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questionnaire on tourism marketing

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Tourist Survey: What It Is + Tips with Examples

A tourist survey is a tool that allows you to collect information about people's opinions about places they visit or services they receive.

A tourist survey mainly allows us to obtain quality information quickly. This data comes directly from tourists or travel enthusiasts. Online surveys for tourism reduce costs and facilitate execution for specialized personnel who carry it out.

What is a Tourist Survey?

A tourist survey is a tool that allows you to collect information about people’s opinions about the place they visited or the services they received. Through a survey, people can provide data that allows us to measure the service quality, the facilities’ safety and hygiene, assess the places they visited, the activities they carried out, etc.

Tourist Survey Uses

Various sources can use tourist surveys for different situations:

  • Travel agencies: Travel agencies can use tourist surveys to obtain data on activities, destinations, and applicants’ budgets to create campaigns that attract people to purchase their services. Carry out surveys for travel agencies and evaluate the quality of your service.
  • Hotel management: Surveys can be applied to hotels to find out what people think of the service they offer, the activities they carry out for visitors, if they have guides for foreigners and if they have the right knowledge to meet the needs of tourists.
  • Government departments: The government can find an extremely important source of data in surveys for tourists. With this information, they can create campaigns to publicize representative areas or zones of the city to attract a more significant number of visitors and income for the town’s benefit.

Tourist Survey Advantages

  • Among the benefits of applying survey formats for tourists are:
  • Create better strategies that allow the increase of tourists, both for companies and governments.
  • Better activities can be created for the interest of tourists.
  • Companies and organizations can offer a good experience to customers by knowing their needs.

Doing online surveys for tourists has a significant advantage since the visitor is given the option of being able to respond from any mobile device at the time they want.

Large amounts of information can be obtained about the most visited tourist sites to create better strategies for them to continue generating income. Publicize places that meet the tastes of tourists and give them more publicity.

LEARN ABOUT: Free Travel Surveys: Questions & Templates

Tourist Survey Tips with Examples

If you are going to create a survey for tourists, we recommend:

  • Remember that only some people who will respond to the survey speak the same language as you. With QuestionPro, you can create multilingual surveys for travelers to understand and answer appropriately.
  • Create short creative surveys that allow you to collect enough information for your goals. Chances are if someone is visiting a city, they want to spend less time answering a questionnaire.
  • Consider that there are countries in which internet access is limited or they do not have connectivity. In this case, you can use our tool to create offline surveys and collect data in the field or in ecotourism areas, for example, and when you are connected, download the information collected via Wi-Fi.

Examples of questions for tourists:

  • What is your favorite means of transport to travel?
  • What type of place do you prefer to visit when you vacation?
  • How many times a year do you go on a trip?
  • What is the season of the year in which you prefer to travel?
  • How many are the approximate days that you go on vacation?
  • What kind of activities do you like to do when you travel?
  • Where was the last place you went on vacation?
  • What factors do you take into account when hiring a travel package?
  • Where do you prefer to stay?
  • What are the tools you use to find accommodation?
  • On average, what is the price you consider appropriate for a travel package?
  • When making a trip, do you prefer to do it alone or accompanied by your family?

Travel surveys are a tool that will allow you to increase income and offer visitors the service they want during their trips. Do you want to create surveys for tourists? Schedule a demo right now.

LEARN MORE         SIGN UP FREE

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Tourism Marketing: A Guide to Effectively Market Your Tours and Experiences

Discover how to strategically promote your tours with our comprehensive guide on tourism marketing and elevate your brand visibility today

questionnaire on tourism marketing

by Janelle Visser | 2 February 2024

If you build it, they will come, as the adage goes. But in today’s digital age, where anyone can build anything and put it online in moments, the question becomes: how will they find — and choose — you? 

In the dynamic world of tourism experiences, the key to attracting travelers lies in successfully marketing your tours, activities and attractions. And it’s not just about attracting tourists, it’s about creating unforgettable connections that turn one-time visitors into loyal advocates for your brand. 

Marketing is consistently ranked by Arival event attendees as one of the most important topics they are looking for insights on. As traveler preferences and booking habits change, so do the most effective ways to market to them. 

In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the evolution and strategies of marketing for travel and tourism in today’s digital era, providing actionable insights for tour operators and attractions, and answering key questions that every tour operator grapples with. From crafting a marketing strategy to understanding the components of a successful tourism marketing campaign, we’ll explore how to navigate the competitive and ever-evolving landscape of tour, activity and attraction marketing, and create lasting connections with your guests.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What is Tourism Marketing?

The evolution of tourism marketing, how to create a tour marketing strategy.

  • Conduct Thorough Market Research
  • Identify Your Target Audience
  • Understand Your Customer Needs and Expectations
  • Create Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)
  • Build a Strong Brand
  • Consider Offline Marketing for Tours
  • Embrace Digital Marketing Strategies
  • Leverage Modern AI Technology
  • Take Advantage of the Current Trends
  • Monitor and Evaluate Your Strategy
  • Navigating the Future of Tourism Marketing with Arival

At its core, tourism marketing is a strategic approach to promoting destinations, tourism products and services to tourists. For operators, this primarily means promoting your tour, activity or attraction offerings. The aim is to understand and meet the needs and wants of travelers, creating memorable experiences that encourage reviews, repeat visits and referrals. 

In the context of the global tourism economy, where according to Arival’s latest data the in-destination experiences industry is expected to be worth $270 billion in 2024. Tourism marketing plays a pivotal role in the success of travel businesses, helping them to stand out above their competitors and serving as the bridge that connects them with their target audiences of travelers.

As travel marketing company Blend ’s Managing Director put it recently in an interview with Arival, “The simplest way to define [marketing] is what comes to mind when someone thinks about your brand or experience. And what you do through your marketing channels is help shape that perception.”

The landscape of marketing in tourism has undergone a profound transformation since the early 1900s when the Michelin Guide first encouraged motorists to explore the world beyond their own towns. Progressing from traditional tourism promotion methods like brochures and word-of-mouth recommendations to the digital age of Google searches and social media influencers, technology has played a pivotal role in shaping how destinations and experiences are promoted. 

questionnaire on tourism marketing

Fast forward to today, where the advent of short-form video marketing and generative AI has added new dimensions, allowing every tour, activity or attraction operator to engage travelers in innovative ways. These tools provide opportunities for engagement, personalization, and storytelling that were once unimaginable, and have become integral to captivating the modern traveler.

Successful marketing for tourism starts with a well-defined marketing strategy, which will help ensure the effort and resources you put into marketing are effective. The following steps will help guide you through the creation of a marketing strategy for your tour, activity or attraction company.

1. Tour Marketing Strategy

Understanding the market is the foundation of any effective strategy. Thorough research into customer demographics, travel patterns, and consumer behaviors will provide invaluable insights as you create your marketing strategy. 

Arival conducts regular tourism market research to assist tour, activity and attraction businesses with this process. For example, Arival’s latest consumer research on the 2024 U.S. Experiences Traveler found that day tours are on the rise among U.S. travelers , and that younger millennial and Gen Z travelers in particular are moving away from traditional sightseeing tours and looking for more experiential tours , such as culinary tours and immersive experiences. See Arival’s latest research here . 

questionnaire on tourism marketing

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Targeting your tourism marketing plan to a specific audience is crucial, as this will enable you to enhance the relevance of your offerings, improve engagement, and maximize the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Identifying your target audience involves a strategic process that combines market research as described above, data analysis, competitive analysis and customer profiling. Google and social media platforms, for example, offer analytics tools that provide insights into the age, interests, geographic location and income bracket of your followers, that can help you to develop detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal customers, and create a plan to reach and engage these audiences. 

In addition, analyzing the target audience of your competitors will help you build on this and identify gaps or underserved segments in the market that your tourism marketing plan can effectively target.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

3. Understand Your Customer Needs and Expectations

Conducting tourism market research and identifying your target audience will help you with this step. Once you have an idea of who your target customers are, you can discover what their needs and expectations are, and how to develop a marketing strategy to reach them effectively. 

For example, if you offer sightseeing tours and you have identified younger Millennial and Gen Z travelers from the U.S. as a demographic you want to market your tours to, you will need to go beyond sightseeing to attract this demographic, according to the latest Arival research . 

How can you make your tours more immersive and experiential, and reflect this in your marketing to engage this demographic? Anticipating and meeting your customers’ needs and expectations can lead to higher customer satisfaction, fostering reviews and repeat business. Personalization is key.

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4. Create Unique Selling Propositions (USPs)

One of the challenges a tourism marketing strategy needs to solve is how to make you stand out above your competitors. Why do tourists choose some travel experiences over others? One way to differentiate your offerings is by identifying and highlighting unique selling points (USPs) that resonate with your target audience.

