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Digital content top priority for travel spending
Social media, content, mobile and apps, and natural search engine optimisation will be the top four areas for travel organizations to increase spending next year, according to a new global survey.
It was released by digital travel online content specialists Frommer’s® Unlimited, the business-to-business division of Frommer’s®, a branded imprint of Wiley.
More than 83 percent plan to increase overall digital marketing spend in 2012, the report found.
“The survey of 350 travel organisations was undertaken with global digital travel news service Tnooz and respondents included airlines, agents, tour operators and consolidators, hoteliers, tourist boards, car rental, rail, travel insurance, publishing and cruise companies,” the study said.
Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed said they planned to increase digital marketing budgets for the year ahead and 19 percent said budgets would remain the same. Only 3 percent said they were decreasing marketing spend in 2012.
Two thirds of businesses surveyed said they would invest more money in social media next year and more than half said they would also be increasing spend on content (55 percent), mobile and apps (54 percent) and natural search engine optimization (52 percent).
“International content is also an area of growing focus,” the report found.
Three quarters of the survey say they are maintaining and increasing translation budgets for 2012.
Half of the travel organizations surveyed currently operate a site in one language, a third operate sites in up to five languages and a fifth have sites in more than 5 languages. For 2012 that will increase – 26 percent said they plan to have up to 5 language sites and 17 percent plan to have more than 5 language sites.
“In our fourth annual survey we’re seeing a clear trend of sustained investment in content in many different platforms, and global players looking to create engagement as well as customer acquisition,” said Giles Longhurst, Frommer’s Unlimited Director Europe, Middle East and Africa.
By David Wilkening
David
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