User Travel Guides vs. Professional Travel Guides

Frankly I’ve always enjoyed travel guides especially the well written version by Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, or Columbus Guides.  Since the growth in popularity of user generated sites like Wikitravel and World66 I’ve cast off the shackles of paper and gone digital for my guides preferring the advice and recommendations of average travelers.  The BBC recently reported that a Lonely Planet author admitted that he hadn’t even visited some of the countries he wrote about, bringing into doubt the reliability and credibility of not just the Lonely Planet brand but all travel guide... Read more »

Speaking in Florida on Social Media

I received confirmation last week that I have been invited to present as a keynote speaker at the Florida Association of CVB’s annual Destination Marketing Summit in Orlando. The presentation will be two hours in length and cover two segments; an introduction to social media and it’s impact on tourism marketing and strategies in using social media to market destinations to a changing user landscape. I’m really looking forward to presenting to this group primarily because: The use of social media and user generated content is a very timely subject. The audience is well positioned... Read more »

A Lesson Learned - Big Changes at VisitScotland.com

Earlier in February I wrote about the role of the DMO and the lesson learned from VisitScotland.com. That post received a number of comments back that added more depth to the conversation. Today there was an announcement from Visit Scotland that the VisitScotland.com website would be changing the way it does busy to better support the grassroots tour operators. Ofcourse, the small operators are ecstatic about the change and are praising the work of organizations like ReclaimVS.com who petitioned to have VisitScotland.com returned to public control. The big issue for many was the fact that... Read more »

The Role of the DMO - A Lesson From VisitScotland.com

There has been a lot of discussion about the role of DMOs and how DMOs should be implementing technologies for the benefit of stakeholders. In the struggle to maintain viability and revenues, some DMOs have turned to a sales model. How does this model affect the DMO’s primary mandate to market the destination? We need look no further than VisitScotland.com to see an example of a DMO whose priority has shifted from marketing the destination to generating revenues from commissions. There are many, especially stakeholders, who are not happy with the direction that VisitScotland.com has... Read more »

DMOs should focus on web initiatives

I read a post today by Joe Buhler about the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the excellent job being done by Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace. The part of the post that resonated the most with me is the following quote: “What I also applaud him for is the strong focus on web based initiatives to get the message out and stimulate market demand. It is today the most effective means of communications with any audience. Also, the tight integration of information with a direct online booking functionality for the entire region will only increase the effectiveness of effort and improve the ROI of... Read more »

Canada’s First E-Tourism Strategy Conference

I am so excited to promote the first Canada-e-connect conference to be held in Vancouver. The goal of the conference is to profile Canada’s tourism industry and to highlight innovations in online marketing and technology that support tourism. This is especially exciting because this conference would normally have been in Ottawa or Toronto prior to the CTC’s move to Vancouver. This conference marks a milestone in the development of online marketing and tourism technologies because it is an acknowledgment and an acceptance that internet distribution, marketing, social media, and new... Read more »