Like the cavalry in historic battles, tourism was first in COVID-19’s economic line of fire. As the virus began its rampant spread across the world, in a mere matter of weeks usually vibrant establishments and crowded destinations now stand desolate and closed as nations across the globe find themselves under lock down.
In South Africa, our lock down has just begun, and I am sitting at home bursting with mixed feelings about where we find ourselves. Although we have been told that we are being brave and doing our bit for the world by staying in our property, I can’t help but feel rather useless as the world out there fights the onslaught head on.
But there is actually so much we can do from home, to support our communities and help each other through this terrifying crisis. We have been given the gift of time, and we can try and use our time wisely for many things – to connect with our families, learn new things, declutter our homes, work on our business strategies, the list goes on and on. But all those things are about helping ourselves and I think we all need to also donate some of our time to helping our communities survive this.
Here are three little (and enjoyable) things you can do during lockdown to help tourism businesses.
Trip Advisor is like the Holy Grail to businesses in tourism. As a small tourism business owner myself, I can assure you that not only does it make you feel fantastic to get positive feedback from clients, but it makes a significant impact on your company’s brand awareness and future bookings. Only a tiny percentage of travellers take the time to write a review on their experience, and now is a great time to revisit those places you have stayed at, eaten at or visited during the past couple of years.
Your reviews should be genuine, and take the time to mention the things you specifically enjoyed at each place and to load some photos of your experience.
This way, even though tourism businesses are closed right now, they will have a stronger position for when they open, and they will have some good news to share in the meantime.
Click here to visit Trip Advisor
Note – you can also write reviews on Facebook and Google, but I have specifically listed Trip Advisor as it is widely used across all online travel platforms and makes the most significant impact on search rankings across multiple bookings engines.
Go through your camera roll and share some of your family’s travel photos from the last while. Its sure to lift your spirits to remember those good times, and it will lift ours too to break our Covid-full timelines with happy travel inspiration. Also, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool for hotels, guest houses, resorts and restaurants so make sure to check in to the company’s Facebook page, tag them on Instagram or at least mention where the photos were taken.
Include the hashtag #supportlocaltourism to get the spirit of sharing going!
This too shall pass, and creating an album of future travel inspiration will help us keep this in mind. It also follows on from the point above – as your friends share their happy memories and you are inspired by their destinations, save them into your own wanderlist album, where you can hope and dream and keep yourself motivated, while helping those in tourism with their marketing (while your friends drool over your travel dreams).
As international travel will most likely take quite a long while to recover, focus especially on the amazing places in your own country. We, as South Africans can help save our own community by supporting local. There are hidden gems around every corner, and the near future is the perfect time to discover the places that are usually full of international tourists and out of our reach.
So that is 3 really simple things you can do during lockdown that can make a significant impact on tourism businesses while also helping keep our spirits high during this uncertain time.
What are you waiting for? Share some love and help a tourism business today.
Yours in travel
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