Blog - Page 2

The Salene, nestled amidst Stellenbosch’s best wine farms in the heart of the Devon Valley, needed a brand refresh. Having recently changed owners and rebranded from Zarose, we knew it was important to differentiate this luxury accommodation offering from the many other options in the area. When your competitors all boast stunning scenery, luxurious stays, an incredible location and wedding venues to boot, standing out of the crowd can be a challenge. Our solution? Tell the best story.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of optimising your website for search engines. It is important, because it lies at the bottom of every single successful tourism booking that will ever be made on your website. Why is SEO so important? Because a website that is optimized for the Google Search Engine, will help the search engine to index your website much easier. And when it is properly indexed according to your most relevant products, the search engine can successfully match it with your most suitable potential guests.

This indexing happens according to “key words” that describe the product you offer and which enables the search engine to match your website with a keyword entered in your potential guest’s search.

Whether you are the owner of a small boutique hotel, or the marketing manager for a large group of safari lodges, the main question around digital marketing strategy for tourism remains the same: Is my current marketing strategy optimised for the tourism industry, and do I have everything in place to drive as many as possible direct, online bookings via my website, at the highest possible ROI? To guide you through these questions, we've put together a checklist of best practices in digital marketing strategy.

With an office based in Stellenbosch, our team of digital marketers for tourism know the winelands, Garden Route and West Coast better than most, but when it comes to Northern KwaZulu-Natal they need 'refreshers' every then and now. Luckily, one of our clients, Isibindi Africa Lodges, invited us to experience their lodges stretching from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Park. Here's how it went:

We all became a bit too comfortable and let’s face it - lazy - before 2020. Fast forward to now, and your title has probably stretched from 'Guesthouse Owner' to include social media manager, content creator, photographer, and online community manager (to name just a few). So here are 4 simple tips on creating social media content for tourism that will make you look like a pro.

As leaders in African tourism marketing, Eco Africa Digital researched and compiled a document that highlights the most important travel trends for the African tourism industry for 2021.

These include:

1. Smaller Groups & Privacy
2. Regenerative Travel
3. Bye-Bye 9 to 5: Work Wherever You Want
4. Vital Value: Maximising Travel For Less
5. Flexible Cancellation Terms & Safety
6. Travel Bubbles
7. Preference for Outdoor Experiences
8. Rise in Popularity of Local Travel

As a tourism and hospitality digital marketing agency in South Africa, our team would be lost without the below three systems. They’ve helped us automate and create successful marketing campaigns for safari lodges, luxury guesthouses, and award-winning wine farms across Southern and Eastern Africa.

2020 looked to be the start of a new decade where tourism would grow exponentially and the industry as a whole would have one of its best years yet, however, nature and COVID-19 had other plans. While we could create, strategise, and put our tried-and-tested tourism marketing methods and skills to effective use and plan for the future, nothing could have prepared us for what lay ahead. Luckily, we found opportunity and a space to test new ideas and push the creative and innovation boundaries. We took something as simple as selling vouchers and turned it into a travel restrictions success story for our client, Mount High Luxury Country House, which is based in Mpumulanga, South Africa.

A successful way to generate business during a tourism crisis is through the use of discounted or value-added vouchers. These vouchers allow you to take in vital revenue from consumers immediately and could ensure your business’ survival until travel restrictions are lifted.

Where do we go to find guidance during a crisis? Especially one we have never been through before? It’s simple, we revert to our tried-and-tested principles and apply those to our new – temporary – reality.