Let’s say you have identified younger Millennial and Gen Z travelers as a group you’d like to target with your marketing efforts. In your city there are multiple competitors offering similar tour products to yours, however you’ve realized that this target audience has an affinity for food tours. You find a way to work elements of culinary tourism into your sightseeing tour offering and your marketing to set yourself above your competitors and offer something unique in your region.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

5. Build a Strong Brand

A consistent, strong brand fosters trust and ensures your tour company is memorable in the minds of potential guests. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t recognize the logo of an apple with a bite taken out of it, or doesn’t know where the phrase “just do it” comes from. 

Brands are about more than creative logos and catchy slogans, however. Building a robust brand for your experience business involves defining a clear identity with a focused mission and incorporating those USPs described in the previous step. Then, reaching out to your target audience through engaging storytelling and content, bolstered by a strong online presence, will enable your customers to build an emotional connection with your brand. Ensuring you’re delivering high-quality customer experiences to your target audience is crucial to building trust in your brand, and encouraging positive reviews is essential to building your brand’s reputation and ensuring ongoing brand success. 

Arival Insider Pro Access members can learn more about the importance of building your brand here. 

questionnaire on tourism marketing

6. Consider Offline Marketing for Tours

Before we go too deep into digital marketing in tourism, it’s important to recognize that traditional methods like print advertising, brochures, and partnerships with local businesses still have relevance and can complement digital marketing strategies.

Many travelers are still waiting to book their things to do until they are in-destination, which means there is an opportunity to meet these travelers where they are. For example, working with destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and other regional tourist organizations that operate tourist information centers can enable you as a tour or experience operator to get printed promotional material about your experiences physically in the hands of tourists looking in person for things to do. Reach out to destination marketers in your region to take advantage of this offline marketing opportunity. 

questionnaire on tourism marketing

7. Embrace Digital Marketing Strategies

As travelers increasingly use digital channels to discover, plan and book their travel, operators can and should leverage a range of digital marketing strategies to effectively promote their tours and engage with potential customers. 

From Google Things to do to search engine optimization (SEO), from social media strategy to working with influencers, from effective email marketing to impactful content marketing, a strong tourism marketing plan will incorporate a variety of digital marketing elements to bring a wider audience to the top of the funnel, and engage with them throughout the funnel at various stages of their discovery, planning and booking journey.

Arival has developed a number of guides and articles to help experience operators navigate the world of digital marketing for travel and tourism. Here are a few resources:

  • An Essential Guide to SEO for Tours & Activities
  • Content Marketing
  • Your Guide to Influencer Marketing in Travel and Tourism

questionnaire on tourism marketing

8. Leverage Modern AI Technology

The popularity of AI in 2024 cannot be understated, however many companies in the travel industry have been using AI in various forms long before the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 brought Generative AI, or Gen AI to the forefront. Gen AI, though, has made it a lot more accessible for travel businesses and tourism marketers without a lot of technical expertise to integrate AI to personalize customer experiences, generate targeted content, and enhance decision-making in marketing strategies for tourism. 

Many companies in the marketing for tourism space have developed tools and resources for tour, activity and attraction businesses, some of which are listed on Arival’s list of AI Resources for Experience Operators . Find out more about what’s the latest with AI in travel and how tour and attraction businesses are using it at the next Arival event. 

questionnaire on tourism marketing

9. Take Advantage of the Current Trends

Staying up-to-date with the latest digital trends in marketing for travel and tourism is essential to stay relevant and get ahead of your competitors. 

For example, over the last couple of years, short-form videos on platforms like TikTok have risen dramatically as a channel for travelers — younger Millennial and Gen Z travelers in particular — to find inspiration for travel experiences. Incorporating vertical and short-form video in your tourism marketing will help you engage this audience, enabling you to meet travelers where they are online and present the experience offerings of your tour, activity or attraction company in a format your audience is familiar with.

@j_buzzi I don’t think I’ll ever get over how amazing bioluminescence is! 🤯🌌 #bioluminescence #getupandgokayaking ♬ Another Rain (From “Halo 3: ODST”) – DS Music

Justin Buzzi , founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking , jumped on the vertical video trend and attracted millions of views and over one million likes on TikTok with this short bioluminescence video.

10. Monitor and Evaluate Your Strategy

A strategy without evaluation is like a ship without a compass. Regularly assess the effectiveness of your marketing strategy using key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs to monitor the effectiveness of your marketing strategy could include website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement, booking levels, and customer reviews and ratings. Consistent monitoring and evaluation ensure that you not only navigate the course but also make agile adjustments, keeping your strategy aligned with the ever-shifting tides of the tourism market.

1. What are the key components of a successful tour marketing campaign?

Success lies in a well-researched strategy with clear targeting built on tourism market research, compelling USPs that speak to the needs and expectations of your target audience, and a strong brand built on a balanced mix of offline and digital marketing, as well as a compelling tourism experience product itself. All of these components work together to make for a successful marketing strategy. 

2. How often should I reevaluate and update my tourism marketing strategy?

In the world of tourism marketing, trends and traveler preferences change rapidly. Check in regularly with travel trends (and let Arival research guide you). While you might evaluate the effectiveness of your overall strategies quarterly to stay responsive to market changes and ensure your strategy remains effective, more frequent monitoring of individual social media channels, website KPIs and SEO will help you be that much more effective.

3. How can I optimize my website for tour marketing purposes?

Your website is your digital storefront. Prioritize content marketing , then optimize for search engines ( learn more about SEO here ), ensure seamless user-friendly navigation and online booking system capabilities for both computer and mobile booking , incorporate visually captivating elements like photos and videos, keep your pricing and product listings up to date, and update your content regularly. 

4. Are there any specific strategies to attract international tourists?

To attract international tourists, consider ways to tailor your marketing messages for the specific regional audiences you’re interested in reaching. Look at tourism market research and trends for the different regions you intend to target — what works in the U.S. might not work in Asia and vice versa. Your local and regional destination marketing organizations (DMOs) may be able to help with this, as destination marketers often conduct research on the international travelers coming to your destination. Consider utilizing multilingual content to reach a broader range of potential travelers, and explore partnerships with international travel agencies. Check out Arival’s list of OTAs organized by geographic region to help you identify potential distribution partners in other languages and regions.

5. How important are customer reviews and testimonials in tour marketing?

Customer reviews and testimonials play a crucial role in tour marketing, acting as powerful social proof that influences potential customers. Positive reviews build credibility and trust, addressing concerns and reservations prospective customers may have. Encourage your satisfied customers to share their experiences on platforms like TripAdvisor or Google, or wherever they booked, and don’t forget to respond to these reviews, whether positive or negative.

6. What are some unique challenges in tourism marketing compared to other industries?

Tourism marketing faces unique challenges such as seasonality, unpredictable external factors (e.g., natural disasters ), and the need for real-time adaptability to changing travel trends. High competition demands innovative strategies to stand out, and the reliance on positive word-of-mouth makes ensuring customer satisfaction even in the face of unpredictable challenges critical. 

7. How can I use tourism marketing to cope with seasonal fluctuations in the industry?

To cope with seasonal fluctuations, craft seasonal promotions, diversify offerings to match changing preferences, and use marketing to highlight the unique experiences available during different seasons. Some strategies include implementing targeted off-season promotions, creating incentives for bookings during slower periods, and developing themed tours or events that align with seasonal interests and capitalize on festivals or holidays. Implementing dynamic pricing strategies , where prices vary based on demand, can also help maximize revenue during peak seasons and encourage more visitation during slower periods.

Navigating the Future of Tourism Marketing With Arival

Success in tourism marketing lies in learning about your audience, developing practical strategies to reach them, constant adaptation to keep up with changing market conditions and traveler trends, and utilizing tools and research like what Arival provides to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. 

Keep in mind that you don’t have to do this alone. There are multiple marketing agencies out there that specialize in marketing for travel and tourism companies, with some even focusing specifically on tours, activities and attractions. Check out our curated list of the tourism marketing agencies for tours and attractions here. 

Even better, join us at the next Arival event where we’ll dive into the latest tourism market research insights and trends in travel experiences, and share practical tourism marketing strategies and other actionable takeaways to help you reach your target markets, increase your bookings and grow your business.  

Become an Insider Pro Access member today and get access to the full library of Arival research, plus many other benefits such as free consulting sessions, special discounts and 20% off in-person events, starting from $179 per year.

Sign up to receive insights tailored for the in-destination industry as well as updates on Arival.

Header photo: Unsplash / Merakist

questionnaire on tourism marketing

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questionnaire on tourism marketing

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Surveys in Tourism

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questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • Stefano De Cantis 3 &
  • Mauro Ferrante 3  

A survey is any organized and methodical activity which directly gathers information regarding motivations, opinions, behaviors, and characteristics of a given population. In the field of tourism, this population generally comprises tourists, residents in a given destination , or industry firms. Information can be gathered from some (a sample) or all units (a census) of a population. Survey is probably the single most important source of primary data for tourism analysis (Smith 2014 ). Despite providing information regarding the characteristics and behavior of a large population, the costs and time associated with conducting a survey can be high. Survey results are widely used for developing statistics for marketing and planning purposes and for the evaluation of the impacts of tourism.

