The Digital Threat to Tourism Marketing

Attention all CVBs and pro-tourism organizations: Google might have just changed the landscape in travel & tourism. Again.

The search engine giant just launched Google Trips, a free app that integrates seamlessly with your Google account to create custom travel itineraries.

As a mobile travel organizer, Google Trips is wildly helpful, tapping into your Gmail account and compiling all your tickets, receipts, reservations, city maps, and more into one mobile view.

Oh, but Google Trips is much more than a mobile calendar; it will be your personal, pocket-sized travel agent, too.

Once Google Trips has compiled all your travel information, it also helps you fill your itinerary with things to do and places to see. It even offers custom day trip ideas, helping you navigate transportation and manage your time accordingly.

Did we mention that Google Trips can be used offline? No need to worry about your international data plan or finding café Wi-Fi to use the app.

There’s a lot of talk these days in marketing about frictionless user experiences. Google Trips is poised to be the easiest, most frictionless thing about travel. And as a traveler myself, I’m pretty excited about any free tool that makes travel simpler.

And sure, travel apps like Google Trips have existed for some time, but none have had the data muscle and access that Google Trips will. Can you imagine if Google Trips opens an advertising platform?

We’re very excited about Google Trips at COHN.

For CVBs (Convention and Visitors Bureaus), economic development councils, and other pro-tourism organizations, any tool that makes travel easier should be seen as an ally—especially if your partners (attractions, restaurants, museums, etc.) have a strong Google presence with accurate information and positive reviews.

Likewise, if your CVB partners are slow to grow their digital presence, perhaps today’s announcement will be the wakeup call to launch a digital visibility strategy. Because the app and others leverage data found on Google, it’s absolutely paramount that those in the travel & tourism industry stay on top of their digital presence and search ranking.

COHN can help you do that. We’re a brand marketing agency that helps clients win in the digital and mobile realm through smart SEO/SEM strategies that make your company float to the top of Google’s first page.

Contact us today to learn more about COHN’s digital prowess, and let’s get started on helping you expand your digital presence.

– Amy Larson, VP: Marketing