APR 23, 2020

Trust In Travel: Supporting the Travel & Tourism Industry During the Coronavirus Crisis

Every industry is taking a major hit right now, and that’s especially true for travel and tourism. With shelter in place orders across the globe, travel has been brought to a standstill, causing massive loss of jobs for workers and massive loss of revenue for hotels and resorts, restaurants, tourism associations, public transportation, tourism activities, and all of the businesses that support these organizations.  

Worldwide Partners agencies work with more than 80 travel and tourism brands including Visit California, Tourisme Montréal, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Visit Belfast, MGM Resorts, Cosmos Travel in Australia, El Gouna in Egypt, Nausicaá Aquarium in France, Barceló Hotel Group in Spain, Tahiti Tourism, Hong Kong Tourism Board, and so many more. 

These brands are challenged with maintaining relevancy and driving revenue, while supporting the communities they work in. We’ve been heartened to see the goodwill that some of our brands have shown, and impressed with the efficiency in which they’ve pulled together new approaches to keep their customers safe and their doors open. 

Following are some of these impressive acts and approaches from WPI brands across the globe:

Translink Northern Ireland

Translink, client of Partner Ardmore in Belfast, Ireland, has taken a range of actions to help prevent the spread of the virus and encourage and support people to stay at home. Translink is promoting cashless payment options, encouraging people to only travel if essential, reminding people to social distance at two metres apart, and letting health and social care workers know they can travel by bus and train for free.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA)

Las Vegas-based Partner R&R Partners’ new spot for LVCVA offers a hopeful and compassionate message, and is a great example of how to position marketing during this surreal time. The ad quietly acknowledges the pandemic without blatantly mentioning it, and reassures travelers that we’re all in this together and we’ll out come out the other side together, stronger. 

VisitLEX

We could all use a little lighthearted humor during this global crisis, especially while sitting in video conference call after video conference call. Partner Cornett (Lexington, Kentucky, USA) helped create some fun and fresh Zoom backgrounds for VisitLEX, the official tourism board for Lexington, KY, leveraging local favorites like Bourbon, breweries and horses. They also hosted a Zoom conference call with a special guest moderator--a real-live horse! Let’s hope they make this a recurring weekly meeting.

Destination BC

A new campaign by Destination BC, “Explore BC...Later,” leverages a balance of travel inspiration and public service announcement to encourage would-be travelers to “pause, stay in, and dream of later.” Wasserman + Partners has been working with local stations to secure Public Service airtime from spare inventory for the campaign. 

MGM Resorts International & Wynn Resorts

MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts, both clients of Heart+Mind Strategies (Reston, Virginia, USA) and R&R Partners, have pledged to donate to important causes. MGM pledged $1 million in crisis and disaster relief for employees and donated close to half a million pounds of food. Wynn has donated more than $2.5 million worth of goods to medical facilities and nonprofits in the Las Vegas area. 

How You Can Support the Travel and Tourism Industry Now

These efforts are heartening and fun, but the reality is, the travel and tourism industry is suffering and will for months, if not years, to come. There are ways to help support the travel industry and the local communities that hinge on tourism, even if you’re not traveling right now. 

Following are four ways to bolster the travel industry today from the safety of your home:

1. Purchase Gift Cards

Buy gift cards for hotels, flights, transportation, restaurants or attractions that you can use at a later date when businesses reopen and social distancing isn’t required. We’re all guilty of saying that we want to travel somewhere but never getting around to it, so this can be a great way to ensure that you’ll actually take that trip.

2. Make Future Bookings

This will end. We don’t yet know when, but it will. Making plans to travel in late 2020 or early 2021 is not out of the question. Many travel companies are offering increased flexibility for rescheduling (and some pretty insane prices!), which essentially means you’re purchasing a gift card or voucher. 

Keep the travel world moving by booking future trips--worst case scenario: you get your money back as a voucher. Best case: you get to see the world.

3. Travel from Your Couch

Take advantage of the many virtual tours, webcams and live streaming currently being offered by travel organizations. Read books and blogs on destinations you’d like to visit in the future. Sign up for an online course in cooking local cuisines that you expect to taste on upcoming trips. Your support comes from purchasing these items/services, or from the ad revenue generated from content. This armchair travel may not quell that wanderlust, but it will keep it at bay until it’s safe to leave your house. 

4. Leave Online Reviews

If you’re spending most of the day on your computer, might as well write a few reviews for organizations or attractions you’ve already experienced. Reviews may not provide direct revenue for travel companies, but it can help in the future when the world gets moving again. Bonus: leaving reviews doesn’t cost you anything but time, and that’s something most people have to give right now. 

With all hope, we’ll begin to see some normalcy in our daily lives and the global economy in the coming months. In the meantime, we must rally together and do what we can to help support the organizations and people that allow us to expand our minds, connect with others, and gain new perspectives through travel. 

Do you know of other travel organizations doing great things to help their communities? Have additional ways to support the travel and tourism industry now? Please share your thoughts on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages, and encourage your communities to #TrustInTravel. 

Written By:
Angie Pascale

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