Conducting a valid survey is a complex task, involving a systematic and logical sequence of stages. Survey methodology is of relevance to designing, conducting, processing, and analyzing surveys, with...

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Groves, R., F. Fowler Jr., M. Couper, J. Lepkowski, E. Singer, and R. Tourangeau. 2011. Survey methodology . London: Wiley.

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Smith, S. 2014. Tourism analysis: A handbook . Harlow: Longman.

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UNWTO. 2007. Metadata project: Common glossary . Madrid: World Tourism Organization.

Veal, J. 2018. Research methods for leisure and tourism . London: Pearson Education.

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Stefano De Cantis & Mauro Ferrante

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School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, SAR, China

University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

Scott M. Meis

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De Cantis, S., Ferrante, M. (2023). Surveys in Tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_429-2

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_429-2

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_429-2

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  • Tourist Survey: What It Is, Tips & Examples

Angela Kayode-Sanni

Introduction

A tourist survey helps you to gather relevant information quickly. The data gathered in this survey is mainly sourced from tourists and people who have traveled widely for leisure.

Tourist surveys are an effective way to gain insight into the kind of people that visit your location, frequently. This way, you can predict future trends, display the typical visitor behavior and have the right persona of an ideal traveler or tourist. 

In this guide, we will show you what a tourist survey is, ways in which you can put them to use, the benefits some tips, and lots more.

What is a Tourist Survey?

A tourist survey is a research tool, that helps you collect information from people who have traveled frequently for leisure. This set of people are called tourists.

A tourist survey, hence, focuses on collecting information from people on the places they visited, the level of service they received, the hospitality of the locals in the area, the weather, the cost of leisure, entertainment accommodation, etc. It covers any information you want to gather about people’s experiences as it relates to travel. 

With this information or data, you can share information with others that provide relevant information on areas people would want to visit.

Tourist Survey Uses

Tourist surveys can be used for various purposes. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Travel Agencies

Data from tourist surveys can be used to gather insight into choice destinations, the kind of activities that certain tourists enjoy, the number of funds they expend, etc. This information can be used to create custom campaigns to attract people to this destination that are now part of the areas your travel agency cover. 

Hotel Management

In the same way, hotels can use these surveys to discover what people truly think of the services they offer, from the cleanliness of their rooms to the quality of food, the cost, and the overall customer experience. This feedback would help them improve on weak areas and capitalize on their areas of strength as unique selling points. 

Government Agencies

Government establishments can use this data to drive more visitors to their country and generate revenue. With this information, they can create policies that encourage travel to their country and also create campaigns to create awareness about certain choice locations to create new streams of income for their citizens and invariably benefit from it.  

Tourist Survey Advantages

The advantages of tourist surveys are numerous and they include;

  • The creation of custom strategies that would increase tourist visits to a particular location.
  • Creation of targeted activities that would appeal to tourists based on data gleaned.
  • Provision of excellent customer experience, that would speak to the unique needs of the tourist, as expressed in the survey forms.
  • Create better strategies that allow the increase of tourists, both for companies and governments.
  • Better activities can be created for the interest of tourists.
  • Companies and organizations can offer a good experience to customers by knowing their needs.

Doing online surveys for tourists has a significant advantage since the visitor is given the option of being able to respond from any mobile device at the time they want.

Large amounts of information can be obtained about the most visited tourist sites to create better strategies for them to continue generating income.

With tourist surveys, you can create publicity for areas loved by tourists and achieve the following.

  • Honest feedback

Tourist surveys are one of the ways to gather objective and honest feedback that can only be gathered from travelers who have truly experienced all that a particular location has to offer. With this information, you can get valuable insights into what their perspectives are, on exhibits, events, and their general visitor experience.

  • Your Visitors Know That Their Opinion Counts

Gathering feedback via a survey like this one helps to let your respondents know that their opinion counts for something. Especially when you take actions based on their feedback, this builds trust in whatever brand you represent. 

  • Customer Persona

Do you wonder exactly who is coming to visit your attraction? Not only can a survey provide feedback about your destination, but it’s also an opportunity to collect demographic data about your visitors so you can better understand your audience and market to them more effectively. It may even reveal an opportunity to tap into a new market you hadn’t thought of before. 

  • Create Actionable Goals.  

Feedback from your visitors can help you can set realistic goals that will lead to impactful change within your organization. Any concerns raised by visitors can be converted into goals to be addressed. Equipped with the knowledge of what your visitors want you can turn your survey into fuel to grow your attraction’s bottom line this summer.

  • Track Your Growth

With consistent surveys, you can track your growth and changes made as a result of the feedback from your visitors.

Tourist Survey Tips

A tourist survey is a tool that allows you to collect information about people’s opinions about the place they visited or the services they received. Through a survey, people can provide data that allows us to measure the service quality, the facilities’ safety and hygiene, assess the places they visited, the activities they carried out, etc.

A tourist survey mainly allows us to obtain quality information quickly. This data comes directly from tourists or travel enthusiasts. Online surveys for tourism reduce costs and facilitate execution for specialized personnel who carry it out.

If you are going to create a survey for tourists, these tips would help. Remember that not everyone would respond to the study or speak the same language as you.

Design short surveys that allow you to collect enough information for your goals, especially because when someone is visiting a city, they usually do not plan to use that time to fill out a questionnaire. Outlined below are tips that would help you create your tourist survey.

Tip 1: Brainstorm

The thought of conducting research and getting valuable insight is an intriguing one. Oftentimes, we get caught up in the excitement of it all, and we lose sight of the main objectives.

Before jumping in and writing visitor survey questions, ask yourself what you want to learn.

Are you looking to better understand who is visiting? Or maybe you would rather learn what attractions are the biggest draws.

No matter what you’re looking to get out of the research, it’s essential to have a game plan.

With a clear understanding of what it is you want to learn, you can draft a better, cleaner survey. Having a game plan also keeps you focused when it comes to analyzing the data later on.

Tip 2: Check Your Sample Sources

Many tourism organizations have access to visitor databases, either through opt-in email lists or other databases that collect guest information.

Therefore, it can be helpful to work with other agencies and organizations in your region to see what is available.

Tip 3: Go Online, Go Mobile

Online tourism surveys are one of the best types of market research methodologies . It’s a practical and cost-effective way of gathering high-quality data in a short period. All age groups are conversant with this digital technology.

Tip 4: Keep It Short, Engaging, and Simple

Nobody wants to take a 15 to 20-minute survey. We find the ideal travel and tourism survey to be 15 to 20 questions in length. The 5 minutes mark has been identified as a threshold where many respondents abandon the survey. For this reason, keep the survey short.

Make sure the respondent is engaged throughout the travel survey. Change the scales from question to question using sliders, visual images, or grids. 

No one likes a 1 to 5 scale question rating 20 different rows on a grid. Keep your survey engaging.

Lastly, keep it simple. No need to use big words or confusing phrases. Ensure questions are short, unbiased, and to the point.

Examples of Questions for Tourists

Examples of questions for tourists:

  • What is your preferred means of transport to travel?
  • What kind of place do you like to visit when you travel for leisure?
  • How often do you go on a trip?
  • What season of the year is your best time to travel?
  • What kind of activities do you enjoy when you travel?
  • Where was the last place you visited on vacation?
  • What factors do you consider when purchasing a travel package?
  • Where do you like to stay?
  • How do you find accommodation?
  • On average, what price would you consider ideal for a travel package?
  • When making a trip, do you prefer company or would you rather go alone?

Tourist surveys are one of the quickest ways to increase your revenue and offer visitors the kind of service they want during their stay.

How To Create a Tourist Survey With Formplus

questionnaire on tourism marketing

Formplus is the preferred offline and online data collection tool for creating and administering surveys and questionnaires in research. With Formplus , you can build different types of online tourist surveys with the various tools and features in our form builder. Better still, you can choose from the wide assortment of templates, which are ready to use and can be customized to suit your preference.

 Here’s how to make the most of an Online/Offline Survey with Formplus:

  • Log into your Formplus account at www.formpl.us to get started. If you do not have a Formplus account, you can create one on the website via the signup page.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • After signing into your Formplus account, click on the “Get Started ” button to access a tutorial on the form builder.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • The next step is to create a title and use the add form fields, on the left-hand bar that has all the field options. Drag and drop anyone that suits your preference, edit each field to include the questions and options you want, and save the file.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • The next step is to set up all your preferred integrations.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • In the builder’s customization section, you can use various tools to edit the look and feel of your form, in terms of design, theme, font style/size, custom background images, and include your company logo.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • Here, you can personalize your forms further by adding an intro and closing page and also add new pages to capture or share more information. You can decide on other options like storage, privacy, and much more.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • Choose from any of the options available for sharing your survey, from socials to links, QR codes, email, social media, etc, You can now customize your link or use the default link provided.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • View the responses from your respondents and details of who your participants are. Afterward, you click on the analytics button to get your report.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

  • The final step is to test your form to see how they look before you launch.

