Fitur 2012: what do bloggers paint in all this?
What exactly does a blogger paint at a fair like Fitur? What is the role of the specialized travel media when the web is full of bloggers and photographers who, sometimes, tell things better and faster than the journalists themselves? Should tourist offices start considering bloggers in their communication strategy? How to learn to work together?
No one has a clear answer to any of these questions, but one thing is clear: Tourism promotion is not contemplated without the participation of bloggers, tweeters and other online fauna . Not ignoring the continuous flow of information that swarms through the network. Are tests needed? Here are a couple: France has been absent from Fitur 2012 in favor of its Internet and social media strategy. Also, in this edition, travel bloggers have for the first time their own specific professional accreditation to access the fair.
To discuss all these issues, the Norwegian tourist office has held a meeting (#iblognoruega) with some of the most reputable representatives of the travel blogosphere in our country, such as ** Rafa Pérez, Nani Arenas, El Pachinko or Paco Nadal .**
We have taken out 3 interesting lessons about the work in travel blogs and the point of view of tourist agencies and offices that can help to better understand how the (sometimes) disconcerting online avalanche affects the world of travel. We collect the most interesting of this conversation to share it with you:
1)Look for originality and quality: "You have to make an effort to make original travel themes, regardless of the format." Says Paco Nadal, veteran travel journalist for El País and author of one of the most influential blogs in the sector: "The prescribers and the experts will continue to exist: only those who do not know how to adapt to the new tools will die," he says. . Those who continue to surprise readers will survive.
two. Professionalize blogs: "We deal with people who don't have a computer, who have their restaurant menus untranslated into English and to whom Twitter sounds like Chinese." This is Nani Arenas, a journalist and blogger who currently works on the other side of the trench at the tourist office in La Coruña. "We need material ideas, figures and serious projects," she warns. In her experience, sometimes the lack of success stories and supporting data puts public and private entities back when it comes to including travel bloggers in their plans. “We should not sell smoke”, agrees Paco Nadal. "Bloggers must have their presskit with real data on visits and positioning," he adds. For their part, bloggers make tourist offices ugly because the only initiative they have been offered so far is blogtrips, the equivalent of maligned and impersonal press trips in internet version.
3. Generate conversation: "One person travels, but they all participate." With this maxim, El Pachinko (that is, Pau García Solbes) summarizes the key focus of the whole matter, which is, according to him (and we agree) sharing authentic experiences with your community and knowing how to listen to what it has to tell you.
Meanwhile, in the real world: the fee daily that a tourist office has to pay at IFEMA for having Internet connection is 100 euros.
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