tim williamson - rtd11 2015
TRANSCRIPT
Marketing for sustainability
RTD11
Tim WilliamsonDirector of Marketing & Content – Responsible Travel
Qualified to comment?
• Marketing & Customer director
– TUI UK
– Monarch Airlines
• Responsible Travel
Marketing
• 2 purposes– Influence the market
– Influence the customer
• To market sustainable or responsible tourism you don’t need to be perfect!
Influencing the market on responsible & sustainable tourism
• Just the role of the NGO, charities & governments?
• Should commercial companies not get involved?
Influencing the market on responsible & sustainable tourism
• If you are going to try and influence the market:
– Need to be clear and transparent about your objectives/agenda
– Accept that it’s a slow process
Campaigning
• Not about selling holidays –changing the market– Orcas
– Volunteering with orphans
– Elephant safaris
– Travel journalism
– Tourist Board’s stance on responsible tourism
– Etc etc
• And also changing your mind
• Can be seen as event marketing but really:– A showcase for the best in class examples from around the world in
responsibility & sustainability– Sponsorship there to grow and market the awards– Worldwide expansion will further help
– But clearly benefit by association for the founding brand
Influencing the individual on responsible & sustainable tourism
• Need to face the fact that the market for this is relatively small
• For the majority it will be a secondary consideration, at best
• Certainly not a reason to not bother or we won’t have an industry in the future!
Authentic experiences
• What customers do increasingly want is an “authentic” Holiday but what is this?– Something off the “tourist trail”– A brief glimpse into life in another country, culture or community– A break from normal life by experiencing something quite different
for a short space of time– Something that can be talked about, remembered and shared
Responsible Travel belief – the win:win
• We have proved (or stumbled upon) a link between these experiences and responsible & sustainable tourism
• We only screen for responsible & sustainable commitment from our 400 tour operators yet they deliver life changing experiences & amazing holidays
Why are these scores so high?
• Holidays created by interesting people who love where they live – the culture, the wildlife, the landscape – open up and show a side to life that might not be immediately obvious
• These are amazing authentic experiences which can be marketed as such BUT also tick the responsible tourism box
Marketing sustainability & responsibility
• One last thought –responsible tourism is not immune for the drive for more honest and believable content
• Content marketing is not a fad
• Search engines are making us all make our sites more interesting and easy to use
Responsible Travel Guides
• Lack of journalistic independence and the rise of user generated content is an opportunity
• Our guides are designed to:– Be Honest & digestible– To drive traffic and
booking conversion
Responsible Travel Guides
• Our Travel Guides give us the opportunity to highlight the responsible tourism issues
• And what customers can do to minimise and avoid them
Summary
• It is possible to market responsible and sustainable tourism to:– Influence the market:
• not just down to the public sector, charities & trade bodies• Need to be clear and open about what you are trying to do and
why
– Influence the customer:• Need to focus on the customer benefit as well as the local
community• This could be a better holiday experience or just a cheaper price
• For both it is about marketing the fact that you are on a journey rather than already at your destination