Tourist surveys are an effective way of getting insights from visitors and would-be visitors to your location or business on their preferences, dislikes, and any other information you require.

This data can be used to hone your business to fit the need of your target audience.

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  • survey research
  • survey research method
  • tourist surveys
  • Angela Kayode-Sanni

Formplus

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The Top 50 Questions Asked by Travel and Tourism Marketers

Get insights and advice from industry experts, in our eBook compiling the top 50 questions asked by travel and tourism marketers.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

We’ve received hundreds of questions about how travel and tourism brands can leverage visual marketing to promote their brand and experiences.

We decided to pick the top 50 questions, source answers from CrowdRiff marketers and customers, and put them together in one handy guide!

Read this eBook to get answers to your marketing questions and to learn what’s on the mind of others in your industry.

Read this eBook to get:

  • Insights into the minds of leading travel & tourism marketers and answers to their top questions
  • Tips for planning, sourcing, and getting rights to visual content for marketing campaigns
  • Real advice from industry experts on publishing and optimizing visual marketing content

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Do you want to create free survey about:

Cultural Tourism Marketing Survey?

Or maybe something else?

or use this template:

Cultural Tourism Marketing Survey

Explore the key findings from our survey on cultural tourism marketing and uncover valuable insights into the preferences and motivations of cultural travelers.

Would you like to work on this survey?

Startquestion is a free survey platform which allows you to create, send and analyse survey results.

Unlocking the Potential of Cultural Tourism Marketing: Insights from our Survey

Cultural tourism is a rapidly growing segment in the travel industry, attracting travelers who seek authentic experiences and a deeper understanding of different cultures. To gain valuable insights into this niche, we conducted a comprehensive survey titled 'Cultural Tourism Marketing Survey'. This survey, categorized under 'Business & Marketing', delved into the preferences, motivations, and expectations of cultural travelers, shedding light on how tourism destinations can effectively promote their cultural offerings. With a plethora of 20 thoughtfully crafted questions, we employed various question types, including single choice, multiple choice, and open-ended questions, to gather diverse and rich data from our participants. The survey questions covered a wide range of topics, from frequency of engaging in cultural tourism to factors influencing destination choices. The responses obtained from our survey participants provide valuable insights for cultural tourism destinations, industry professionals, and marketers. Let's explore some key findings from our survey: 1. How often do travelers engage in cultural tourism? - Rarely - Occasionally - Regularly - Frequently 2. What motivates travelers to choose a cultural tourism destination? - Rich cultural heritage - Historical significance - Artistic events and exhibitions - Unique traditions and customs 3. Which marketing strategies are considered effective for promoting cultural tourism? - Social media campaigns - Collaborations with local artists and craftsmen - Collaborations with travel influencers - Participation in cultural events and festivals - Targeted advertisements in relevant publications These are just a few highlights from our extensive survey, which covers a wide range of topics related to cultural tourism marketing. The data collected can assist businesses and marketers in tailoring their marketing efforts to better attract and engage cultural travelers. In summary, our 'Cultural Tourism Marketing Survey' provides valuable insights into the preferences and motivations of cultural tourists. By understanding their needs and desires, businesses and marketers can develop effective strategies to promote cultural tourism destinations and attract this growing segment of travelers. It's time to unlock the potential of cultural tourism through research and data-driven marketing!

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questionnaire on tourism marketing

The Guest Survey: The Powerful Tactic in Your Tourism Toolbox

hotel staff receiving a guest review

Guest preferences constantly evolve, and keeping up with the latest travel trends isn’t always easy. In 2023, we saw the continued rise of digital nomads, an increased focus on wellness travel , and consumers’ growing demand for sustainable and socially responsible tourism. Has your property kept up? Even if it feels like you’re on the right track, if customers don’t confirm, can you really be sure? Although some travelers will confidently express their questions, comments, or concerns, others will check in and out without communicating anything about their stay.

To better understand the value of guest feedback, we’re taking a closer look at what makes guest surveys an integral part of hotel management. From operations and guest service to sales and maintenance, guest feedback can impact every aspect of the business. In this post, you’ll discover what surveys are, why they’re so important, and how to create engaging guest surveys that benefit your venue.

What is a guest survey?

Guest surveys are helpful, informative tools that hotels, venues, and other businesses use to elicit customer feedback. Customer-facing companies often send guest surveys to assess how satisfied consumers are with their products, collect improvement recommendations, or dissect various aspects of the customer experience . Hotels may send surveys to in-house visitors, loyalty members, event attendees, recently checked-out travelers, and other types of hotel guests . Venues also use surveys as a retargeting tool to connect with online consumers who visited their website without completing a booking.

Surveys and other guest engagement tools , like social media questionnaires or live polling, make it easier for venues to connect with consumers at every stage of the booking process. To improve the guest experience, your hotel may:

  • Send a survey prior to arrival to determine a guest’s preferences or unique needs. Do they need a quiet room? Are they sensitive to perfume or other allergens?
  • Text a short one-question survey shortly after check-in to assess the efficiency of their arrival. Did their room meet their standards?
  • Reach out to the guest after checkout to inquire about their stay and satisfaction levels. What did they like? Dislike? What do they want to see in the future?

Guests are a hotel’s most valuable resource. Of course, their dollars keep the venue in business, but their feedback might be even more helpful. Honest consumer feedback helps hotels identify and fix minor issues before they become major complaints. Constructive criticism is an incredible tool that can inspire change, causing hotels to shift strategies and focus on what guests really want from a hotel .

Why are guest surveys important?

The way that hotel guests prefer to communicate with others and the world around them varies from person to person. While some travelers will immediately bring an issue to the attention of hotel staff, more reserved guests may wait until after checkout, mentioning their concerns in an online review—if at all. The value of utilizing polls, questionnaires, and other guest survey tools cannot be understated, as hotels can use them to:

  • Garner candid feedback. A 2019 study from Hotel Management concluded that guests only report hotel issues that impact their stay 25% of the time , with the most common reason being that there was no simple, quick way to do it. 45% of survey respondents also stated they prefer to report a problem through a hotel messaging or app or via text rather than in person or a phone call. Venues that utilize digital surveys and mobile feedback apps are more likely to get honest feedback from their guests.
  • Increase guest satisfaction. Consumers want to feel seen—and heard. They want to do business with brands that appreciate their values, style, and personalized preferences. Sending a quick pre-arrival survey makes it easier for the hotel to accommodate special requests, reducing the risk of an upset after check-in. However, should visitors experience a problem, in-stay surveys make it easier for the venue to recognize and rectify the concern during the guest’s stay. Things are bound to go wrong from time to time, but working with guests to fix them right away can lead to increased customer loyalty and lifelong guest relationships.
  • Personalize the guest experience. The more you know your guests and target demographics, the more personalized you can make their stay experience. Using pre-arrival feedback, hotels can create an immersive, tailored travel experience for guests before they arrive. Understanding how a particular guest prefers their room to be set up or how they like to be greeted upon arrival can go a long way toward leaving a memorable impression on them. Place comment cards inconspicuously on lobby tables or place a short questionnaire in each room before check-in, instructing guests where to drop off their comments. In addition to catching minor issues before they snowball, addressing real-time concerns makes it easier for team members to handle complex guest complaints more effectively.

How guest surveys can benefit your business

Businesses can use consumer feedback to create better products, improve their services, and give customers what they want. Working with surveys is incredibly advantageous to both venues and their visitors. Take advantage of guest feedback and use it to:

1. Attract more visitors. Discover if business, leisure, or bleisure travel dominates your area. Which hotel booking channels does each market segment prefer? Reinvest in the most active booking channels, using them to promote captivating and targeted marketing campaigns.

2. Identify better guest communication channels. How do current guests and members of your target audience prefer to book hotel reservations? While some travelers exclusively book through the hotel app, other guests prefer working with brand reservations. Different types of hotel guests have diverse communication styles . Although some guests may feel uncomfortable complaining to an employee, others may only feel comfortable expressing their concerns via text message or hotel chatbot . Use surveys to identify guests’ communication preferences and ensure your venue meets travelers’ needs.

3. Increase profits. Although different types of travelers value various aspects of a hotel stay, one trend spans most traveler demographics: guests will pay more for the hotel services and amenities they care most about. Regardless of your region or primary traveler demographics, your hotel can maximize profits by improving offerings and raising prices to match.

comp set CTA

4. Improve hotel policies. Use guest surveys to identify which hotel policies are well-communicated and which are not. Look for issues tied to a lack of policy communication, such as running out of parking spaces, which could result from failing to allocate parking passes diligently. Is there congestion during breakfast? Would providing on-the-go breakfast bags help reduce dining traffic during the early hours?

5. Boost ratings. Reviews are critical to hotel success, and positive reviews can help your property appear higher in search results. Additionally, when choosing between two or more comparable hotels, 79% of consumers are more likely to select the property with the highest guest ratings . Approximately two-thirds of happy customers consider leaving a review for a business or product, so keeping guests happy is key. Detailed guest reviews are also a fantastic resource for garnering guest feedback. Regularly read and respond to guest reviews to increase the hotel’s online reputation, optimize search results, and identify minor issues before they balloon.

