Analyzing Influencer Marketing: Understanding Customers in Tourism

This essay explores the crucial role of understanding consumer needs and expectations in the tourism sector, particularly through influencer marketing. It analyzes the impact of influencers like Paul Steele and Simon Reeve on promoting tourism destinations and shaping customer perceptions. The essay discusses how influencer marketing, utilizing platforms like social media, effectively reaches a broad audience, builds trust, and educates consumers about products and services. Positive and negative experiences of the mentioned influencers are mentioned with respect to their influence on tourism sector. Furthermore, it highlights the growing importance of influencer marketing as a career path and its potential for future expansion, driven by its accessibility, earning potential, and the opportunity for individuals to pursue their passions. The essay concludes that understanding consumer preferences is vital for customer satisfaction and that influencer marketing offers a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their target audiences in the tourism industry.

Understanding
Customers

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY\.................................................................................................................................3
......................................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
Online ..........................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Understanding of consumers' needs and expectations are very important in order to fulfil
them. Tourism refers to a set of activities performed by individuals, away from home, in order to
achieve relaxation. It is the leading industry in the world. Customer services have a direct impact
on the Tourism sector as the industry is totally based on money and without tourists the sector
can not earn income. Influencer refers to an individual who has the ability to influence other
people. Paul Steele and Simon Reeve are the two renowned influencers of UK and influence the
general public all over the globe (Top 10 U.K. Social Media Influencers in Travel & Tourism,
2022). This essay throws light on the influencers namely, Paul Steele and Simon Reeve and their
areas of marketing. Their analysis on selection of products and brands by them is also discussed.
Further the future of influencers is also highlighted in the given essay.
MAIN BODY\
Influencer marketing refers to a marketing where the products and brands are promoted
by influencers to the public all over the globe (Influencer Marketing: A Research Guide, 2021).
It is a type of marketing used to spread awareness about the brands to a number of people with
the use of mediums such as social media, television, etc. Usually social media is used by
influencers to promote the brands. The area of influencer marketing, chosen here is the tourism
sector. Tourism sector has a great impact of influencer marketing. This type of marketing is best
for the tourism industry. Influencer marketing have a wide reach to people and is more effective
than normal promotion pattern. Influencer marketing is quite beneficial for promotion of places.
The public trust influencers and respect the content as well as recommendations given by them.
Good relations of influencers with their fans help their content gain attention of public and is
shared within minutes thereby reaching to a large number to build their own social capital. This
is how they can ramp up their influence and be prepared to activate it at critical moments. The
sustainability path is a long haul, after all.ber of people. Such relations are helpful to build trust
of the people through influencer marketing (6 Big Benefits of Using Influencer Marketing in
Your Social Strategy, 2017). As social media platforms are highly used by people, influencer
marketing help in spreading awareness about the brands. Further, it helps influencers to create
quality content when they have run out of the ideas. Such marketing helps to educate the
audience about the qualities of the products and the extent of its ability to solve the problem of

consumers. Influencer marketing is quite effective and formation of good relations can help an
organization in the long term. Further, it is quite lucrative and the influencer marketing industry
have grown tremendously in the past few years. No doubt, influencer marketing has a wide scope
and the influencers are given a good amount for influencing the audience.
Paul Steele, also known as Bald Hiker, is quite a famous influencer of United Kingdom.
The hiking influencer Paul Steele is 49, from Manchester. The influencer is of the opinion that
being social on social media enabled the influencer, Paul Steele, help others to pursue their
aspired goals (Paul Steele – Zero to 100,000, 2022). Paul Steele used to be a British soldier who
went on a series of hiking expeditions in order to lose weight and became the world's most
famous online travel influencer and writer. The man is a great sensation in today's world and the
places recommended by him are much appreciated by fans. Lincolnshire was the place recently
visited by Paul Steele. As per the opinion of bald hiker Lincolnshire is a hiking paradise, not
known by various people, with long haul of open countryside (Influencer the Bald Hiker labels
Lincolnshire 'a hidden gem' as he drops in on the county, 2021). The influencer travels the world
with the three dogs, belonged to the hiker. Almost every shop in Lincolnshire, had a bowl for
dogs outside their premises. Further, the dogs were allowed even inside the cathedral. These
gestures of the residents of Lincolnshire was much appreciated by the Bald Hiker. Therefore, this
was the positive experience for the influencer who promotes the great experience of the tourism.
Lincolnshire was the most dog-friendly country as far as seen by the influencer. According to the
Bald Hiker, the scenes are glorious and one need not to climb high in order to view them. The
influencer was surprised to see that not much public visited Lincolnshire. Paul Steele consider
the place a hidden gem. Steep Hill and The Strait are the two streets in Lincolnshire and must be
visited (Steep Hill, Lincoln – A Walk Down History, 2022). The streets are full of history, charm
and mysteries hidden. These streets have beautiful shops, boutiques and book stores which
enhances the beauty of the streets. Steep Hill and The Strait are considered as a remarkable sight
by the Bald Hiker and recommends the same to the fans to have a visit. The bad experience
which was undertaken by the paul steele that they have stayed in the hotel which promotes bad
services for the check out and check in system. This shows that, there is requirement of better
services in order to ascertain the positive which will enhance the key elements of the paul
experience. The ugly and the worst experience about the Paul hiking is that, the influencer has to

