Following up on our previous article highlighting the Travel Trends of Today and Tomorrow, Today we cover some of the Key Tourism statistics for the coming year. At the island chief, We strongly believe for businesses to be successful and to keep guests fully satisfied it is vital to stay on top of the latest trends. 

Today we highlight Three Major Statistics to highlight popular trends for the coming year.

Reputation

Tourism companies need to consciously manage their reputation, Research from Forrester Research,2016, shows Leaders in customer experience reach an average of 17% on revenue growth within 5 years, whereas poorer customer experience attain only 3% over the same period.

Research from Stride Travel in 2016 shows 9 out of 10 Travellers think that reading online reviews is important, but 45% of tour takers don't trust reviews on tour operators own sites. Most important are reviews by third parties where 95% of travellers trust tour & activity reviews on their party sites.

Furthermore Data received in 2015 from TrustYou shows 76% of travellers will pay more for a hotel it has better online reviews. 

According to The online reputation management platform, One of the things that can distinguish the best tour and activity companies from the competition is not just to provide a great tour but to encourage guest feedback and use those insights to keep improve their offering.

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To stay on top of your guest feedback, reviews, and online reputation will keep businesses will position businesses to help word of mouth spread and to establish reputation.

Good marketing has visuals, creativity and a digital focus

With the future of Marketing weighing heavily on technological advancement, Digital Marketing has become the rising strategy for successful targeted reach. A study conducted by Buzzsumo in 2015 shows that Articles with an image once every 75-100 words get double the number of social shares than articles with fewer images.

Interestingly The McCarthy Groups study in 2014 shows that 84% of millennials don't trust traditional advertising and as such brands need to get creative instead of being pushy and underhanded.

Furthermore Research by USDM shows Mobiles Share of total digital ad spending in the travel industry with 49% against 51% for desktop ads is creeping ever higher and in the future will represent a majority of the industry ad spending.

Finally a Recent study by Google this Year shows 69% of travellers are more loyal to a travel company that personalises their experiences online and offline.

Food Tourism

Throughout the history of travel our urge for good nourishment and exploring a destinations food has always been a major aspect of travel and seeking out authentic food experiences has become an increasingly noticeable motivator for travel.

In 2016 at TouRRoir, a global event for food tourism, Skift UK Editor Patrick Whyte highlighted that food markets, tasting sessions, cooking lessons and visits to farms now make up 95% of all food experiences.

For food tour operators, storytelling is an important part of both the experience itself and your marketing strategy. Stories connect products with people and the traditions of a destination. Tour operators: whatever you do, don't forget about your story.

It's important to develop a social media strategy thats rich in visual content: this will reinforce every stage of the travel customer buyer journey, but especially the "dreaming stage" when someone first comes into contact with your company.

The fourth Volume of the Global Report on Food Tourism by UNWTO highlighted that 68% of the organisations consulted carry out marketing activities or promotion based on Food Tourism. 

According to the report, The marketing and promotional tools most used by these entities are: organizing events (91%), producing brochures and advertising (82%) and dedicated websites on food tourism (78 %). At a lower level are promotional tools such as tourism guides (61%), blogs (43%), and familiarisation trips for journalists and tour operators (13%). And lastly, only 4% of the organizations surveyed said they used social networks for the promotion of food tourism.

Looking at the statistics its evident that many trends are steadily moving upwards and will become major factors to work on to provide the best guest experiences for travellers in the coming years