HUMANS are set in such a way that they have to see or feel something for them to believe it or get interested in it.
Take relationship, for example. Most individuals fall in love with
people they actually meet and exchange physical contact and words. This
is because it helps them to get to know the other person better.
The same applies to tourism. For a person to be interested in where
they want to spend their vacation, then they have to see the destination
before hand.
However, there are some exceptions, as, for instance, when one would
just want to come to Africa because they have heard that it's a dark
continent filled with black people, hence the desire to come to prove it
personally.
And that's when technology comes in handy! It gives the world an
opportunity to see what Africa, Tanzania in particular, has to offer.
It gives them the desire and appetite to come and see what the
so-called dark continent really look like but they end up finding that,
instead of it being dark, the continent has various rainbow-coloured
nations, with marvellous people proud of their traditions and cultures,
brilliant natural attractions and awsome breathtaking surroundings.
Technology helps give people a feeling of how a place is before they even get there. It is simply incredible and flexible.
Tourists can engage with their hosts before they even board the
plane. Social media and the internet have helped quite a lot in creating
this kind of interaction between tourists/ travellers and the countries
they want to visit as well as what they would want to experience there.
Recently a group of 14 online influencers traversed South Africa with
South African Tourism during the 2014 #Meet- SouthAfrica blogger's
campaign, growing awareness of South Africa as a leisure destination
among potential travellers.
Started in 2013, the #Meet- Southafrica campaign aimed at introducing
South Africa's unique experiences to travellers through the eyes of
travelling and lifestyle with a significant online following.
Thulani Nzima, chief executive officer of South Africa Tourism (SAT),
said that "as a destination marketing organization, it's important we
stay ahead of the curve when it comes o innovative marketing in the
online space."
"#MeetSouthAfrica does exactly that, allowing travellers to see the
world through the eyes of their favourite bloggers, websites, social
networks, thus building up their appetite for visiting South Africa," he
added.
A well known blogger in South Africa, Ishay Govenderypma of food and
the fabulous, says that as a local blogger she fondly thanks SAT for the
opportunity and investment put into promoting South Africa by giving
her the eye-opening and enriching chance to travel to various parts of
SA as she has found more reasons to be proud of her country and so much
more to be explored.
Up to May 8, 2014, the #MeetSouthAfrica hash tag had gathered over
30m/- impressions on social media platforms such as facebook, twitter
and instagram, she said.
Being the newest addition in this year's INDABA, Techzone offered
fantastic insights into and information on travel technology; How the
online and digital environment has fundamentally changed the face of how
consumers look for, and buy, holiday destinations.
Highly knowledgeable techtalk speakers shared their insights with
delegates for the duration of INDABA to help the travel industry make
the most of the limitless opportunities that technology and the social
media offer the industry for growth.
Mike Sharman of retroviral Digital Communications captivated
delegates with his talk about the importance of good content in online
destinations and product marketing. "There is little as important as
gaining key insights to what your target market wants and needs and the
people go looking for holiday information," he said.
"The best way of finding out what people want is to ask them. Find out what you were doing right and where one can improve.
Use what they tell you to hone your product and your marketing to
deliver campaigns that get you real results," he added. Moreover, he
believes that there is a new holy trinity in marketing consisting of
digital, activations and public relations.
When one has the balance right, then the person has a great formula
for telling the world about one's destination and getting the content
out there where it will reach the right people, continued Mr Sharman.
He further said, "We invited mobile payment in Africa and Africa
continues to be alive with opportunities that few other places enjoy.
Africa has the beauty, the people,the views and the activities that
tourists want to explore and share with others.
"When you consider that almost 100 per cent of travellers research
holidays online before booking, and that pictures have become the new
currency of persuasion, it's easy to understand why this continent is so
compelling and so attractive to millions the world over."
"We have unique stories to tell here in Africa. The secret to digital
success is to keep pace with a technical environment that's in constant
flux and where consumers control both message and content," he added.
Tanzania has a lot of tourist destinations with an outstanding
history from the leaders down to the citizens. And for it to harness its
economy through the tourist sector, it should invest more in so many
ways.
People should do the touring themselves first before they get into
the tourism business. I mean how can one sell a product without knowing
what its package has to offer.
Tanzania has much more to offer, it's high time for the government to
collaborate with tourist agents and companies, without omitting the
media, and ensure it is well marketed so that any tourist will find this
as the destination they have to get to.
It is the joint organization and participation of all the
stakeholders to help forward the tourist market in Tanzania and without
forgetting that technology should not be left behind.
Just think what will happen to our tourist sector when we have all
blogs, websites, social medias, companies and tour agents, print media
having lots of features on tourism, radios and television have
documentaries about the whole aspect of tourism.
We shouldn't let other people tell our story. Since we own the nation we know better about the marvellous story we have.
So, we are the ones to tell it better, at the same time preserving
our traditions and culture. This can perfectly be done through tourism!
SOURCE; allAfrica.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment