Travel and Tourism industry has boomed in the past few years and with it, the competition. Along with Advertising and Marketing, public relations consultancy play a major promotional tool for the industry.
public relations consultancy is perceived in many different ways. It’s often referred as the “strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” and also as the process of “building good relations with the company’s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building a good corporate image, and handling crisis management issues”. However, the central theme of PR remains “the act of shaping a favorable image”. Travel and Tourism industry thrives only when you have successfully created the desire to travel and Public Relations can help immensely by building a favorable image.
Why Public Relations?
Public Relations succeed better at brand and image building as it is mainly third-party endorsement. Most of the public prefers believing an article/blog rather than trusting the self-indulgent advertisements. Also, when it comes to Travel industry, a personal connection is better, which PR can provide effortlessly.
Public Relations consultancy is used alone or with other elements such as marketing communications and advertising. The main goal of Public Relations is to create desire to travel, persuade to take action and provide a pleasant experience during the visit.
Here are the various ways Public Relations consultancy is employed in the Travel and Tourism industry:
- PR is actively used as a promotional tool. Through third-party endorsement, the organizations are successful at pitching their stories without seeming too salesy. Through press releases, write-ups and blogs, they gain credibility and exposure.
- PR brings its valuable media connection which helps the Travel industry hugely. The media bring in credibility which helps in building positive image. For example, the media frequently release their own “Top list of places/hotels/restaurants to visit” which acts as a huge promotional platform for an organization.
- Through PR, creating awareness becomes easier. Whether its launch of new products, services or any promotions, organizations can easily promote themselves. Awareness can be brought in through media (press conference, press release), supporting charities or organizing any special events.
- PR can also help organizations to communicate with their publics, i.e. stakeholders, investors or money lenders.
- For any organization to sail through smoothly, a strong internal communication is essential. PR helps to bridge the gap between the organization and its employees.
PR Tools
Under tourism industry, PR focuses on travel, tourist destinations, hotels and restaurants. Each sector has a specific target audience and different tools must be implemented to portray different messages.
The major PR tools used in the Travel and Tourism industry are articles, brochures and social media. With the online trend speeding up, social media plays a major role in PR. For example, getting an article/blog about a ski resort on adventure loving communities or websites can be a huge promotion for the organization. Social media works mainly on word-of-mouth and sharing of experience which can benefit the tourism industry hugely.
PR has always been considered as a major part of the promotional mix to shape an organization’s reputation and in the Travel and Tourism industry, the need for PR is inevitable.
White Water PR 