I?ve been publishing online travel content for almost two decades now, and believe it or not, I?ve witnessed the evolution of Social Media and seen how integral it has become in promoting travel-related products. When I was first starting out as a Travel Blogger, I was rarely recognized and sometimes completely ignored during travel-related events. But now, that has all totally changed.
Since tourism-related events are now being covered by Travel Bloggers from across the globe, travel companies have caught on and have begun to offer us familiarization tours, invites to inaugural flights and hotel review offers. Now that Travel Bloggers are recognized as the new ?Movers of Tourism?, it?s ever more important that the Travel Industry work closer with Travel Bloggers in order to reach new potential customers.
1. Blog Reviews and Features are trusted by consumers; gone are the days when you can just go to the library, borrow magazines and get brochures from travel establishments to get an idea about a specific establishment or travel destination. I noticed that most of the keywords used by my readers to reach my blog actually contain the word ?blog? in them, for example, ?Manila hotel blog reviews?, ?AirAsia sale blogs?, ?Jomalig Island blog post?. This points to an important increasing trend: that people prefer to read blogs when they need travel-related info.
2. Compared to traditional travel reviews, Blog Reviews are focused more on the travel bloggers? personal experiences and how they can help their readers. More and more blog readers agree that bloggers offer an authentic voice, which can be a deciding factor in tourism-related choices. What about sponsored trips? The good thing about blogs is that they are not regulated and bloggers are not really obligated to write good things about a specific travel related company even if they are sponsored. Unlike its traditional counterpart, travel blogs have less travel related advertorials and sponsored trips, and their content is mostly based on out of pocket trips.
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