0000

I wonder what people's views are twenty months on from the original post and discussion?

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

honolulujobs — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:25:00 -0000

Thanks Chris for publishing this post.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Lifecruiser — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:19:39 -0000

Great post. I welcome this new approach and have been wondering why it wasn't already here a long time ago. Been waiting for it.

I've never understood why companies are so afraid of negative reviews. It's a great way to grow, to get better in what they're doing. If they wanna be good, who is better to judge it than the customer/guests?

They would win lots of kudos from travelers if they did meet the criticism with a professional approach - meaning: admitting that something isn't as good as they wish, but that they're working hard on it and changing it. That's real good PR in my opinion!

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Roxanne Darling — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:49:56 -0000

There is often gold in them thar hills of criticism and as more people understand how to value this free market research I think they will be willing to pay for it. Many of us can think of situations where a business falls off because of poor WOM yet no one had the courage to inform the owner of the negative word on the street. Most businesses want to do their best - and having an accurate report (as compared to only looking at the positives) is incredibly important IMO.

Tourists feel taken advantage of on a regular basis (just like home buyers) because only the positive features are mentioned, not the negative ones.

In my experience, people can actually handle the so-called negative features just fine, if they know about them and can plan for them. It's when they feel hijacked that "the beautiful view" also comes with unmentioned "construction noise next door" that can backfire. If a blogger mentions both, and the buyer chooses to come anyway, then the blogger has just handled a customer service problem in advance, for free, for the hotel owner.

This is the magic and the value of transparency in communication. PR has traditionally been all about spin, and putting the best foot forward, not putting the truth forward. They don't need to be mutually exclusive.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

juliemarg — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:41:06 -0000

Hi Darren

It's not wrong to be critical - it's just crazy to think that a PR person would pay you to do so. The purpose of the CVB is to attract customers for their members. The members pay them dues to do their PR.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Darren Cronian — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:34:19 -0000

@ Julie.

"bloggers are often snarky and snide"

Do you not mean that bloggers do not hide the truth whereas the media write fluffy reviews. Why is it so wrong to be critical about a destination, a trip, or vacation?

The internet has given consumers the voice, and thank god for that as they're too many people writing rubbish to get them a few bucks.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

juliemarg — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:13:18 -0000

What an interesting article and thread!

How do the CVB people deal with the tendency of the internet to be hyper critical? A newspaper or magazine article is unlikely to say that a particular restaurant is completely awful, but bloggers are often snarky and snide. The CVB can't be using their members dues to host a bash fest.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Beth Whitman — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:08:47 -0000

As someone with one foot in the blogging world and one in the print world, I see both sides.

I blog on my own site (http://wanderlustandlipstic... and write a series of guide books for women travelers (the Wanderlust and Lipstick guides).

I know the value of blogging and the fact that the more mentions a location/book/product receives online, the more potential for sales/visits. However, their is a higher perceived value placed on print reviews and recommendations than for those online.

It's no different with "selling" a destination for the CVB's/PR firms. They have limited resources (as mentioned earlier) and, for now, need to focus their resources on newspapers and magazines (both, sadly, dying industries).

But, they are slowly but surely coming around and will eventually figure out a way to reach high value bloggers (and by that I mean the ones for their potential customers). They SHOULD be careful about who they extend offers to - I've heard too many stories about so-called print writers taking fam trips with absolutely no intention of writing about their experiences. (Shame on the CVBs/PR companies for not choosing more wisely.)

With that said, travel (and write) on!

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Soultravelers3 — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:18:12 -0000

Coming late to this, but I just wanted to say, excellent post and conversation!

As some of you here already know, I am a freelance writer specializing in family travel. We are going on our third year of an open ended tour around the world and blog about it at http://soultravelers3.com/ and we take disadvantaged kids with us through the award winning non-profit Reach The World.

I'm am glad to see the tide is turning, but have to agree that most are missing the tremendous value of travel bloggers.

The public does not seem to be missing it, our first Youtube video zoomed to almost a million view almost instantly.

There are some fantastic travel bloggers out there and it is time for more tourism bureaus and pr firms find them!

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Jessie V — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:37:24 -0000

We are always scoping places and sites for our travel site, and I am completely surprised by the lack of response from 90% of tourist offices I query. The exceptions have been Hawaii, Scotland, and any jazz or music festivals. You'd think promoters would be glad for any story angle, when a writer asks for more info. ?! Great topic!

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Roxanne Darling — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:48:20 -0000

I am thrilled that we have huge participation of our tourism officials and vendors at next weekend's Podcamp + Wordcamp Hawaii. I can say easily we would not be doing such a first class event on such a grand scale without their support. I think it will be a powerful experience for all of us.

And to agree with TravelingMamas, the folks like Nate Kam and Michael Ni at MWC-Anthology get it.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Darren Cronian — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:39:34 -0000

Good points Pam oh and Hi :)

There's one word TRUST.

It is not going to be in the interest of a tourism bureau, if no one trusts what the blogger writes about if they have a track record of writing fluffy paid reviews, or copying press releases word for word.

I would want to read a review or report that looks at the positive and negative sides of the destination. Blogs need to add value, not clutter the internet up even more.

From a social media perspective I love being able to communicate with companies and tourism boards on Facebook and Twitter, and as a consumer, I like that the internet has opened up communication channels.

I wrote about this earlier in the week, click on my name to read the post (disgraceful plug I know!)

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

pam — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:27:30 -0000

Wow, there's so much great commentary here that I had to stop in twice.

