Destinations Through Elections and Expansions: Linking the Middle East and Africa to the U.S.

Over the weekend I decided to explore the blogosphere in search of updated information that is intriguing and related to travel. I have found two specific blogs, by use of the IMSA criteria, that caught my attention; both of which sparked my interest in the topics they delve into. KWE Group, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing firm, keeps and up-to-date blog that follows their mission to connect readers with "luxury travel and lifestyle trends." The KWE Group, Inc. seeks "to identify emerging trends so you benefit from changes in the marketplace." This is essentially what I am striving to bring my readers through my blog posts. Chelsea Orth is the writer of the KWE Group, Inc. Luxury Travel and Lifestyle Trends blog. She refers to historic and current events which lead me to believe she is reading the news, however, she does not appear to cite any materials. The blog seems to be reputable as it provides relevant information and is of a respected marketing agency. The writing is very concise and consists of some depth while the tone remains authoritative. This blog is not part of an established community as it is part of the company's website. The next blog that caught my attention is ISM Travel and Lifestyle Marketing. This blog was created to provide readers with observations regarding travel, leisure, and life. They specialize in marketing and advertising for the travel, hospitality, and lifestyle industries. Brands around the world turn to ISM for their expertise, strategic abilities, and creativity. The particular post that interests me is about the new Emirates Airline ad campaign that ISM is working on for the flight from San Francisco to Dubai. The author of the post is Kevin Nicholas who cites USA Today. The blog is reputable because the company is a legitimate marketing and advertising agency for industries including travel. The tone is authoritative and knowledgeable. This blog is part of the established Blogger community. I decided to comment on both of these posts because they caught my interest and provide intriguing information. My comments can be read by following the links below, and for your convenience they are also posted directly below.

KWE Group, Inc. African chic
Comment

I have been searching the blogosphere for a posting as insightful on travel destinations as yours for some time now. I have to say that the way you linked the current election to increased travel interest in Africa was a genius way of thinking. When I came across your post I was instantly intrigued. Thank you for being so honest with the factors that contributes to travelers' destination choices. I find it really interesting that President Obama's election "is already starting to attract tourists particularly Americans, eager to explore the heritage of their new president" to parts of Africa. Also I find it compelling when you relate this fact to marketing by saying, "this is a niche being explored by some tour operators in America who are offering tours that cover the village of Kogelo in Western Kenya where Barack Obama's father was buried." Since American tour operators are adjusting to the new interest in traveling to certain parts of Africa, does it seem that those places in Africa are making an effort to accommodate more tourists? In addition to that, do you know if the increased attraction is welcomed by the smaller villages? How do the local Africans feel about American's sudden interest in certain villages? It's nice to know how South Africa is welcoming the increase in tourism as it is just in time for their "hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup." It seems as though, from your post, that South Africa is accustomed to tourists because of their wine and culinary attractions, but I wonder how shocking the tourists will be to other places in Africa such as Kogelo in Western Kenya. I'll keep an eye out for marketing tactics gearing American travel to Africa and how much the attraction to Africa increases. I find it very interesting and unexpected when you incorporate the new travel trend into fashion. I never would have seen the link between the Africa-inspired fashions to President Obama's election. Do you have any other ideas as to where else the country's interest in the president will lead? I just want to thank you again for your insightful post and I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.

