BreakTheIce: Can Curated Experiences Help Your Tourism Marketing?
Can Curated Experiences Help Your Tourism Marketing?
Break The Ice
By Lisa Doerner
Aug. 17, 2021
Curation is transforming the way people travel. It’s no longer about “bucket list destinations,” but, “bucket list experiences.” In years past, travelers may have been satisfied to see sites like the Eiffel Tower or Colosseum; now they want to get behind the scenes, get underground access or see a destination from the air. The possibilities for curated experiences are unlimited.
What Does Curated Travel Even Mean?
Curation is to collect, select and present information for people to use or enjoy, using your professional or expert knowledge. You may already be getting your social media or news content through curation. Content curation is simply filtering through the content across your social channels and news outlets based on your interests. Your results are an individualized collection for you. Curated travel is about selecting accommodations, restaurants and activities to create the perfect trip based on your individualized interests.
Industries Leading the Way
Curated Group Travel
Industry leaders recognize the need to individualize experiences. In episode 75 of Destination on the Left, Peter Pantuso, President of the American Bus Association commented:
“Our challenge as an industry in the group travel space has been that we’ve always typically offered one experience for 50 people on a coach. So, I began to start talking about creating that individualized experience within that group of 50 and replicating, to a certain degree, the cruise experience where it feels like an individual experience. I began to see and hear people say, ‘Well I’m already doing that.’ It was a very limited number. By talking about it more and by featuring those change agents in our publications or doing presentations where we could identify different individuals who were doing that, or giving examples through our educational programs, we’ve been able to move the industry a little bit in that direction, to be able to offer that individualized group travel experience and not just one size fits all”.
