In many ways, tourism is all about the here and now. People show up to a vacation destination, find themselves drawn into a bit of well-placed marketing, and the local industries bring in their business. Many tourists enjoy the spontaneity that vacations bring around; the saying “yes” to activities that weren’t pre-planned, trying out new experiences, and ultimately packing so much more into their trip than they’d expected.
This aspect of tourism will certainly never change or go away – there’ll always be an appeal to making snap decisions while on vacation and taking a “go with the flow” attitude. However, there is one major change to the way people plan, book and enjoy their vacations nowadays, and it’s all down to one thing: the internet.
There’s no avoiding the internet, and if you’re a tourism business, you shouldn’t be trying to anyway. You may argue that plenty of people still manage to find you by foot while on their vacations, but imagine how many more potential customers you’d appeal to with a website? A website takes time and money to set up, but once you’ve made it past the technicalities, you’ll be so glad you went through with the investment.
Here are 8 major benefits of owning a website for your tourism business:
It’s professional
For reasons that no-one can quite put a finger on, if you don’t have a website nowadays, it could really harm your reputation. A website can help you to come across as a professional and legitimate company, which you’ll struggle to do if you’re relying on your physical storefront presence alone.
It is no longer a maybe requirement for a business – if you want to be taken seriously, you have to have some sort of online presence. Social media isn’t even enough to cut it most of the time, as it will never give your customers the same experience as browsing your website.
It will engage your customers for longer
How often have you Google-searched a business only to find it has no website, and subsequently diverted your search to that business’ competitors? Your customers might be doing exactly the same thing with you.
If you’re in the food industry, you need your website so that customers can take a look at your menu, read up on your offerings and ultimately book a table with you. If you’re in retail, you need a website so that your customers can browse through all of your wares when deciding whether to make a visit to your store. Unless what you’re offering is incredibly unique, without a website, your customers will simply look elsewhere.
It will help you get discovered
If the only thing you’ve got going for you online is the occasional TripAdvisor review, you’re really hindering your chances of getting noticed by customers. Having a website with the right location-based SEO means that when your potential customers are searching for things to do in the local area, they’re far more likely to stumble across you.
When you’re a tiny business on a tiny island like Hawaii, online discoveries mean everything. People always want to get an idea of a destination before they visit, and your website is your chance to showcase yourself to vacationers while they’re doing their research.
It encourages shareability
There are hundreds of travel and tourism bloggers dominating the internet who might just be waiting for the opportunity to talk about your business online. You’re actually making a blogger’s job easier by establishing a website for yourself, because they’ll be able to find you online and share your website with their followers in seconds.
If you can get your name shared around by bloggers talking about the best things to do in a tourist hotspot, you’re onto a real winner.
It makes sense
How do you expect people to know you exist without a website? There’s no getting around the fact that having a website these days just makes sense. When so many people use the internet, you can be certain that purchasing a website is a solid investment that you won’t ever regret.
You’ll only have to take a look at your site visitation stats to see just how many people have checked you out and why, ultimately, setting up a website was such a practical and reasonable decision for your business.
Increased revenue
It’s pretty obvious – if you’re attracting more customers to your business, you’re going to see an increased revenue for your efforts. More visitors to your store equals more sales, and people are more likely to stop by if they’ve already read up on you before their vacation.
You might also be able to sell your products or services on your website, which will help to bring in additional revenue through your online platform alone.
Additional advertising opportunities
How do you currently advertise your business? If you don’t have a website, it’s most likely through traditional forms of advertising like flyers, leaflets, posters and, if you can afford it, radio ads.
While these all work well to bring tourists to you while they’re on their vacation, you want a way to make yourself known to them before they even board their plane. Online advertising can help you do this, by directing your targeted customers straight over to your website. It’s fairly cheap, too, making it a cost-effective marketing solution for almost guaranteed success.
A step into the 21st century
As much as technology can be massively confusing, expensive to run, and frustrating when it fails you, it really is the future. No matter what your views are on the internet, if you want your tourism business to stand out from its competitors, you need to establish yourself online.
It can be quite daunting taking that step into the 21st century, but it’s essential if you want to stick with the times – and continue to appeal to the modern-day customer. If you’re struggling with adapting to the internet, seek the help of a professional.