ISM: Emirates Sets the New Standard for Airlines
Comment

I would like to start by saying your premise to supply reader with current observations is very compelling. As a marketing student I can relate to the way you link marketing and advertising with the travel industry. Thank you for posting information on the marketing campaigns you are currently working on, I am always interested in looking for the latest ad campaigns and seeing how strategies are being implemented. I am curious to see how your company will advertise for Emirates Airlines' newest destination services. The segment you are targeting is small being "the corporate travel managers and travel agents serving high-tech, bio-tech and financial services corporation located in San Francisco... [people who will] pony up $11,000 or more to fly their corporate travelers in Emirates business class." What do you feel the ramifications of choosing this course of action are to your company? It seems that by having such a minute segment it will be easier to gear your ads to them; however, the long-term effect could be negative since you ads only relate to such a small demographic. I am wondering what you see as the long-term effects of your positioning? In addition, how is your company planning on making destinations such as the Middle East more attractive to American travelers? The post also mentions that the main competitors of Emirates Airlines are Air France, British Airways, and Lufthansa. From experience, I know that these airlines provide superior service and create an in-flight experience unmatched by any of the American airlines I have flown abroad. Which leads me to my next question: How will your company emphasize the awards for excellence that Emirates Airlines has achieved, in order to broaden awareness of their services? Your blog intrigues me and I look forward to reading your posts in the future. Thank you again for providing such ample information about the expansion of Emirates Airlines and ISM's role in the launch for the advertising campaign.

A Winter Getaway: Exploring the Caribbean Through the Marketing of Travel Sites

Since the groundhog proclaimed that there will be six more weeks of winter this year, and residents of Southern California are even feeling the chill, it might not be such a bad idea to explore a warmer destination for the month of March. I’m thinking that somewhere tropical, probably in the Caribbean, would make an excellent travel spot for this time of year. The Caribbean is made up of the Caribbean Sea and its islands include Aruba, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe, and many more. These islands have terrain that ranges from flat lands to towering mountain ranges. The Caribbean Sea is home to a range of exotic marine life making it a great place to engage in water activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving. Being filled with various tourist attractions, many sites exist that provide travel tips and packages for the Caribbean. But which website is the most apt to attract people to purchase a vacation package through them? This is the question that needs to be explored in order to make an educated decision when booking a trip.

An article written by Charis Atlas Heelan on Frommer’s Travel Guides outlines a few websites that offer bargain prices on trip packages.  For example, Charis explains that his "inbox gets bombarded with discounted Caribbean trips" so he has supplied a list of a few bargains that "are hard to pass on no matter how tight your budget is this year."  I have researched these websites along with others in search of which one has the best marketing plan. The first to be discussed is Caribbean.com, which prides itself on possessing destination guides for the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Mexico. They offer a little more than forty marketing promotions where some packages are all inclusive and some include everything except meals. The site is fairly easy to use and offers a tab specifically for Caribbean yellow pages. From a marketing standpoint, I noticed a vast amount of information available on Caribbean.com which makes the layout appear muddled and causes the site to be difficult to navigate. In addition, there are too many different colors present on this site which makes it distracting and less appealing to consumers. The home page is too wordy where it needs to be concise and more have a more open feeling. In terms of marketing techniques, Caribbean.com is not an appealing website to consumers and probably loses customers due to this fact. The deals and packages are not worth the trouble a viewer goes through when using the site. There are many trip planning websites that offer similar promotions and a broader scope of destinations than Caribbean.com, all while remaining aestically appealing.

Bookit.com provides deals for vacation spots varying from ski resorts to Las Vegas casinos to tropical getaways. The thing that I find most helpful about this site is the availability of user reviews posted below the hotel and location descriptions. This will definitely come in handy when narrowing down the package customers intend to purchase. The layout of the site is user-friendly and the searching aspect is helpful. For example, the visitor starts off by choosing a destination and from there he or she can search for information regarding trip packages, hotels and travel guides for that specific location, instead of digging through different tabs like Caribbean.com forces users to do. However, Caribbean.com offers more options for trips in the Caribbean. With this being said, I would still choose Bookit.com over the previous site because of how easy it is to navigate through the website. Furthermore, on Bookit.com the customer can book flights, hotels, rental cars, and cruises. From a marketing standpoint, the site's layout is professional and easy to use. The color scheme is also consistent which allows for a more appealing website. The prices displayed on this site for package deals are very reasonable; however, there are a few sites that claim to provide discounted rates.