6. Create loyal customers. Build a committed consumer base by demonstrating that the hotel is committed to its customers and continuously improving the guest experience . Work hard to implement the services, products, and amenities that survey respondents request. When guests share their candid feedback, problems, or concerns through surveys, show a steadfast dedication to correcting them.

7. Uncover new business. Boost local business by uncovering new accounts in your own backyard. Shift corporate market share by connecting with transient travelers in your area, driving them to your property instead of nearby competitors. Survey transient guests about their professional travel needs and neighborhood business relationships. Ask about their current business needs and if they anticipate changes coming down the pipeline. If a new company is opening nearby, major corporations are merging, or union negotiations are imminent for regional industries, reading guest surveys could help your hotel be the first to know about it.

8. Boost your reputation. Build a reputation as a hotel and brand that listens to customers, takes accountability for its mistakes, and is committed to improvement. Use survey responses to determine which patrons view your business as a hotel-only, who sees your property as a premier meeting location, and how other visitors perceive your hotel. If most guests see you as only a hotel, take the opportunity to increase your event marketing efforts to strengthen your reputation as an event venue.

Show off your space to event planners

How to create a guest survey

Consumer surveys come in many shapes and sizes, designed to appeal to a wide range of companies and customers. While your brand image might be minimalistic and chic, another hotel may offer a quirkier, more creative atmosphere. Whatever your style, there’s a survey to match. With loads of free online templates available to help, it’s easy to get started.

If it’s your first time creating a guest survey, have no fear; the process is as easy as 1, 2, 3—4!

1. Identify your objective

Establish the goal of your survey and determine what you hope to get from guest responses. Are you seeking general, honest feedback about the stay experience your hotel offers, or are you looking for help with a specific task? Outline a specific survey objective , such as:

  • Identify the primary factors resulting in late cancellations.
  • Assess guests’ perception of hotel text messaging.
  • Determine what percentage of guests dine in the hotel restaurant.

Gather information based on your core objective, diving deeper as you learn more. For example, if survey results show that only 40% of guests are dining onsite, your hotel might want to send a follow-up survey to discover why.

2. Select questions that serve your goal

Open-ended questions yield vastly different responses than closed-ended or task-based inquiries, so fill guest surveys with questions that elicit the information you want . If the hotel has renovations coming up, ask specific questions about amenity and guestroom technology preferences. This information will help the hotel better allocate resources to elements guests care about most. Do you want to create a more welcoming lobby atmosphere? Launch a social media contest inviting guests to describe the most welcoming hotel they’ve ever visited.

3. Send the survey

Now that you’ve established a goal and selected the questions to include in your survey, it’s time to put the whole thing together and send it out. Determine how and when you want customers to receive the survey (e.g., pre-arrival, in-house, post-checkout). Email, social media pages, and website prompts are effective guest survey vehicles, but keep your target audience in mind when picking a distribution channel. In addition to standard survey templates, your venue can use various other tools to gather guest feedback, including:

  • Comment cards
  • One-click ad surveys
  • Social media surveys
  • Branded questionnaires
  • Mobile polling

4. Monitor the results

Keep track of results and monitor consumer engagement with guest survey software for hotels. Guest feedback management software makes it easy for venues to create, send, manage, and track surveys. Analyze guest engagement, reduce negative reviews, track hotel goals, and boost staff accountability with organized survey management.

See which content styles and templates guests interact with most and which channels get the highest response rates. Show your appreciation for guest participation by demonstrating a constant dedication to improving the experience your venue provides.

You’re ready to start sending guest surveys!

Now that you know how to create guest surveys that suit your needs, you can start uncovering mountains of advantageous information. And the more guests you communicate with, the better!

In data collection, quality and quantity are both important; guest surveys follow the same logic. The more surveys your hotel has to review, the greater access it has to valuable guest information. Next, we explore a variety of strategies, tactics, and actionable tips your venue can use to increase customer survey response rates .

Headshot of Cvent writer Kimberly Campbell

Kim Campbell

Kim is a full-time copy and content writer with many years of experience in the hospitality industry. She entered the hotel world in 2013 as a housekeeping team member and worked her way through various departments before being appointed to Director of Sales. Kim has championed numerous successful sales efforts, revenue strategies, and marketing campaigns — all of which landed her a spot on Hotel Management Magazine’s “Thirty Under 30” list.

Don’t be fooled though; she’s not all business! An avid forest forager, post-apocalyptic fiction fan, and free-sample-fiend, Kim prides herself on being well-rounded.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

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Tourism Survey Results 2019: Social Media and Digital Destination Marketing

  • May 6, 2019 /
  • Newsletter /

Two women in surveying class 1921 (courtesy Miami University Libraries Miami of Ohio on Flickr Commons) Tourism Survey Results 2019 Social Media and Digital Destination Marketing

Two women in surveying class 1921 (courtesy Miami University Libraries – Miami of Ohio – on Flickr Commons)

Which social media and digital marketing platforms are working well for tourism professionals and partners like you, and which are not?

What are some online marketing priorities for smaller DMOs?

How can I keep my skills sharp and up-to-date?

This is our second tourism industry survey on how people are using social media, slightly changed to take a broader look at digital destination marketing overall. We share the voices, the successes, and yes, the frustrations of CVBs, DMOs, and tourism partners, including those “marketing teams of one.”

Our purpose is to give you a quick  snapshot of where you stand among your peers , help you see how you and your organization fit into the mix with the respondents, and show you that you’re not alone in dealing with some common challenges.

  • There were 178 survey respondents worldwide, drawn mostly from  our email newsletter  list although others participated when we announced the survey on our various  Tourism Currents social media channels .

Here is the link to the results of our last survey  on social media in tourism, data gathered in late 2013 and published in early 2014…. yes, we plan to run this survey more frequently in the future!

Let’s look at the tourism survey results 2019 details….

Who Are You?

Bar chart Q1 who are you Tourism Survey Results 2019

Nearly 40% of respondents in our tourism survey results 2019 work for a CVB or DMO for a small town, county, or a region, which is about the same as our 2014 survey.

We think this gives the overall results a unique perspective – they are somewhat weighted toward that of the smaller DMO .

The second largest groups, about 12% each, either….

  • Work for a CVB or DMO in a large or medium-sized city, or
  • Are the owner of a tourism-dependent business, or
  • Are some sort of “Other” such as a Main Street/downtown development professional, or an educator (tourism curriculum Professor.)

The third largest group of respondents, at exactly 8.43% each, either

  • Work for a national, state, provincial, or territorial tourism office, or
  • Are a PR person with tourism and/or hospitality clients, or
  • Are an independent consultant in the tourism or hospitality industry

The remainder of respondents include people at Chambers of Commerce, hotels and lodging, tourism attractions, or a scenic byway, heritage highway, or trail advocacy organization.

How Many Are on Your Marketing Team?

Pie chart Q2 Survey on Social Media in Tourism Marketing 2019 how many on tourism marketing team

If you feel that you’re all alone juggling multiple demands as a “Team of One,” you are not.

Somewhat to our surprise (this was a new question this year) 43% of our survey respondents are  the only ones doing the marketing  for their organization.

Another 35% are on small teams of just two to five people.

While time and resource management are a challenge, no doubt, there are advantages to working alone or on a small team : fewer layers of bureaucracy to navigate, ability to experiment more freely, and to respond more quickly to change.

What You’re Doing Right Now in Social & Digital

Bar chart Q3 survey social media digital tools using right now for tourism

When we published answers to these question in early 2014, the answer was mostly Facebook and Twitter . This year we expanded the selection options to include other digital marketing tools like email.

Top tools/platforms in active use by respondents:

  • Facebook Page – 98% have one, up from 95% in 2014
  • Email and Instagram – tied at 81%. Email was a new option; IG was previously at 38%
  • Twitter – 73%, down from 79%
  • Blog on website – 58%, up from 46%
  • YouTube channel – 42%, down from 46%
  • Pinterest – 37%, down from 47%
  • LinkedIn Page – 35%, up from 28%

The remainder of tools/platforms in active use include messenger apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, an opt-in SMS/texting service, Snapchat, and Tumblr. A few DMOs are experimenting with website chatbots, VR (Virtual Reality,) and podcasting/audio content.

Instagram is now solidly the #2 social platform  in use, behind Facebook.

In our view, Twitter is morphing into a visitor services channel and a way to connect with travel media, YouTube is rather overlooked as a tremendous SEO asset (not necessarily a social channel,) and we’re surprised by the drop in Pinterest usage since it’s become a powerful travel inspiration search engine and it drives website traffic.

Note that  more respondents have a Facebook Page than an email list , which we find a bit frustrating. Remember that all YOU control is your own website, blog, email list, and opt-in SMS/texting list. Everything else is “decorating a room in someone else’s hotel” as  Marcy Massura  says.

