Devising a Digital Marketing Strategy for Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Digital Marketing
Strategy

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
RECOMMENDATION.................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing is described as the process of marketing done by companies for their products
or services conducted through various electronic devices with the utilization of internet. The
digital platforms that organisation utilize to promote their goods are website, mobile application,
social media, emails and search engines. Digital marketing industry is referring as landscape
because it is an electronic place where buyers spend their time in buying and engage themselves
with firm's content (Valentini, and Zammit, 2017). Hospitality and tourism digital marketing is
described as how their various segments such as accommodation services, travelling
destinations, restaurants and other business activities get promoted through digital platforms. The
tourism and hospitality digital environment is consisting of external and internal factors which
could impact their functioning in market. To get competitive advantage in the market these
industries have to adapt new trends and developments which are taking place in their micro and
macro environment. Marine Court and Haytor Hotel are two small sized hotels in UK (Top 25
Small Hotels — United Kingdom & Channel Island, 2021). Marine Court is one of the Grade II
listed which is situated in UK and it was established in between the year 1936 and 1938. it is
situated on the seafront at Bangor, Country Down, Northern Ireland. It has provided their guest
various services such as luxury rooms, bar, restaurant and organising wedding as well as events.
Haytor is also one of the small hotels in UK which is only 400 meters away from Torquay. The
hotel also provides facilities to their customers such as terrace, garden, lounge, breakfast and
others to attract more people. The following report covers the academic literature pertaining to
digital marketing in hospitality and tourism industry. It also pays focus on the comparative
analysis of whole marketing functions of the selected hotels. Furthermore, various digital
marketing strategies and practices which are applied by chosen organisations along with their
effectiveness are also being discussed in this report.
MAIN BODY
Academic literature pertaining to digital marketing in the tourism and hospitality industries
Digital marketing has become very important in hospitality industry as many of the hotels have
used it to promote their activities on online platforms (Rattayapimol, 2017). According to the
World Tourism Organisation technologies are rising, interrupting and impacting the lives of
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people in such a way that it indicates that humans are at the beginning of Fourth Industrial
Revolution (DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, 2021).
According to the article done by Nilead, digital marketing is crucial for these industries
as it helps in spreading information quickly, enhance consumer engagement and provide simple
ways to book places instantly (Digital Marketing In Travel And Tourism Industry, 2018).
According to the recent data of 2020, around 87% adults in UK are using smartphones
and the internet penetration rate is almost 72%. it has been estimated that an average citizen of
the country spends approximately 148 minutes on their mobile phones. The utilization of
smartphones has been increased after the pandemic as it has been observed that 46% of people
accept that they are using their smart devices (30+ Smartphone Usage Statistics for the UK
[2021], 2021). This statistic represents that how people have become addicted to use their
phones which encourage industries to promote their products or services through digital
marketing.
In today's world of digitalization, it has become necessary for Hospitality and Tourism
industry to develop their online presence stronger. The statistics of year 2020, represents that
around 62% of UK companies have spent their budget on advertising digitally. It also shows that
almost 45 million citizens of UK are active on social media. From the Credo and Enders analysis
it has been evaluated that online marketer have invested around £13.4 billion in year 2018 in UK.
It has also been observed that almost 60% of small business of UK have invested in paid digital
advertising. The overall revenue generated by digital advertising in the year 2020 was around
£15.6 billion (30+ Astounding Digital Marketing Statistics for Brand Optimization, 2021). These
statistics shows that how businesses are adopting new digital ways and new trends to remain in
market for long time. They are engaging customers by creating creative and attracting
advertisements on online platforms.
The industry has adopted digital marketing strategies which has allowed them to remain
in market for long time. There are multiple reasons such as increasing number of smartphone
users, high social media engagement and low prices of digital marketing services which have
resulted into adoption of digital marketing by various organisation. The bookings done by
customers through online websites or applications have helped the companies in enhancing their
sales. Digital marketing helps these industries to provide their customers a personal experience
as it given them opportunity to conduct surveys by asking them questions. It provides
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