you are watching places every Tuesday we
bring you an insightful look into
fascinating events from all around the
world
how Instagram influencers are driving
tourism welcome to a luxe calm the place
where future billionaires come to get
inspired
hallo a lack sirs and welcome back
Instagram more so than any other social
media platform has created a wave of
social media driven tourism particularly
among Millennials Instagram is uniquely
positioned to inspire and energize a new
generation of travelers it's the
scrapbook and slideshow for the modern
day traveler but on a much grander scale
since nearly one out of every seven
people in the world regularly accesses
Instagram today we are going to look at
what makes Instagram such an effective
avenue for tourism marketing and how
Instagram influencers are driving
tourism in an entirely new direction but
first a little background introduction
when Instagram was founded as a photo
sharing site back in 2010 it became an
instant success
acquiring over 1 million members within
the first two months now less than 10
years later that number has grown
exponentially reaching 1 billion users
in May of 2019
along with Instagram came the new
phenomenon of Instagram influencers
people who have a strong following on
Instagram that have the power to
influence purchasing habits these could
be celebrities bloggers personalities
activists anyone with credibility and a
fan base over 70% of major brands
dedicate a significant portion of their
marketing budget to influencers the
connections influencers have what their
followers are more authentic than a
connection a consumer has with a
commercial or ad influencers have major
sway when it comes to fashion brand
loyalty political beliefs products and
even travel the travel industry and
Instagram travel and tourism is the
fastest growing sector in the world
outpacing healthcare IT and financial
services revenues from the travel and
tourism sector reached eight point eight
trillion US dollars in 2018
almost four percent from the previous
year this accounts for ten point four
percent of all global economic activity
and 319 million jobs worldwide travel
and tourism businesses as well as
hospitality brands are increasingly
looking to Instagram influencers to help
promote their business interests in 2018
over two billion dollars was spent on
advertising with instagramers and a
significant portion of this money is
dedicated to inspiring audiences
worldwide to travel to new locations the
impact of this kind of marketing is
evident in changing travel trends and
marques Instagram as the number one
marketing platform insta stories were
introduced in August of 2016
allowing users to post photo and video
sequences that would disappear the next
day the popularity of Instagram stories
eclipsed snapchats popularity within
eight months of launching by January
2019 there were 500 million daily active
stories users globally marketing experts
in this one survey identified Instagram
posts as the most effective content
format followed closely by Instagram
stories in second place YouTube videos
was a distant third so travel and
tourism markets have been placing a
heavy emphasis on Instagram advertising
in order to reach important demographics
and drive up travel to their particular
destination the key to this of course is
choosing the right influencers to
promote their services brand or
destination these influencers are often
offered free hotel stays vacation
packages or travel experiences in
exchange for their promotion how
travelers use Instagram travel
inspiration can strike spontaneously on
Instagram or be sought out from targeted
searches for those seeking out info on a
certain city landmark or country
Instagram stories can be aggregated by
location and a user can also search for
top hashtags or geo tags for a certain
destination many travelers like to
follow locals of the cities they're
interested in visiting so they can get
the inside scoop on the best restaurants
and hangouts of course the more
engagement a post receives in the form
of likes comments and tags the more the
content is promoted on
platform as more people turn to
Instagram for their travel planning more
and more cities and countries are
recognizing the tremendous potential for
marketing on the site and are eager to
leverage the strong following of travel
influencers the Instagram effect in
countries around the world various
countries around the world have tourism
boards that have reached out to
influencers in order to boost tourism
numbers and this has proven to be an
extremely effective strategy for example
the resort town of wanaka on New
Zealand's South Island is absolutely
stunning but a few international
tourists even knew it existed prior to
2015 that's when WA NACA's tourism board
hired a number of popular Instagram
influencers to promote the picturesque
town it's certainly no coincidence that
when akka had a 14% increase in its
number of overseas visitors in the year
following the Instagram campaign another
location that's benefited from strategic
partnerships with top social media
influencers is Dubai the Dubai
Corporation for tourism and commerce
recognises the importance of maintaining
a strong presence on Instagram and has
created an official tourism account
under the name visit Dubai visit Dubai
has 1.4 million followers but they also
make a point to seek out popular
instagramers to further boost their
presence
Dubai's tourism revenues have increased
year-over-year in part because of this