Then we asked an open-ended question….

Destination Marketer’s Wish List for Tourism Survey Results 2019

What would people try if money were no object and infinite time was available?

In early 2014, it was getting more out of Facebook (including more advertising,) doing more with YouTube, and ramping up blogging.

Here is a word cloud of the 2019 responses:

Word cloud Q4 social media marketing what would you try with unlimited money and time

No surprise: in an increasingly visual world, tourism pros know that  they need to invest resources into visual platforms  like Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, plus create more visual content for Facebook.

Some specific wishes in these comments from respondents:

*  “Videos – website, YouTube, enhance [our] Facebook & Instagram posts.”

*  “My own dedicated website, managed by someone who could keep it in top ten rankings.”

*  “Pinterest! Our team had an active Pinterest presence at one point, but right now I have been unable to tap into it. Our community is unbelievably picturesque, and Pinterest content has such long staying power. It would be great to get back into it.”

*  “Geo-targeted opt-in messaging and high-quality produced vids for YouTube.”

*  “We just yesterday made a LinkedIn Page and are hoping to engage with meeting planners.”

*  “Guest blogging program, local authors.”

*  “We don’t advertise as much on Instagram as I’d like.”

*  “Twitter. I dabble in it now, but it could be so much better if I had the time to scroll it, retweet, get involved in chats, etc.”

*  “I would like to have more time to do more with the platforms I’m [already] using.”

Other wish list items included more/better email segmentation, podcasting, hiring influencers, website chatbots, opt-in texting, and media monitoring.

To find out what people have tried in the last 12 months in the real world (without unlimited money or time) we then asked:

Which Digital Destination Marketing Trends or Tools Has Your Organization Tried in the Last 12 Months?

Bar chart Q5 what social media and digital you use now for destination marketing

This was a new question, so we don’t have comparative data from 2014.

Top responses in order:

  •  Social media advertising (for example, Facebook or LinkedIn Sponsored Posts) – 81%
  •  A mobile-friendly, responsive website – 61%
  •  Instagram Stories or Facebook Stories – 55%
  •  Social publishing and brand monitoring dashboards (Sprout Social, Hootsuite, etc.) – 43%
  •  Email tools (segmentation, personalization, automated campaigns like a welcome sequence) – 42%
  •  Live/streaming video – 37%
  •  Visitor and UGC image sharing (for example, Crowdriff) – 27%
  •  Mobile app – 20%
  •  360 degree photos – 17%
  •  Visitor tracking services (for example, Arrivalist or Adara) – 16%

The remainder included items like 360 video, streaming music like Spotify or Pandora, WeChat, podcasting, and voice search SEO.

6% of respondents said, “None of these,” which we suppose means that they are not experimenting at all.

Something to think about:  the top two items were social advertising and a responsive website . Those have been basic, must-have/must-do items for a few years, yet  many organizations are still working to get their arms around them .

This matches what we see out there on the road, especially with tourism partners – they are not nearly up to speed with modern digital marketing as the savvier DMOs practice it. There is plenty of ongoing learning to do.

We then asked another open-ended question…. 

What Is NOT Going Well for Your Organization in Social Media & Digital Destination Marketing?

Here is our summary of responses from 2014:

“Some specified Twitter and Facebook (especially being forced into more pay-to-play on Facebook,) but overall the consensus is that there’s not enough time for social media, not enough resources (bodies and money,) social media activity keeps getting stuck in office silos/is not coordinated, and there’s not enough engagement on social platforms given the effort expended.”

Here is the word cloud of results from 2019:

Word cloud Q6 Survey on Social Media in Tourism Marketing what is not working in social media Tourism Survey Results 2019

“Not enough time” and “not enough resources” are still an ongoing challenge for many, as is dropping organic engagement and the need to spend money on social advertising to get better visibility.

Several respondents are confident and happy right where they are, with comments like, “I would not say there is anything that is not going well for us.”

Some other thoughts from respondents:

*  “As the sole communications specialist, I am responsible for all of our marketing: events, governmental announcements, etc. Our community has experienced exceptional growth in the past decade, and I would love to have more time (like 48 hours a day) to dedicate to my job. Another team member would be a huge step for us.”

*  “Planning content and using an editorial calendar. Never once in all my cities with all the different hats have I been able to accomplish this.”

*  “I think we need to be more consistent with our email marketing and building our email list. We get email leads and I don’t think we use those to the best that we can.”

*  “We don’t really do anything but Facebook. We should do more, but I also do Economic Development, so never enough time for everything. Is there a way to be more efficient?”

*  “It’s difficult trying to figure out what the small towns we help have in place in the way of social media, as many of them have quite elderly folks in volunteer only positions in tourism/chamber etc.”

*  “We don’t have a comprehensive, all-encompassing social media plan or calendar. We don’t always or are not able to align our multiple platforms (i.e. print with social with billboards, etc.)”

*  “We are trying to teach more out of state and international travelers. Budget has been a real problem.”

*  “We’re re-strategizing on all our digital platforms. We see a time not too long from now when Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not as universal as they are now.”

*  “We are a very small team, so we don’t have a lot of time for analytics and interpreting them intelligently. If we had more time and capacity, we could better use our analytics to make more informed marketing decisions.”

One person simply said, “I have no idea what is not going well or is going well.”

Working with Influencers…Survey Says…

This was a new survey question. Over half of respondents (54%) have worked with influencers, and another 19% are considering it.

Pie chart Q7 do you work with influencers

Of those who said they had worked with influencers:

  • 56% ran  both paid and unpaid  campaigns/contracts
  • 21% did not pay their influencers
  • 12% paid them

The remainder made other arrangements, like comped hotel stays, attraction tickets, and gift cards to restaurants.

Of those who said they had worked with influencers,  we asked if they would do it again .

The majority said yes, they would, and here are a few of their reasons why:

*  “If the influencer has a high level of engagement with their followers, we see good results in our projects.”

*  “Overall it’s been positive. We have been able to reach a variety of audiences we could not have otherwise reached, for fairly minimal costs.”

*  “It helps gain exposure to our small town. We have a lot of bloggers in bigger cities around us, so it lets people who live in those cities know how close we are and what we have to offer.”

*  “We see great ROI and our community partners love the additional exposure as well.”

*  “Especially niche influencers because they have a very targeted, loyal audience.”

*  “For our small organization, this garners not only social proof, but also evergreen content (which we are always time-challenged to be able to generate). Great bang for the buck for us.”

A few respondents said that  they are getting pickier  about who they select – “Numbers [of followers] aren’t enough to impress us” – or are still enthusiastic, but are adjusting their approach toward cultivating more local ambassadors, and away from mass press trips with a single agenda:

*  “We would rather have it be a more organic experience, rather than direct them to a specific tourism asset. We think having an independent third party with their own following provides a valuable sense of authenticity and improves our reputation among audiences that we may not necessarily be targeting in some of our other marketing.”

*  “We need a way to vet them efficiently. Now, we just look at their blog/website/social media and guess.”

A few are not impressed :

*  “TBD. ROI has been hard to demonstrate.”

*  “We’re not sold on their ability to ‘sell’ our product well and it’s no different than having a travel writer doing the same thing.”

How Do You Prefer to Get Your Professional Development & Learning & Keep Up with All the Changes?

Constant changes require constant professional development, and a  commitment to lifelong learning and skill set upgrades.

When we asked in 2014 how people preferred to learn and keep their skills sharp, the most preferred method (by a hair) was a combination of in-person workshops and online lessons, closely followed by self-paced online learning.

We adjusted the question somewhat to allow more options, and this year, the most preferred method is to:

  • Learn mostly online, through trusted source blog posts, videos, and email newsletters (31%) followed by
  • A fairly even combination of in-person workshops and online resources (24%) then
  • Mostly online, through webinars and online courses (16%) then
  • By attending my state/province/regional industry annual or semi-annual conferences (13%)

Bar chart survey Q10 how tourism people prefer to learn and keep up professional development

The remainder are most comfortable with one-on-one, in-person learning or small group workshops, or having an on-call trusted paid consultant who can help just when needed.

We’re happy to see  how comfortable people are with online learning  – especially since we run an  online course in social media for tourism  – but it makes sense that online assets shine in a just-in-time world of “when I need to know something, I’ll Google and start learning about it.”

There is still plenty of room for great marketing education at in-person tourism conferences, but if that’s the only time that people devote energy to learning, they will fall behind.

When we asked survey respondents to rank what matters most to them in professional education, they said, in order:

  • Quality  of the educators and their material, including how comprehensive and up-to-date they are, was most important (33% – down from 42% in 2014) then
  • Relevance  to my particular organization’s marketing work (32% – down from 35% in 2014) then
  • Price  (18%, the same as 2014) then
  • Time commitment and flexibility for my schedule (15% – way up from 6% in 2014) then
  • Ease of access to instructors  for questions/guidance (3% – up from 0% in 2014)

In summary, we were happy and honored that so many smaller DMOs, tourism partners, and “team of one” marketing pros took the time to tell us what was on their minds, in addition to respondents from larger organizations (plus those six people who said they were on marketing teams of more than 20 (!!)