start with the daily activities of the hiking which require proper food and accommodation
facility.
The second influencer is Simon Reeve. Simon Alan Reeve is a British influencer,
journalist, adventurer, television presenter, author and documentary film maker (Hammersmith,
2022). Born in 1972, the influencer makes environmental documentaries and has various books
written on the adventures experienced, international terrorism, modern history, etc. Simon Reeve
is a wanderlust who is renowned for the adventures to impossible places. The positive experience
of the influencer is that The influencer, Simon Reeve love visiting Australia, Tanzania,
Madagascar, Indonesia, Oman, Sri Lanka, etc. There is no place in these countries that the
influencer would not love to have a revisit to. As per the opinion of Simon Reeve, the country
Bangladesh is quite beautiful to have a visit and the traveller is particularly fond of Bangladesh.
The influencer is amazed and appraise the residents of Bangladesh for tackling challenges
beautifully. Despite of facing many hardships, the local community of Bangladesh is surviving
beautifully. The country, Bangladesh, is tend to be associated with floods and disastrous
tragedies yet it is a beautiful place to visit as per Simon Reeve. It was the negative experience for
this influencer to stayed as such a riskiest place and give the audience a well content. Therefore,
the Simon still did not get the proper facilities which will influence the markets. The ugly
experience of the Simon is that, they have the positive control on the marketing practice so, they
could not easily have offended about the market places. The Simon does not like it when people
were not following the rules regarding pandemic. It mainly impacts on the Simon as if the
influencer will not follow the rules it will get to hate and controversies whereas, people are still
not following the rules and influencer would love to re-visit the country and consider it as a lush.
Simon Reeve is, especially, fond of the people residing there and is of the view that they are
some of the friendliest and warmest people ever existed on the planet (Indian Ocean: interview
with Simon Reeve, 2020). According to the study of Simon Reeve, Bangladesh is a country with
tremendous greenery and waterways and hence has fertile plains. As the country is located on the
Bay of Bengal, the visit of tourists by means of water is quite common. Beautiful waterways of
Bangladesh make the country charmer. Sundarbans, a huge and belle forest of Bangladesh is a
must visit where the Royal Bengal Tiger resides. The place is highly recommended by the
influencer, Simon Reeve personally.

The influencers as well as the influencer marketing are increasing at a fast pace. The
growth of the influencer marketing industry shows that the influencers could have a huge scope
for bright future. The increase in demand for the small or micro influencers enable the industry
to expand (Influencer Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2022, 2022). People are loving the
concept of influencer marketing as they give the public a true and fair view of the places,
products, brands, food, etc. Influencers are earning a significant amount through the creation of
blogs and thus create self employment. In today's digital world, marketing through social media
is very popular and an interesting way for the consumers to know about the products of different
companies. Online shopping is preferred over traditional shopping, especially by youths, as it
saves time of commutation. Organizations find it beneficial to market their products through
influencers as it has a wide reach and could access to millions of consumers within minutes.
Influencer marketing is a new profession, loved by the individuals. Glamorous calling, fine
earning, no qualifications required, discuss what one loves to do, etc., are some of the reasons
behind the success of the influencer marketing industry (4 reasons why influencer marketing is
becoming new favourite profession for millennials, 2020). Influencers are quite famous and feel
like a celebrity. Name-fame and being a celebrity is what people love to achieve now-a-days.
Influencer marketing is a profession which can help people achieve this goal without any
qualifications. The individual just need to have the ability to influence others. Beside being a
passionate profession, influencer marketing give individuals a good amount of income. Further,
being a source of self employment, this profession enables individuals to do and talk about what
they love. This creates an interest towards work, making the individual more passionate about
their work. Thus, as per the above scrutiny, the future of influencers and influencer marketing is
quite bright.

CONCLUSION
From the above essay, it has been concluded that the understanding of consumers' needs
and preferences is very important for satisfying their customers. Influencer marketing is quite
popular now-a-days and have a good scope in the future too. It is more effective and has a far
reach as compared to the traditional marketing pattern. The tourism sector too has influencers for
the promotion of various places. They give public, a true and fair view of the profile of places by
visiting the same. The influencers talk about places in various blogs and make people visit those
places by influencing them. The influencers have a bright future as the organizations to find
influencer marketing more beneficial. Further, the profession of the choice of an individual,
name-fame, fine earning, etc., make them aspire to be an influencer.

REFERENCES
Online
Top 10 U.K. Social Media Influencers in Travel & Tourism, 2022 [Online]Available
through:<https://www.agilitypr.com/resources/top-influencers/top-10-uk-social-media-
influencers-travel-tourism/>
Influencer Marketing: A Research Guide, 2021 [Online]Available
through:<https://guides.loc.gov/influencer-marketing>
6 Big Benefits of Using Influencer Marketing in Your Social Strategy, 2017 [Online]Available
through:<https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/6-big-benefits-using-
influencer-marketing-your-social-strategy>
Influencer the Bald Hiker labels Lincolnshire 'a hidden gem' as he drops in on the county, 2021
[Online]Available through:<https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/influencer-bald-
hiker-labels-lincolnshire-5753364>
Paul Steele – Zero to 100,000, 2022 [Online]Available
through:<https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/zero-to-100000/9780132731461/
ch22.html>
Steep Hill, Lincoln – A Walk Down History, 2022 [Online]Available
through:<https://www.baldhiker.com/2021/08/29/steep-hill-lincoln-a-walk-down-
history/>
Hammersmith, 2022 [Online]Available through:<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammersmith>
Indian Ocean: interview with Simon Reeve, 2020 [Online]Available
through:<https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/mediapacks/indianocean/reeve/>
Influencer Marketing: Trends to watch out for in 2022, 2022 [Online]Available
through:<https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/brands/article/influencer-
marketing-trends-to-watch-out-for-in-2022/articleshow/88071937.cms>
4 reasons why influencer marketing is becoming new favourite profession for millennials, 2020
[Online]Available through:<https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/jobs-and-
careers/story/4-reasons-why-influencer-marketing-is-becoming-new-favourite-
profession-for-millennials-1731833-2020-10-15>