2021 Travel Marketing Trends

The year of 2020 brought new trends into tourism. Now travelers want unique impressions, looking for unusual vacations in seclusion and away from civilization or learning regional cultures. Many people warmed to healthy lifestyle and environmental ideas, that is why in 2021 health resort vacations, eco-labelled hotels, and agricultural farms will be the hottest new trend. Read more in our article 6 Trends in Tourism and Travel Marketing after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In 2020, travel promotion and marketing seemed to take back seat, but the last year formed new trends that will also survive through 2021. We reviewed some of them in our last issue of Russian Travel Market Digest.

In this article, we will analyze travel marketing trends that we also recommend to develop in order to attract modern travelers from Russia and not only.

Virtual experience customization

The year of 2020 demonstrated an unprecedented outbreak of development of a creative approach in technology use rather than the technology itself. AR, VR, 360° etc. have been presented in the market long ago, but only a few used their advantage in their marketing strategy before the pandemic.

In 2021, this trend will continue developing, but travel brands should think what benefit and profit they can get using these technologies. This year, we recommend paying attention to narrower audience segments and aim the development of this direction in their marketing strategy to a certain circle of tourists. For instance, these technologies can be used in a more specific way for development of the luxury direction, with a step-by-step demonstration of luxurious tours and those benefits that you offer to certain tourists, or showing how glamping, which is gathering pace in tourism, develops in the region.

Flexible terms of tour booking

In March 2020 (and even afterwards) many tourists who bought package tours lost the money invested in whole or in part while not going on the longed-for vacation at all.

In 2021, there is still uncertainty in terms of booking air tickets, accommodation, or tours, while previous experience of financial losses has also made a negative impact on decision-making of tourists about trips. Therefore, travel brands should consider creation of offers with the most flexible ticket refund terms.

Tourism in TikTok

The number of TikTok users in Russia almost doubled in 2020. While 15.7 million Russians used this network in February 2020, the number of its installations exceeded 27 million by November, and this trend will survive in 2021.

Source: Mediascope, November 2020, Russia

In the nearest time, youth will become core travelers so travel brands need to master TikTok in 2021.

Source: Mediascope, November 2020, Russia

Make short videos of hotels, resorts, and guides, share information about the region, landmarks, and interesting venues. TikTok algorithms let any user get many impressions—use it in your marketing strategy and inspire users to create and upload videos about your region.

UGC value increase

User content must become the main part of the marketing strategy of every travel brand in 2021. Users try not only to consume, but also to create content more and more often. By means of UGC tactical use, travel brands will manage to grow a feeling of engagement, demonstrating confidence in safety of travels to the region via tourists’ stories.

Naturally, minor difficulties may occur with content creation due to border closure, but you can propose users to share their memories about trips or recreate a peculiar atmosphere of their favorite region using materials at hand. Inspire your followers, float new ideas to them, and you will not only get a lot of content, but also grow desires of users to go on an unforgettable trip again.

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