Clearly the challenges of managing priorities, keeping up with near-constant change, and maintaining focus on what matters continue to keep the tourism industry on its toes.

The answer is continuous learning , and frequently asking those basic but crucial digital destination marketing questions, “Who is my market, where are they spending their time online, and how can I most effectively connect with them where they are?”

Teams from 1 to more than 20 all struggle with time management and fast-paced change.  Stay focused  on your strategy and goals, don’t chase too many shiny objects, and make the most of the inexpensive and powerful tools we have today.

Were these survey results helpful? Use the buttons below to share, spark some lively discussions in your office, and let us know in the comments if you have thoughts and feedback….

—->>  PS. Want this information as a download? Click here to download the survey results as a PDF .

At Tourism Currents, we help you and your tourism partners learn how to use social media and digital destination marketing to bring more visitors to town . Pick what works for you: our self-paced  online course in social media for tourism , our  coaching/consulting services , or our  speaking and workshop services .

Not already getting these blog posts via email?  Click here for the Tourism Currents newsletter signup page .

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How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps [Free Template]

Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn’t need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps.

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps (Free Template) | Hootsuite

A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep it concise. Don’t make it so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own. We’ve even got expert insights from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing.

How to create a social media strategy:

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template   to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you’re active on. These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a good social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities within your team and outline your reporting cadence.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

Creating your own social media marketing strategy (video guide)

No time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing, guide you through our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:

How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps

Step 1. choose goals that align to business objectives, set s.m.a.r.t. goals.

The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to establish clear objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI) .

Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART : s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant and t ime-bound.

Psst: Need help getting started? We’ve got social strategy guides for small businesses , financial services , government , higher education , healthcare , real estate , law firms , and non-profits .

Oh, and if you need examples of smart social media goals , we’ve got you covered there too.

track your social media goals in a social media strategy doc, like this one.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, track them in a social media strategy doc — grab our free template if you don’t have one already.

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a look at these 19 essential social media metrics .

You may want to track different goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For example, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you might track the number of Instagram Story views. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes it easier to show the value of your work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Screenshot of chart showing how social media goals should align to business objectives for an effective social media marketing strategy.

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three goals for social media.

“ It’s easy to get overwhelmed by deciding what to post and which metrics to track, but you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media to begin with,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: match your goals to your business, and your metrics to your goals.”

Step 2. Learn everything you can about your audience

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you will know how to target and engage them on social media.

When it comes to your ideal customer, you should know things like:

  • Average income
  • Typical job title or industry

Here’s a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas .

Document important information about your target customers in your social media strategy doc

Don’t forget to document this information in your strategy doc!

Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90% of their users who referred other customers were between 18- and 34-years-old, and 65% of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them .

Step 3. Get to know your competition

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that means you can learn from what they’re doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll get a good sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.

It will also help you spot opportunities and weaknesses you can document in your social strategy doc.

track essential information about your competitors in your social strategy doc

Maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, for example, but has put little effort into X (Twitter) or Instagram. You might want to focus on the social media platforms where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player.

Use social media listening

Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re sharing and what other people are saying about them. If they’re using influencer marketing, how much engagement do those campaigns earn them?

Pro tip : Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags and accounts in real-time.

Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.

As you track, you may notice shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You might even spot specific social content or a campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Use this kind of intel to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.

Just don’t go overboard on the spy tactics, Amanda advises. “ Make sure you aren’t ALWAYS comparing yourself to the competition — it can be a distraction. I’d say checking in on a monthly basis is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”

Step 4. Do a social media audit

If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts so far. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What’s working, and what’s not?
  • Who is engaging with you?
  • What are your most valuable partnerships?
  • Which networks does your target audience use?
  • How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

Once you collect that information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.

We’ve created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Screenshot of a social media audit spreadsheet for building an effective social media marketing strategy

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an account isn’t clear, think about whether it’s worth keeping.

To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is my audience here?
  • If so, how are they using this platform?
  • Can I use this account to help achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions will keep your social media strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, you may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters can be harmful to your brand—never mind that they’re capturing followers that should be yours.

You may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here’s how to get verified on:

  • X (Twitter)

Step 5. Set up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use.

As you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics’ social media manager, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer : “For our makeup tutorials … we’re all about Snapchat and Instagram Stories. [X], on the other hand, is designated for customer service.”

Hootsuite’s own social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)

Pro tip : Write out a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.

Example: “We will use X for customer support to keep email and call volumes down.”

Or: “We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our company culture to help with recruitment and employee advocacy.”

One more: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and repost quality content from influencers.”

If you can’t create a solid mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Note : While larger businesses can and do tackle every platform, small businesses may not be able to — and that’s ok! Prioritize social platforms that will have the most impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to handle content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18-minute social media plan .

Set up your profiles

Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

  • Make sure you fill out all profile fields
  • Include keywords people would use to search for your business
  • Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so your profiles are easily recognizable

Pro tip : Use high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference.

We’ve also got step-by-step guides for each network to walk you through the process:

  • Create a Facebook business page
  • Create an Instagram business account
  • Create a TikTok account
  • Create a X (Twitter) business account
  • Create a Snapchat account
  • Create a LinkedIn Company Page
  • Create a Pinterest business account
  • Create a YouTube channel

Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Optimize your profiles (and content) for search

Never heard of social SEO ? It’s time to learn.

44% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms to research their purchase decisions, which means it’s extra critical that your channels are optimized for social search.

That means making sure your profile names are clear and descriptive, you’re including relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio and on every post, and you’re using features like alt text and captions to include your target keywords as naturally as possible.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

“ I consider it my job to stay active on social: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new with the platforms, who’s going above and beyond,” says Amanda. “This might be the most fun step for you, or the hardest one, but it’s just as crucial as the rest of them.”

Social media success stories

You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. ( Here’s Facebook’s , for example.)

Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy following on social media? What do they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)

Then there’s Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves by showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on X. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand way.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

Source: lushcosmetics on X

Notice that each of these accounts has a consistent voice, tone, and style. That’s key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?

Consistency also helps keep your content on-brand even if you have multiple people on your social media team.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media .

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?

If you have existing social channels, you could also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Step 7. Create a social media content calendar

Sharing great content is essential, of course, but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when you’ll share content to get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although you need to allow for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Set your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content on each channel. It’s the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post .

Pro tip: You can plan your whole content calendar and get recommended best times to post on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each social profile, so that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

(We know, it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)

You might decide that:

  • 50% of content will drive traffic back to your website
  • 25% of content will be curated from other sources
  • 20% of content will support lead-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
  • 5% of content will be about your company culture

Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.

If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule :

  • 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
  • 20% can directly promote your brand.

The 80-20 rule of social media publishing

You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds :

  • One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
  • One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
  • One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

The social media marketing rule of thirds

Whatever you decide on, be sure to document it in your strategy doc.

document your content pillars in your strategy doc

Don’t post too much or too little

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not have figured out how often to post to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post too frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But, if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.

Start with these posting frequency recommendations:

  • Instagram (feed): 3-7 times per week
  • TikTok: 3-5 times per week
  • Facebook: 1-2 times per day
  • X (Twitter): 1-5 times per day
  • LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

How often to publish on social media by each platform

Pro tip : Once you have your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full picture of all your social activity each week.

Try It Free

Step 8. Create compelling content

Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.

If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas to get you started. Or (to make it even easier) you can use an AI tool like OwlyWriter to generate on-brand content in a flash.

The idea here is to:

  • Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
  • Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect to see on each network.

This last point especially will help you avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok yet. It’s not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.

For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated X/Twitter for primarily customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might take some testing over time to figure out which type of content works best on which type of network, so prepare to update this section frequently.

We won’t lie: content creation isn’t as easy as everyone not on the social team seems to think. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests going back to basics.

The first question to ask is: is there cohesion between your content types? Is your content providing value? Do you have a good mix of entertaining, or educational content? What does it offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating a few different content pillars or categories that encompass different aspects of storytelling for your brand, and what you can offer your audience is a good start.

This brings us to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and make adjustments

Your social media marketing strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get it exactly right on the first try.

As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as well as you’d anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

That’s why it’s important to document your progress along the way.

questionnaire on tourism marketing

Look at performance metrics

In addition to the analytics within each social network (see Step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track social visitors as they move through your website, so you can see exactly which social posts drive the most traffic to your website.

Benchmark your results

You’ve got your numbers, but how do they stack up to the competition in your industry? Industry benchmarks are a great way to evaluate your performance against other businesses in your category.

If you’ve got Hootsuite Analytics , you can use our built-in social media benchmarking tool to compare the performance of your social accounts against the average of brands in your industry with just a couple of clicks.

You can set up custom timeframes, switch between networks — Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok — and look up benchmarks for metrics like followers, audience growth rate, engagement rate, clicks, shares, and much more.

