Travel trends favor Mat-Su

Much of marketing involves responding to trends – changes in sentiment that affects a number of people’s viewpoints, demands and desires. Trends are about lifestyle changes, and responding to them in marketing is important in keeping your message relevant to your customers.

At a recent Western Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau annual conference, Daniel Levine of the Avant-Guide Institute talked about growing trends in the travel marketing realm. Levine’s business tracks national and international trends, and they’ve found five key findings that are helping shape the way destinations market themselves. The Mat-Su Valley fits into these trends as well.

Informative transparency is more important than ever before, thanks to social media. If you call yourself the “best tour ever” in your marketing, you better deliver. Because if you don’t, it’ll be on social media channels such as Facebook and TripAdvisor within hours. Thanks to social media, everyone is being rated all the time, so be honest with your customers and deliver what you promise.

Another trend dominating travel purchasing decisions is “artisanal authenticity.” There’s more demand now than ever before for authentic experiences that are local, personalized and smaller in scope.

One local example of how this is being marketed in the Valley is Talkeetna Roadhouse. In the winter, visitors can ride the Alaska Railroad north to Talkeetna and take part in a pie-making class with owner Trisha Costello, stay the night, and then return the next day on the railroad, with their pie. This is an authentic experience visitors simply can’t get anywhere else, and it’s a trend that is only getting stronger.

Travelers are also demanding facilitated connectivity. “Socialness” is not just an online experience anymore, Levine said, and it’s seeping into travel decisions.

In the Lower 48, some hotels are offering volunteer experiences in their communities, with transportation and lunch provided, for example. AirBnB continues to grow in popularity because travelers want to be connected to local neighborhoods, which is part of that trend.

Meaningful luxury is another trend on the rise, and luxury doesn’t necessarily equate to wealth. In this case, luxury is less about money and more about experiences that can’t be taken away, and give travelers life-long memories.

An informative wine tour through the vineyards of a particular region is one example. “It gives travelers something they can talk about with a level of expertise around the watercooler with their friends,” Levine said. “That’s how people are defining luxury.”

Lastly, sustainability is a buzzword that we’ve heard about for a while, but it’s starting to become a real trend in travelers. People are willing to spend more money if something you offer is “cool” to them.

Making sustainability entertaining is the key to capitalizing on this trend. Levine said electric car rentals are on the upswing because people are genuinely interested in them, so they’ll pay a little more for the novelty. City Segway tours are another example of how sustainability is entertaining to travelers.

Trends are driving people’s decisions and buying power. So every business – both in the tourism industry and other industries as well – needs to be aware of them and be ready to act. Tracking trends and responding to them makes a difference in the bottom line.

Casey Ressler (casey@alaskavisit.com) is the marketing and communications manager at the Mat-Su CVB.