Road Trip Touring: 6 Quick Win Destination Marketing Tips
By Rebecca White
Published on December 15, 2020
Road trip touring is booming.
Thanks to international border closures and the risk of swift border closures thanks to covid hot-spots flare ups (as we saw in November 2020) people are turning to the simplicity and social-distancing friendly option of jumping in the car for future trips.
Your destination has a major opportunity to capture this drive touring boom through specific marketing tactics that attract your high value visitors and encourage them to explore your destination more widely.
Following are 6 marketing activities you can roll out quickly to attract more drive touring visitors to your town or regional destination in 2021.
1. Website Itineraries: Get specific and detailed
You most likely have suggested itineraries on your destination website.
However we find destination website itineraries can be a little general, or they are trying to please too many different visitor groups, which ends up not really helping anyone.
The more specific and detailed your itineraries are, the great chance they will rank well for organic search results and will also add much more value to your visitors by providing really specific advice.
Niche down suggested itineraries for your destination. Get really specific and detailed for a single high yield visitor or niche interest traveler for your destination. Help them work out the why and how they need to put the itinerary into place in your destination.
Do some brainstorming with your colleagues on road trip themed itineraries ideas for your High Yield Leisure Travelers and Niche Interest Visitors. Also consider different the different times of the year you could put together Seasonal or Holiday specific itineraries.
Tips
- Be really specific and detailed with the itinerary inclusions and recommendations.
- Hone in on one specific High Yield Visitor Segment or Niche Interest Traveller interest only.
- Include great photos mixed in (user generated is great, just remember to get permission to use)
- Write enough copy for each itinerary segment to share the why of that itinerary inclusion.
- Link through to the business listing or direct to the business to find out more.
- Simple, word and text based itineraries are a great simple and easy start. Just get them written and up on your destination website.
Bonus Tip. If your website has integrations with platforms such as Alpaca or Google Maps, you can take it one step further, and show the suggested attractions on interactive maps.
Great destination itinerary examples you can check out include:
- Food and beverage itineraries, eg Kids Food Trail Adelaide Hills, Cradle Coast Tasting Trail for Sweet Tooths, Snowy Valley’s Beverage Trail
- Dog Friendly Travel in Southern Tasmania
- My Barossa Day - Suggested Day Itineraries by Locals
- Scenic Drives To and Around your Region, such as getting to the Adelaide Hills via Greenhill Road.
- Art and cultural trails, such as the Victorian Silo Art Trail and Cultural Adventures in Tauranga and Mount Maunganui
- Seasonal Itineraries specific to your destination eg Canola Trails, Almond Blossom Trails, Produce Picking Itineraries, Jacaranda Tree Viewing Itineraries etc.
- Long distance itineraries to your destination such as Margaret River Region and City of Mount Gambier have pulled togeth
2. Social Media – Get Location Specific
Use the understanding of your High Yield Visitor to share social posts based on their likely drive routes to and around your destination.
We’re currently managing social media for Visit Limestone Coast on Instagram and Facebook, and putting this into practice by getting under the skin of the region's High Yield Visitors and the different drive routes they most likely take to and around the region.
When borders reopening to Victoria after nearly 6 months, we shared a Melbourne to Adelaide "Story" that encouraging travellers to stop and spend a bit more time on their journey instead of the common straight through 8 hour inland drive. This itinerary is now saved in 'Highlights' for future visitors to see (see the 'Towns' highlight to view the story). We're also sharing road trip highlights from around the Limestone Coast such is this recent one of Larry the Lobster.
So, in amongst your stunning hero experience posts on Facebook and Instagram newsfeeds, don't be afraid to share lesser know gems around your region that may prompt them to visit more towns or areas across your destination - stunning photos are the key here to get great engagement. These include experiences such as
- Public art
- Short walks or lookouts with views
- Historic attractions
- Specific foods or beverages unique to your destination
People will tag/save and use these help plan their itineraries when in your destination.
3. Australian Tourism Data Warehouse
We know destinations have a huge focus on getting tourism businesses on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW).
However what we often see missing from destinations we work with are ATDW listings for publicly owned and managed attractions, such as Walking Trails, Lookouts, Small Towns, Beaches, Lakes, Forests, Caves, Jetties etc.
Without these listings, attractions wont show up on destination websites using software such as Alpaca. Your Regional and State Tourism Organisation are also less likely to talk about these experiences if there isn’t somewhere to send visitors to find out more.
Therefore do an experience audit for your destination. Then work out what listings are missing and work collaboratively with your colleagues and/or wider regional stakeholders to get these listings added to the ATDW asap.
4. Online listings
Many visitors use platforms such as TripAdvisor, Google My Business (eg Google Search) and Wikicamps to refine their drive itinerary within a destination.
Therefore, like your destination's ATDW listings, make sure all your key public attractions have listings on these platforms, you have claimed them so you can keep them updated, and you also listen and respond to customer reviews.
5. Visitor Guides and Maps
Visitor guides and maps still play an important role with road touring visitors, especially for rural and regional destinations.
Evolve and adapt your destination visitor guide or touring maps to help support regional road trip travellers through the 15 tips we shared on how to evolve your Visitor Guide in 2021.
Ensure your visitor guides and maps are also distributed around your destination in key visitor touchpoints. Not just your Visitor Centre, but tops spots for road touring visitors such as petrol stations, bakeries, cafes, local shops, pubs, and of course all your local tourism experiences.
6. Leverage State Itineraries
Finally, whilst this may not be as quick win, do an audit of your State or Territory Tourism Organisation’s suggested itineraries. All the State Tourism Organisations have high level suggested itineraries across your state or territory.
Are there any glaring gaps in itineraries for your destination?
Using the right channels and forums, find out more about their website itinerary strategy.
- Are there opportunities to share more itineraries that include your region or town?
- Is there an opportunity for your destination to submit a stand alone itinerary to their website?
- Are there particular experiences missing from their itineraries that you could lobby to have included?
Have a chat and see what opportunities you can leverage.
Over to you, and good luck getting some of these quick win road touring marketing ideas up as soon as you can to capture the current road touring boom that's well underway!
Filed Under: Destination Marketing Strategy, Destination Websites, Destinations, Social Media + Email Marketing, Visitor Servicing + Visitor Experience
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