Today I am please to talk with Karin Schmollgruber, one of the best blogger in the field of PR for tourism industry, etourism, Web 2.0 and other Travel 2.0 trends.

Keep an eye on their 7 big trends for Travel 2.0 !!!!!

>Karin, can you tell some information about you and your job as a PR in the travel industry

I am an independent communications consultant, and have been in online-marketing and communications since 1997. I discovered my love for the travel industry when I was working for the Vienna Tourist Board. My blog FastenYourSeatbelts.at is about tourism marketing and communication in the Web. While most articles are German, I publish one English article every Monday

> Tourism is a people business and a destination experience with personal encounters. Do you think social travel community can leverage a destination or a product?

Well, even the Web 1.0 has already leveraged destinations. I remember putting San Pedro de Atacama on my Chile itinerary in 2004 because their website was so compelling. So the more advanced tools of Web 2.0 will even further that impact. On the other hand, destinations and services that are not as great as their marketing material both online and print might convey, will definitely suffer from content generated by their customers being posted to rating, photo and video platforms. Does that mean, that they will crash? No, but in the future providers of lesser quality will only attract seekers of lesser quality - if the price is right. Let’s face it, not everybody can or wants to afford the greatest quality or every service. I believe that Travel 2.0 will help to match businesses and customers.

>User-generated content is transforming the way users research, search and decide on their travel plans. What latest trends have you seen in this arena? How do you deal with this trend in your day to day job as a PR in travel industry?

While some clients are aware of these trends, many remain reluctant to change. I do not blame them. Change is frightful to some.

>Do you think consumers trust bloggers views more than traditional marketing?

Many studies prove that « consumers trust people like themselves. » Hence, bloggers and rating sites are seen as more trustworthy than traditional marketing messages. That’s for sure. Other studies have shown, that readers are sensible enough to not believe everything claimed in those platforms.

>Internet is going faster and we talk now about Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0. What do you think about this evolution in the tourism & hotel market place? Social media and User Generated Content are the big trends for Travel 2.0 ?

My seven big trends for Travel 2.0 are

1 - Drop marketing speak for authenticity: Corporate websites will become more personal featuring people and real language, not marketing speech.

2 - Stop online segregation: User generated content and social media will have to morph into the traditional website.

3 - Connect with your online sales force: Online relations managers will become additional positions in communications departments. Budgets will have to shift significantly from traditional marketing and PR to online relations. Companies engaging in online relations and building rapport with bloggers and social networks will become increasingly successful.

4 - Become customer-centric,now: Websites have to be created with the customer’s needs in mind, not with the companies’ or stake holders’ interests in mind. Destination management organisations will have to provide RSS-feeds for their partners such as hotels and attractions for aggregation into their sites. This is also true for social media networks like Facebook and others to come.

5 - Educate your internal sales force: With the transparency enabled by the new web, every single action of your staff will get more attention and become part of your sales force. To beat competition use new tools like podcasts, videocasts, blogs, and wikis and enable constant improvement.

6 - Monitor to excel: Online monitoring of costumer generated content should be viewed as a source for product development and enhancement.

7 - Be accessible: Content will have to be accessible from different devices. This will entail setting up different versions of the website.

>We see important impact of news technologies (RSS, AJAX, podcast, blog, social networking tools, Google mashup,Vidéo etc), what is your point of view in the travel area ?

All of these tools will facilitate travel planning for consumers who like to research and plan their trips individually. And for those, who take the time to check locations and information first. Their numbers will increase with the digital natives on the rise. Keep the Cluetrain Manifesto in mind: Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.

> The Canadian Tourism Commission ( www.canada.travel) is working on a very exciting and innovative initiative with Real Travel (a travel social networking web site) that will launch in the next few months.
Do you see some great initiative in Germany or Austria market?

There are many travel start-ups in Germany launching new rating and travel communities. It seems to me and I have been told that the national German DMO is not as influential in Germany as the Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) is in Austria. The ANTO started a German language blog about Austrian restaurants, bars and independent hotels last year. Internal wikis are deployed for knowledge management. Like Holland, New Zealand and Sweden they are currently working on a community network called CoolAustria.com. However, the project was completely outsourced. Also keep in mind: For a country with a national language other than English, language is a definite barrier.

>What are your taste for:
>Travel:
I am an individualistic traveller.

>Travel destination:
My parents live in Ecuador, so longer trips always mean South America. Which is okay, because Galapagos and Easter Island are pretty impressing. I love travelling in Chile where I was born. It’s so safe! I absolutely love travelling in Austria too. It’s so beautiful.

>Hotel :
I love design hotels like Savoy Hotel in Cologne and Hotel Das Triest in Vienna, where I celebrated my wedding. Being the nostalgic type I absolutely adore places like the Grand Hotel Panhans in Lower Austria.

> Any advises for people who want to work with a special Travel 2.0 PR like you
Yes, please make sure, that the agency you work with for PR or for developing social media activities does have hands-on experience in the Web 2.0. This is not about technology, it is about technology enabling people to talk and connect.

>You have the micro .
Thanks for having me, Claude. I see that quite a few tourism industry bloggers a breaking away, let’s make an effort to connect even closer.

About Karin business :
As an independent communications consultant and speaker Karin works with companies who want to communicate authentically online and offline. Her clients include tourism companies and destination marketers. Karin will also be a lecturer at the [Innovation & Management in Tourism course of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.
More about Karin on her blog.

Merci Karin !

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