I wanted to respond to Darren, obliquely. I think that he brings up something that the PR/CVB folks probably find really hard to navigate - if they want genuinely critical commentary on what they're offering.

There ARE bloggers who will simply reprint or revise and then post press releases. That's the easy pickings right there, eh? Then there are bloggers who are more conscientious and bother to ask questions, check things out, do their homework, and formulate an opinion before they post.

After some more thinking (and some input from other interested bloggers) I realize it must be very time consuming for PR/CVB folks to differentiate between those types of bloggers. (Before you flame, I realize there are many different kinds of bloggers, not just two.) From the PR/CVB side, it sure seems advantageous to reach the lazy ones, but a better investment in the long term to reach the more conscientious ones because it means building relationships, like some of the people on the PR/CVB side on this thread have bothered to do.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Darren Cronian — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:12:41 -0000

I have to add another point which I didn't raise in an earlier comment.

What I would hate to see is tourist boards and the travel industry assume that bloggers are "easy picking" in that we aren't linked to a media outlet so we'll promote anything and everything for a few bucks.

You only have to look at the amount of press releases that bloggers now receive - companies are continously asking me to write a review about their company, even though I have never booked a holiday with them, or used their site to search.

I refuse to be bought, and I am sure they're many other bloggers who feel the same. I would hate to see bloggers being bought into free trips in return for righting nice and fluffy reviews about the destination.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Scott — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:16:51 -0000

Chris, you have brought up a very hot topic within the CVB world right now and I'm glad to see this topic is open for debate.

We at Experience Columbus took baby steps in entering the social media realm over the past few months and held a blogger only event just two months ago to begin dialogue and engage the local blogging community. We have been hosting travel bloggers for years, but until recently had been more reactive than proactive in inviting them to our city.

Through our presence on local blogs and Twitter, along with our other social media outlets we have formed a great new relationship with the blogosphere that has carried over into the travel blogging community specifically. Actually, I am hosting writer/blogger Mary Gallagher this weekend, http://www.gallagherstravel...

Scott Peacock
Media Relations Manager
Experience Columbus

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

NancydBrown — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:59:14 -0000

This is a great post, Chris. As a freelance writer and Lodging Travel Blog Editor, I hope your blog post makes it into the e-mail box of every Tourism Bureau.

Thanks for the topic.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Darren Cronian — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:32:50 -0000

Hi Chris,

My first comment on here but I've read your posts for a little while. I think the travel / tourism industry has only within the past six months really started to sit up and listen to bloggers.

The US is miles ahead of countries like the UK, where trying to contact a company online is a challenge. Tools like Twitter, and Facebook have meant that bloggers and consumers can communicate and interact.

There's still room for improvement but I think travel companies are starting to realise that people have a voice and blogs are part of that.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Donna Hull — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:16:24 -0000

Great post, Chris. I'm a freelance writer who also blogs. I agree that the folks in Florida are doing a good job in recognizing the value of social media. One of the CVB's saw my blog where I write about active travel for baby boomers, http://www.myitchytravelfee.... After reading my posts, she invited me for a visit that will provide plenty of blog material (plus I'll be pitching stories to print publications).

I agree that measuring the effectiveness is difficult for Tourism offices used to dealing in the printed way of thinking. But, when you stop and think about it, magazines and newspapers are read, then tossed. Articles on blogs and websites are on the internet forever. With so many travelers using the internet as a resource for travel planning, it just makes sense for the travel industry to develop relationships with bloggers.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Reinhard — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:24:33 -0000

Hi Chris, thank you for this post. The ideas and the reactions are very helpful for me - an Austrian (attention:No Kangaroos)DMO manager.

We set up a blog about 6 months ago, the idea is to involve local people and invite them to present their personal hotspots to our guest. One challenge is to find people who contribute to the blog, mostly because they do not find time for this.

We also thought about the question, "How can we invite our visitors to share their experiences online?". One idea was the creation of a bookmark. This is distributed through restaurants, hotels, etc... and asks people to share their fotos, videos and stories on flickr, youtube or tripadvisor.

It seems to me, that their is a short delay in the usgae of social web tools between America and Europe/Austria.
So we are not very experienced in how to engage bloggers.
Should they be treated like journalists? Should we organise fam trips for bloggers? How would they react if we invite them? Are there specials services we could provide in the destination which would be helpful for bloggers?

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Michelle Evans — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:52:19 -0000

I assure you those of us in the Tourism industry who even know anything about social media are putting everything we have into educating those around us, those we work for, and those we associate with. It's taking time to learn. No one wants to go in and do it wrong, so we have a tendency to not do it at all.

For the record, Chris, next time you're in Vancouver, give me a call. I'd love to show you around.

Re: Tourism Bureaus and Bloggers

Nathan Kam — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:49:08 -0000

McNeil Wilson Communications here in Hawaii - realizes the value of working with bloggers and engaging in social media. My client the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) is working with new media professionals on a regular basis and it is a core component of our public relations program. HVCB is also a sponsor of the upcoming Podcamp Hawaii and will be working with incoming bloggers to showcase various aspects of the destination.

I should also mention my other client The Wyland Waikiki hotel has fully embraced the social web as part of its PR strategy. Just this year we launched a blog - Drop In To The Wyland Waikiki , have the GM Robin Graf on Twitter , and are taking an active role in hosting bloggers, and sponsoring events like Podcamp Hawaii.

New media is an area we can't afford to ignore.