VRYHEID KZN: A new view on the tourism industry
These were only a few of the interesting tips Pritchard discussed. These tips will not only be used to improve and market the tourism industry, but this information is also valid for most businesses
The Vryheid Tourism Association held their annual general meeting (AGM), as well as a workshop, at Bishop’s Guest House on September 9. During the chairperson’s report, it was indicated that a major portion of tourism facilities in the country have been battling to keep their beds occupied. It seems that AbaQulusi has a different scenario, since most of the accommodation facilities are reliant on business tourism. It was reported that some operators have even experienced a growth in their clientele due to more business tourism. Unfortunately, there are still a few operators who are not registered and are operating illegally. Mr Landman (director of Strategic Planning at AbaQulusi Local Municipality) indicated that they are aware of these operators and are in the process of dealing with them.
A new committee has been elected, which will be chaired by Wilfred Mchunu and supported by vice-chairperson Gustav Röhrs.
After all the official business of the day was completed, a presentation was given by Duncan Pritchard, who is currently the environmental tourism consultant in Ballito but used to stay in Vryheid for many years. The presentation was based on ‘What can I do to make my business more efficient… and by doing so, bring in more money?’. Pritchard referred to changing trends in the tourism industry, especially on the digital side, since tourism was one of the first industries to adopt the digital economy where a person can book flights and rooms online. “One of the important things is being online. 10 years ago, you could have a B&B and just make sure that your keywords were ‘accommodation Vryheid’ and you would pop up somewhere on a page on Google. Those days have gone… The search engine world is so competitive that a small guy actually ranking on Google is impossible.” He indicated that there is a need to look at online traffic in a different way. “The second important thing is that your star rating means very little; they are more concerned with what your grading is on TripAdvisor and what your grading and ranking is on Facebook and Google.” He furthermore referred to Millennials and Generation Z, who are a huge group of consumers. “Tourism in the past 20 years has been dominated by Baby Boomers; people in the 50- to 70-year-old group. But Millennials and Generation Z are the biggest group of consumers this planet has ever seen. They travel in a different way; they do things in a different way. In 10 years’ time, they will have spending power and then they are the tourism demand. You need to service those types of tourists now, otherwise in 10 years’ time, you will be out of business. The market is changing and travel is changing very fast. Young travellers want to book online or just rock up. They don’t want a strict itinerary and that is how tourism is going to change, which creates a lot of opportunities for smaller businesses. You’ve got to explore ways to keep your occupancy levels up, because you’ll never get an empty bed’s money back and that is the brutal reality of it all. If that bed is empty, you have not just lost the revenue, but also the word-of-mouth, people’s reviews, TripAdvisor, selfies on Instagram, and that is all gold marketing.”
“90% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know; and 89% trust reviews made by strangers, so essentially a review online is almost as good as a review from your own mother. There is a 1% difference. 87% of consumers are influenced by positive reviews; consumers trust customers’ reviews 12 times more than manufacturers’ descriptions. They would trust TripAdvisor 12 times more than an establishment’s own website. Every time a guest leaves, get them to fill it in and engage with them on those platforms. Drive engagement rather than traffic. If you have 10,000 followers on Facebook with a low engagement rate, it doesn’t help your business. Social media platforms have written algorithms to decide what they want to show you, so if you get people to engage with your page, it will pop up whenever it thinks someone might be interested in seeing a business or accommodation. You want people to like, comment and share your Facebook posts, and the best way to do that is to ask a question of interest or something controversial. It’s all about coming up with content to engage with people. An average engagement rate on a video on Facebook is 6%; for an image is 4%; for a link to take you to another page is 2%; for a regular status is 1.5%. People love a video. Tik Tok is the new Facebook these days. On Tik Tok, regular people do regular things and that is why there is a massive growth, because there is an authenticity to it. Young people are tech savvy and they can spot authenticity from a mile away, and that is what they want and what will get them to engage with you. It comes down to that essential trust, that personal connection.”
These were only a few of the interesting tips Pritchard discussed. These tips will not only be used to improve and market the tourism industry, but this information is also valid for most businesses.
After a very well informed workshop session, a light lunch was served and members had the opportunity to engage and socialise with one another. The next AGM is planned for March 2022.
ALSO READ: VRYHEID: First AGM for Vryheid Tourism Association since lockdown
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