Destination marketing goes far beyond a simple campaign highlighting the heavenly places of a given territory. There are many ways to promote a destination and many issues behind these marketing operations. Having the largest number of visitors is not necessarily the main objective, it is actually a question of addressing the desired types of tourists by activating the right levers. This is the whole point of destination marketing and the territories that have understood this will be the big winners in tourism today and tomorrow.
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Timing of communication
While the release of the Covid was a good time for tourism communication, certain times of the year are equally suitable for this exercise. Christmas is a favourite time for a number of destinations to promote tourism offers that celebrate the magic of the festive season. And this period is not the exclusive preserve of snowy destinations or those hosting large Christmas markets as one might think. Each destination can distinguish itself and find a way to create a Christmas that suits it.
Tours Loire Valley has created Christmas packages to offer to friends and family or to oneself. Other tourist offices, such as that of the Pays des Achards, have designed themed tours on the theme of Christmas to help people discover the area in a different way, with treasure hunts and ephemeral routes, among other things.
In order to immerse themselves further in the Christmas theme, some destinations do not hesitate to launch their own Advent calendar. This is an original marketing operation that is generally very successful, provided that the calendar is well thought out. In France, Eure Tourisme offered a number of prizes offered by the destination's socio-professionals through 3 mini-games, including a wheel of fortune.
The tourist office of La Ciotat made people travel through its contest which offered as a prize a Swedish massage, a dinner in a Chinese restaurant or 100 beers offered in an Irish pub. These gifts were obviously offered in partnership with the destination's shopkeepers. In Switzerland, the concept was inspired by the game "Where's Charlie?", where Internet users were asked to find the current date in an animated image representing the various characteristic elements of the country.
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