Cheapcaribbean.com offers package deals for a lot of the same destinations as the previous discussed websites; however, the prices on this site are higher than on bookit.com. This is something that I would not have expected from an organization with “cheap” in their title. One aspect of Cheapcaribbean.com that is definitely annoying is how a popup asking the user to register with their site, but during my entire time exploring the site, I was only asked once. The site does, like bookit.com, offer customer reviews on locations. The drawback with Cheapcaribbean.com’s method is that they only use “Caribbean Jim’s” opinion on the locations which makes it less real and is probably written by someone who 

works for the website, even the negative comments are twisted into a positive. For example, a negative comment posted by Caribbean Jim reads, “the beach here is a little rocky but the pool offers a great alternative”. 

The site does not appear to be having any specific marketing promotions but they do seem to be targeting families and young couples. This can be seen in the pictures posted on the main page. One aspect that I really like about this website is the maps (see to the left) on the destinations tab. Depicted are colorful maps of the different regions/countries they offer as destinations. The maps show tourist attractions at the locations which is an easy way to figure out where to go when all you know is that you want a vacation. For example, if I wanted a vacation to see a beautiful lighthouse, from the maps, I would narrow my choices down to Aruba and Barbados. This site also offers interactive maps. From a marketing viewpoint, it becomes apparent that Cheapcaribbean.com strives to be user friendly and targets to a family oriented audience.

Although the economy is in a poor state, nevertheless, exceptional deals are available and as long as the reader knows how to navigate the site, a vacation is eagerly awaiting us.  There are many positive and negative aspects to the differing travel booking websites. The user must decide what is most important to them; a user friendly model or the cheapest prices. Fortunately, with Bookit.com, pretty much everything is satisfied. On that one site you can rent a car, book a hotel, schedule a flight, and find entertaining things to do during your vacation. Cheapcaribbean.com is also a good website, however, I have a difficult time trusting their resort locations since they do not appear to allow users to comment on their stay. The concept of Caribbean Jim is helpful, but it does not provide as much honest insight as the comments available on Bookit.com. From my research, I have concluded that the travel sites offering a broad scope of destinations generally provide the best services, even if you are searching for a specific region such as the Caribbean. If you are planning to escape the cold and take a vacation to the Caribbean, I definitely recommend using Bookit.com.

Around the World: Inside the Business of Travel

I am a new participant to the blogosphere and aspire to provide relevant information in my area of proficiency and interest. I am a college student with a passion for travel and a skill for marketing. I will analyze consumer trends in traveling by using marketing research techniques. An assortment of destinations will be explored with reference to current local issues of each destination. In order to provide relevant, credible and influential information, I began scouring the internet for blogs and sites that focus on travel and current issues. These have been posted under the linkroll for further reference and serve as the best possible assets in my area of inquiry. To create this list I used a variety of blog-search engines including, Google Blog Search, BlogCatalog, BlogScholar, and Best of the Web: Blogs. As a technique, I used various search terms related to travel and business. For the current event aspect to my linkroll, I chose to include sites such as, The New York Times: Science: Environment and The New York Times: Travel Index. The majority of the items in my linkroll consist of blogs related to traveling. BidonTravel Travel Updates, Tips, & Commentary is a blog that provides updated information regarding travel. For current events one of the sites I chose was The New York Times: Science: Environment. The reason I chose this is because new environmental and scientific discoveries are written about which can lead to new ways of traveling and new destinations. For example, there is an article published on that site explaining the new features of Google Earth which can help in planning a oceanic vacation. When assessing the adequacy of sites for my linkroll, I applied the Webby Awards criteria. The criteria includes: content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, overall experience, and authority of the author. Since all of my sites meet these criteria, they may be seen as quality according to Webby Awards. In addition, when considering blogs for my linkroll, I used the IMSA criteria to test for quality. The criteria includes: who the blogger is, the types of materials the blogger is reading and citing, if the blog has influence and whether it is an established part of a community, and depth and authority of content. I look forward to providing my readers with interesting and insightful information regarding the business of travel.