influence and in 2018 Dubai welcomed
fifteen point nine two million visitors
these are just two examples of locations
that have seen a positive effect from
Instagram influencers driving travel but
there are hundreds of others the ones
that benefit most however are the ones
that offer the best photo opportunities
the importance of being Instagram Abal
in one survey of millennial travelers
under the age of 33 40% ranked how
Instagram Abul the vacation will be as
their most important factor when
planning a trip this percentage was
almost twice as high as those who
selected cost as the most important
factor and opportunities for sightseeing
came in last in the survey with only 3.9
percent of respondents naming it as a
top priority this reflects a greater
trend in the younger
generations making decisions in their
lives based on how they'll be portrayed
on social media a greater emphasis is
put on the appearance than the actual
experience savvy marketers are able to
use this to their advantage as they
enlist top influencers to demonstrate
just how Instagram Abul they're targeted
destination is travel influencers are
known for taking pretty good photos that
inspire wanderlust in instagramers but
the downside to this culture is that
instead of fully enjoying a new
experience or destination or taking a
genuine picture instagramers obsess over
capturing the perfect photo to get the
maximum number of likes also influencers
have been accused of creating a fake
perception of travel that cannot be
replicated by the average traveler
however the most successful travel
influencers have millions of followers
that they continually engage with
inauthentic quality content rather than
bombarding them with ads let's take a
look at one example top travel
influencer one of the most popular
travel influencers as recognized by
Forbes is Russian photographer Marah
Osman who has 4.1 million followers his
follow me to series featuring his wife
has millions of views and has
consistently inspired travelers from
around the world for six years he's
highlighted numerous locations including
Tower Bridge in London a heart-shaped
pool on the coast of Mykonos and a
dolphin filled Cove off the island of
Mauritius don't know much about
Mauritius you'll definitely want to
check out our video the 15 things you
didn't know about Mauritius just click
in the top right corner to check it out
but now back to morado he definitely
inspires travel envy and unlike many
other travel influencers who have to
pitch themselves to potential sponsors
morado is flooded with requests from
luxury travel brands and tourism boards
representing cities all around the world
who want to capitalize on his strong
following however morado is careful
about how he monetizes his page he knows
the key to successful promotion is
authenticity
if Instagram users feel like they're
looking at a sales pitch it's a huge
turnoff however if they see someone like
morado who isn't a traditional celebrity
traveling the world with his wife
they're more likely to pay attention and
be inspired and in
that process a certain hotel or location
or landmark might catch their eye and
that's what marketers who collaborate
with travel influencers are counting on
conclusion in these days where social
media is king influencers are having a
greater impact than ever in a wide range
of areas in the tourism sector they're
driving more people toward pretty
locations that are deemed to be
instagram-worthy there is less emphasis
on traveling based on interest cultural
pursuits or attractions instead many
people are seeking out locations where
they can capture the perfect picture to
represent them living their best life
while it's fine to want likes and
follows if you have the opportunity to
travel make sure you're choosing a
destination because you genuinely are
interested and instead of wasting your
trip setting up the perfect shot take a
quick picture and then focus on living
in the moment and enjoying the
experience if you'd like to explore the
idea of being an influencer instead of
the influenced check out the book social
media marketing mastery 2019 this
valuable book offers guidance on how to
build your own brand and become an
influencer on multiple platforms
including Instagram Facebook and YouTube
this book is available exclusively on
audible for $25 but we've got you on
this one just go to a luxe comm slash
free book to get the audiobook version
for free thanks to our partnership with
audible question now that we are
wrapping up this story we'd like to know
do you ever check out Instagram for
inspiration when planning a trip let us
know in the comments and of course for
sticking with us until the end here's
your bonus Instagram has announced the
number one location appearing in
Instagram posts is Times Square in New
York City this is probably no real
surprise to anyone the city of New York
was tagged more than 88 million times on
Instagram in 2018 the next most popular
Instagram sites on the list are the
Eiffel Tower in Paris the Burj Khalifa
tower in Dubai the Tower Bridge in
London and Red Square in Moscow over all
locations in the United States were most
popular on the list of the top 20 but
keep in mind over 104 million people in
the US are act
of Instagram users thank you for
spending some time with us
a lack sirs make sure to subscribe so
you never miss another video we also
hand-picked these videos for you to
watch next
as always the conversation continues on
social media thanks again and we can't
wait to have you back tomorrow