You’ll also find resources to improve your performance  right in the summary section:

Industry benchmarking in Hootsuite Analytics: Performance summary with dedicated resources for improvement

Re-evaluate, test, and do it all again

Once this data starts coming in, use it to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You can also use this information to test different posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can refine your social media marketing strategy in real time.

You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting so you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you get the hang of checking your analytics, you may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a variety of different time periods.

Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you’re meeting their needs and expectations, and what they’d like to see more of. Then make sure to deliver on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is final.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change as well.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you update your social strategy, make sure to watch our 5-step video on how to updating your social media strategy for 2024:

Social media strategy template

Ready to start documenting? Grab your free social media strategy template below!

the cover page of Hootsuite's social media strategy template

What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…

Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

  • Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
  • Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
  • Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
  • Get easy-to-understand performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

Try Hootsuite for Free

With files from Shannon Tien .

Do it better with Hootsuite , the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford comma—not necessarily in that order.

Amanda Wood is a senior social marketing professional who combines analytical and creative thinking to build brands.

As head of social at Hootsuite, Amanda oversees the global social strategy encompassing organic and paid social on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, a social engagement and listening strategy, and an employee advocacy program.

As the leader of a high-performing social team, she has extensive experience collaborating with creatives to bring campaigns to life on social and drive business results.

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VIDEO

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COMMENTS

  1. Tourist Survey: What It Is + Tips with Examples

    A tourist survey is a tool that allows you to collect information about people's opinions about the place they visited or the services they received. Through a survey, people can provide data that allows us to measure the service quality, the facilities' safety and hygiene, assess the places they visited, the activities they carried out, etc.

  2. Tourism Marketing: A Guide to Effectively Market Your Tours and

    Successful marketing for tourism starts with a well-defined marketing strategy, which will help ensure the effort and resources you put into marketing are effective. The following steps will help guide you through the creation of a marketing strategy for your tour, activity or attraction company. 1. Tour Marketing Strategy.

  3. 42 Informative Travel Survey Questions

    Creating a survey that can elicit insights into such distinct aspects of the travel experience demands a well-crafted set of questions. To this aim, here we present areas for inquiry across seven key areas that your travel survey should tap into: motivations for travel, transportation methods, accommodation preferences, destination selection ...

  4. (PDF) Survey research in tourism: a perspective paper

    Abstract. Purpose This paper aims to discuss issues relating to survey research in tourism. Design/methodology/approach This brief perspective paper discusses the routine approach of survey ...

  5. PDF Survey on Tourism and Digital Destination Marketing 2019

    tourism marketing skills sharp and up-to-date? This is our second industry survey on social media in tourism marketing, slightly changed to take a broader look at digital destination marketing overall. We share the voices, the successes, and yes, the frustrations of CVBs, DMOs, and tourism partners, including those "marketing teams of one."

  6. Travel Survey Questions and Templates

    Sample travel and hospitality surveys (some templates available only in English) Build customer loyalty. Use surveys to find out what your customers think of your travel or hospitality services—and what it would take to keep them coming back. Start with one of our survey templates and use it as is, or customize a survey to meet your needs.

  7. Surveys in Tourism

    Survey results are widely used for developing statistics for marketing and planning purposes and for the evaluation of the impacts of tourism. Conducting a valid survey is a complex task, involving a systematic and logical sequence of stages. Survey methodology is of relevance to designing, conducting, processing, and analyzing surveys, with ...

  8. How to design a questionnaire.

    Abstract. This chapter covers some of the basic skills associated with designing a questionnaire for tourism research. It considers different types of questions and when to use each. It considers question format in some detail, as well as overall questionnaire structure. It also looks at tactics associated with coding the results from ...

  9. Tourist Survey: What It Is, Tips & Examples

    We find the ideal travel and tourism survey to be 15 to 20 questions in length. The 5 minutes mark has been identified as a threshold where many respondents abandon the survey. For this reason, keep the survey short. Make sure the respondent is engaged throughout the travel survey. Change the scales from question to question using sliders ...

  10. PDF Tourism Destination Marketing: Academic Knowledge

    In fact, destination marketing is one of the functions within the broader framework of destination management. The role of DMOs is to coordinate the management of tourism assets and resources. The main aim of marketing activities performed by DMOs is to increase and sustain tourism flows in the destination [1,240].

  11. 9 Tips for Travel Survey Questions

    Here are nine tips for travel surveys that will benefit your business: 1. Organize questions by topic and keep it simple. When you craft a survey, you should always keep the people taking the survey — your valued customers — in mind. Never use terms or abbreviations they won't completely understand. Keep the wording of your questions ...

  12. PDF BR&E Tourism Survey

    Attraction Restaurant. Agri-tourism (e.g. wineries, breweries) Other If other, please specify: T2. What time of the year is your business open? (select one) Year round (go to question T4a) Spring, Summer and Fall Summer only. Other Winter only If other, please specify: T3.

  13. International Tourism Marketing Companies Practices Survey

    So, whether you're a travel enthusiast, a marketing maven, or simply curious about the dynamics of international tourism, buckle up for an enlightening ride through our survey results! Stay tuned for the revelation of trends, patterns, and perhaps a few surprises as we unravel the mysteries of the international tourism marketing landscape.

  14. The Top 50 Questions Asked by Travel and Tourism Marketers

    We've received hundreds of questions about how travel and tourism brands can leverage visual marketing to promote their brand and experiences. We decided to pick the top 50 questions, source answers from CrowdRiff marketers and customers, and put them together in one handy guide! Read this eBook to get answers to your marketing questions and ...

  15. Questionnaire: Tourism Development and Marketing of Tourist ...

    The document is a questionnaire for surveying tourism development and marketing of tourist services in Goa, India. It contains 44 questions regarding respondents' demographic information, travel habits, expenditures, accommodations, and purposes of visiting. The questions are aimed at tourism operators and officials to understand tourism patterns and opportunities in Goa.

  16. Cultural Tourism Marketing Survey

    Unlocking the Potential of Cultural Tourism Marketing: Insights from our Survey. Cultural tourism is a rapidly growing segment in the travel industry, attracting travelers who seek authentic experiences and a deeper understanding of different cultures. To gain valuable insights into this niche, we conducted a comprehensive survey titled ...

  17. PDF Tourism Marketing: Measuring Tourist Satisfaction

    Tourism Marketing: Measuring Tourist Satisfaction Juan Carlos Castro1, Mauricio Quisimalin1, Carmen de Pablos2, Viviana Gancino1, Jessica Jerez1 ... resentative sample where a semi-structured personal survey of 34 questions was applied considering 46 moderate variables and 9 classification variables.

  18. The Guest Survey: The Powerful Tactic in Your Tourism Toolbox

    The Guest Survey: The Powerful Tactic in Your Tourism Toolbox. October 05, 2023. Hospitality Hotels. By Kim Campbell. Guest preferences constantly evolve, and keeping up with the latest travel trends isn't always easy. In 2023, we saw the continued rise of digital nomads, an increased focus on wellness travel, and consumers' growing demand ...

  19. 33 questions with answers in TOURISM MARKETING

    4 answers. Mar 4, 2015. The World Tourism Organization published in 1979 "Evaluating Tourism Resources" in which explains the need to adapt resources to tourism in order to fulfill the demand's ...

  20. How to develop qualitative questions on tourism marketing?

    Dolnicar, S. (2013) Asking good survey questions, Journal of Travel Research, 52, 5, pp. 551-574. Rowley, J. (2014) Designing and using research questionnaires ...

  21. Tourism Survey Results 2019: Social Media and Digital Destination Marketing

    Nearly 40% of respondents in our tourism survey results 2019 work for a CVB or DMO for a small town, county, or a region, which is about the same as our 2014 survey.. We think this gives the overall results a unique perspective - they are somewhat weighted toward that of the smaller DMO.. The second largest groups, about 12% each, either…. Work for a CVB or DMO in a large or medium-sized ...

  22. 100+ Tourism Marketing solved MCQs with PDF download

    Take a Test Download as PDF. Tags. Question and answers in Tourism Marketing, Tourism Marketing multiple choice questions and answers, Tourism Marketing Important MCQs, Solved MCQs for Tourism Marketing, Tourism Marketing MCQs with answers PDF download. Solved MCQs for Tourism Marketing, with PDF download and FREE Mock test.

  23. Tourist experience expectations: Questionnaire development and text

    conducted to develop a questionnaire of tourist experience expectations (TEE). The survey results wer e. analyzed by factor analysis. Findings - The tourism experience expectations include five ...

  24. How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy [Template]

    How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps Step 1. Choose goals that align to business objectives Set S.M.A.R.T. goals. ... Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you're meeting their needs and expectations, and ...

  25. Arkansas lawmakers review Parks Department's proposed $26M annual ad

    The Arkansas Legislative Council on Friday completed its review of the state Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism's four proposed advertising and marketing contracts after a state senator ...