Tourism has existed for a long time, albeit not in those words. People, in their desire to see the world have mapped almost all the land and the sea on this beautiful earth. There was a time for exploration back in the ancient times when names didn’t matter and the distance was only as long as the nearest patch of land. Today tourism has become synonymous with vacationing bliss, adventure trips, educational avenues, exploration drives, and expeditions even. It is also true that on the one hand the world has at once become smaller and bigger. We see more through our tele-vision screens, our online interfaces, but we experience only through travel. The job of roping in people by infecting them with the travel bug starts with playing and expanding their imagination, by making them envision a world full of possibilities. This article will systematically break down in simple steps how PR works in tourism and how to boost one’s potential while competing to influence and attract tourists. 1. Travel Promotion: Initially the focus is on stimulating the public’s desire to travel and visit new places. This is done through crafted publicity, promotion of new places to explore. What with the social media, a new window has opened up to all the mountains, plains, oceans and seas titillating curious minds, urging them to see more. The next step is conversion of interest into tickets. Everything from travel, accommodation, guided tours, special offers, is now done by the Travel agencies. Such firms have the responsibility to give the tourist’s their money’s worth. The simplest ways to ensure smooth successful travel is: a. Do your homework. An extensive research into the history, geography, terrain, local population, cuisine and neighbouring areas of the place ensures that one maintains a good rapport on both ends. b. The travel agency must have contact points. They also get into a collective deal with travel agencies, accommodation sites, restaurants which makes for a good package deal. This is a great solution for people who have little time to plan an itinerary, suffer from time constraints and rely heavily on the agency to prepare the best travel for them. Sites like Make my Trip, Travel Yatra, Travel Guru have regularly modified their style of promotion and PR making them frontrunners in tourism. 2. How to, in Travel Promotion: Simply providing information is not enough. Nowadays with income at disposal and time which is not, travellers seek to be in the know. Example, TripAdvisor (TA). The reigning website that features travellers’ first-hand experience from cuisine, stay, local transport, fares, type of tourist inflow and the like. The efficiency is high and feedback mostly accurate, to a point that bonus earned on TA is a parameter for popularity. Newspaper or magazine articles, brochures, internet presentations, travel movies, amateur documentaries even, and sometimes soliciting companies, corporates holding their conferences or meetings in far off exotic locations are some extremely fool proof methods to encourage travel. The dialogue is between the places and potential tourists via the expert communication of skilful PR. Some publications have their own team of freelance writers or resident writing staff whose articles/pieces on travel destinations in open-informal style has the maximum effect. Lonely Planet magazine, National Geographic, Discovery Travel, TLC are names to reckon with. Why? The places and experiences featured in these magazines are about true travel without resorting to ‘purple prose’. 3. What not to, In Travel Promotion: Travellers seek authenticity. A bad case of ‘PR overkill’ can potentially harm one’s chances of growth in the industry. Indiscriminate promotional antics, barraging the media and social circle with pictures, stories, anecdotes, nagging follow-up calls to editors or publishers, excessively controlled handling of writers on arranged trips interfering in their process of complete review are some instances. Tourists have been known to complain of mismanagement, rude behaviour by tour guides, inappropriate living areas, disappointing locales etc. This is the most important aspect of Travel PR, to follow-up on the promised or advertised experience. Tourists attract more tourists. One must not promise more than they can deliver. 4. Damage Control: Even the best laid plans can fail and arrangements can go awry at times, Force majeure. Last minute cancellations, delayed flights, members missing the buses, inefficient tour management, bad weather, disruptive local population, and political unrest can all rile tourists. A cheerful, and engaging tour operator, with an ability to instantly put one at ease works wonders, to calm the lot and reignite their excitement. A begrudged tourist is like a child in a bad mood. ‘Feel Good’ gestures such as free drinks or free meal and some additional offers can work wonders to boost the morale of visitors who away from home in a foreign place often rely on others to help them out. A forthcoming personality with confident communication skills is a massive bonus in such situations. PR practitioners are masters in such crisis management. 5. Tourism in times of Crisis: In a break from the long past, now tourism also requires the safety of the travellers. Operators are compelled to take responsibility of safe, and secure travel and return of their tourists. Places like Iraq, Iran, large parts of Africa, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are high risk zones undergoing political upheaval, making tourism almost non-existent in their beautiful panoramic landscapes. However, closer home the Indian sub-continent gives its fair share of trouble to incoming tourists. The excellent PR campaign done to promote tourism in the states of Madhya Pradesh despite the Naxalite incursion, Gujarat after the riots, Kashmir with its unparalleled beauty and the constant threat of terrorist attacks, and simply the Incredible India campaign in light of and after suspicion of terrorist influences (post 9/11) and activities towards India, changed the world’s perception increasing tourist inflow in the past decade. In such unforeseen circumstances opening channels of communication to succinctly engage with the public to repose their faith is a game changer. Be it political strife, risky repertoire, the tour operators as part of their PR must ensure safety and environmental friendly means and methods to ensure satisfaction of tourists and their positive feedback to garner more attention towards their firm. To see the world you must travel. To understand, you must listen. To be successful you must only know when, what, how and who to speak to. Happy Journey.
