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Influencer marketing has proved to be a successful model for travel and tourism businesses. At ATM 2022, the sector comes under the spotlight, offering winning strategies to work with influencers in today’s climate

With the tremendous growth of social media platforms over the last decade, the influencer marketing industry has considerably matured, growing to a market size of US$13.8 billion in 2021. In 2022, a further jump of 19 percent (US$16.4 billion) has been projected, with the sector showing no signs of slowing down.

Yet, it’s important to note that one particular sector of the influencer industry that was hard hit by the pandemic was travel and tourism. With countries going into lockdown in 2020, travel influencers were cut off at the source as they were rendered unable to create their trademark content.

During a period when the global population spent more time online than ever before, following stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions prevented this segment of influencers from cashing in on the opportunity. And with flights getting grounded and hotel staff being made redundant, traditional partnerships and sponsorship deals with influencers dried up.

“The pandemic permanently changed the travel influencer and content creator landscape,” said Matt Gibson, CEO, UpThink Ltd., while discussing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the travel influencer landscape. “Within the space of about two weeks in the first quarter of 2020, most travel influencers saw their income drop to zero. Nearly all promotional content creation projects were suspended due to travel restrictions. Travel-related affiliate programs were also suspended. The few content creators that still earned money did so through non-travel affiliates, website display ads and website traffic related to the small amounts of domestic and local travel that were still happening.

“Many others had to abandon their travel work to find other income sources. Only the creators with the deepest pockets and most diversified revenue streams continued working on travel content full-time.”

SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES

When in-country restrictions first began to lift, domestic travel unsurprisingly soared. Leveraging this opportunity, the influencers that battled the first wave of the pandemic either turned their focus or expanded their interests.

Influencer marketing can be considered a valuable tool for travel industry businesses to promote their destinations and products

Gibson explained: “Most changed their focus from being primarily centred on international travel to focussing on local and domestic travel (often by starting a destination-focused blog) or by expanding their focus to include other related topics, such as lifestyle or food.”

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES

After a tumultuous two years, people are now travelling more, for both personal and business interests. And as airline and hotel bookings rise, influencers have led the way, opening the doors to new adventures and spreading their wings to safely seek out new avenues for travel.

As such, influencers can provide powerful storytelling and a unique narrative, which tourism and hospitality businesses can make the most of in order to drive awareness and reengagement in today’s climate.

“In one sense, the pandemic has made working with travel influencers easier as only the savviest and professional influencers were able to work through the crisis. So, vetting travel influencers will be easier than pre-COVID.”

However, Gibson also notes that: “The most effective ways to work with influencers post-COVID-19 are the same as they always were.”

He explained: “Hiring influencers to create content for your brand while simultaneously promoting your business is a great way to get the most value out of a limited budget. As travel restrictions continue to shape regional travel patterns, creating ongoing partnerships with influencers in key source markets will also be an excellent way to adjust to the new normal of travel.”

It is clear that, in the current climate, influencer marketing can be considered a valuable tool for travel industry businesses to promote their destinations and products. Gibson said: “The value of good travel influencers and content creators post-COVID-19 is arguably greater than it was pre-pandemic because the supply is now much smaller.

“Working with influencers and creators is also an exceptional way to stretch a lean digital marketing budget by hiring them to create content for the company’s social media channels and SEO-friendly articles for the company’s blogs while simultaneously promoting your product directly to their audience.”