The year we got the pandemic under control saw a huge boom in tourism – I think it is safe to say that we were hungry to get out of our homes ASAP! However, hungry or not, we still had to find the best offers and travel in the most comfortable ways. And you know which campaigns reached us? Why, the ones driven by influencers, of course!
To learn more about these influencer marketing campaigns, check out our list with some of the best examples from recent years. From luxury cruises to European hotels, these examples do give a pretty decent idea of what works in promoting the travel industry.
Hawaiian Airlines
Probably the best way to resonate with people is by giving them something meaningful and beautiful. And that’s exactly what Hawaiian Airlines did with their campaign based on the traditional philosophy of Aloha. For those unacquainted with Aloha, it’s all about treating others with love, care and living a harmonious life with the world around you. So, when the message is as charming as this, it is no wonder that the campaign became a huge hit.
However, the campaign didn’t rise to the top of the charts by itself but was propelled to success by influencers and user-generated content. This is how it went – a selected group of influencers were asked to create content that reflects their understanding of the Aloha philosophy and to prompt their followers to do the very same. Hawaiian Airlines was tagged in each piece of content, which gave them loads and loads of beautiful material to base their campaign on. And wouldn’t you know it – the hashtag reached over 1 million Instagram users and received an engagement rate of 4%.
Cunard
It’s usually the tropical islands and white sand beaches that get all the spotlight of various influencer campaigns, but Cunard chose to promote something truly exclusive – an Arctic Circle luxury cruise.
To promote this one-of-a-kind attraction, Cunard invited a crew of influencers to join the voyage on their luxury cruise liners. However, their selected influencers all shared some traits – they all had advanced photography and videography skills as well as a shared passion for travel. This allowed Cunard to gather some truly extraordinary footage revealing the absolutely breathtaking views the journey had to offer.
Naturally, the documentation of the travel created a pretty decent buzz online; how could it not when the views were this stunning? Hence, a hefty reach of 3 million social media platform users and a 4% engagement rate.
Inspired by Iceland
You know, this might just be the most successful travel industry influencer campaign ever. After all, you probably have been to Iceland over the recent years or, at the very least, know a couple of friends who have visited the beautiful island. And all because of a clever marketing campaign that heavily relied on user-generated content.
The campaign was launched right after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökul volcano – remember it? The natural disaster closed the skies over Europe and had a major impact on the attractiveness of Iceland as a tourist destination. That’s when the Icelandic government decided to save the situation by creating Inspired by Iceland Instagram page and asking people to share their impressions of the beautiful nature of the island with the #inspiredbyiceland hashtag.
The main goals of the campaign were to decrease the seasonality of visiting Iceland, encourage tourists to travel further and stay longer and connect Icelandic tourism businesses with consumers. And it definitely did that and even more! Now, Iceland is one of the top destinations to visit and is on the bucket list of even those who hate to travel.
Viajawäy
Our list wouldn’t be complete without at least one mention of the Caribbean, Majorca, or Morocco, and the best influencer campaign designed for these destinations had to be the one by Viajawäy.
Viajawäy, a company of the Barceló Group, organizes trips to some of the most popular travel destinations in the world. So, to gather new crowds of travelers, the company collaborated with some of the most well-known Spanish influencers like Aida Domenech and Maria Pombo, who then traveled the world with Viajawäy.
Their influencer marketing strategy was based on five key points: a well-defined target audience, top-notch corporate content, large, engaged communities, dream destinations, and continuous promotions of their services. The company also organized giveaways through its Key Opinion Leaders.
And the results were striking – over 3 million views and an engagement rate of 180% from only two videos.
Ibis Hotels
And lastly, for something truly original – a collaboration between Ibis Hotels and Snapchat’s Spectacles video glasses-donning Alex Vizeo. Vizeo, a famous French YouTube travel KOL, was given a pair of the aforementioned video glasses and set off to discover some of the most famous European cities, like London, Barcelona, and Berlin.
The documentation of his travels via Snapchat’s Spectacles provided a very immersive experience to anyone watching the footage, and it proved to be a huge hit among audiences. The campaign gained over 13 million impressions and enjoyed high engagement rates on Snapchat, Snap Ads, and YouTube, which definitely helped increase brand awareness and image among its Millennials target group.
Takeaway Note
The travel industry, just like any other business industry, needs a clever marketing strategy to reach its audiences and gain new customers. And although a more traditional approach is still a viable option, influencer marketing proves to be a great tool to be added to any promotional strategy. Especially when you can learn from others’ successes!
