According to Acacia Africa, Twitter and Facebook are now a “must have” in the adventure travel marketing mix.
Heath Ashcroft, Marketing Director at Acacia Africa, comments: “Forums and travel blogs have always enabled adventurers to share their opinions, ask questions and give feedback on trips but real time communication between traveller and tour operator is unrivalled when it comes to building interest in destinations and tours."
“We launched our most recent campaign ahead of the new 2010/11 brochure, which is due for release at the end of September. So far we’ve had an amazing response with a 32% increase in Facebook membership within just two weeks.
“Adventure travel and overlanding predominantly are attractive to the youth market, and this audience is highly active when it comes to social networking. For that reason, we wanted to develop a more participatory campaign. ‘Awesome Adventurers’ seems to have struck a chord with this group – a continual flow of information from previous and new clients appearing on both Twitter and Facebook. The unpredictable nature of Africa also lends itself to this form of marketing as no one journey is ever the same, and voluntouring, a major growth area on the continent, is very much an experiential form of travel. Again, ideally suited to a more conversational approach.”
Acacia Africa has also adopted a two-way online communication strategy. The travel company is building bridges between tour leaders out on the road and office staff alongside PR sound bites.
