In the travel and hospitality industry, there is high competition for businesses. At the same time, customers are spoilt for choice. That means perception is critical. It can help encourage a positive reputation, trust, and a positive customer experience.
But how can businesses achieve that positive perception? Well, it all lies in public relations (PR). PR plays an essential role in shaping brand image, managing reputation, and building relationships in the travel and hospitality industry.
It is a successful tool that enables businesses in the travel and hospitality industry to connect with their target audience and sell their business’s unique value proposition.
Read on to learn why PR is a must-have.
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Building a Strong Brand Narrative
Public relations plays a vital role in building a strong brand narrative. It helps tell stories that describe services in the travel and hospitality industry in a way that ensures travellers buy into an experience, a dream, or an adventure.
What’s more, the stories are more memorable than facts and sales pitches. At the same time, they connect with audiences at an emotional level, where they can see themselves in the story, experiencing what the story describes.
For example, if you want to promote stress-free travel solutions, you can create a story of how travellers can integrate eSIM South Africa as a part of their convenient travel accessories.
You can create an engaging video that captures how a first-time traveller lands in South Africa and instantly connects to the internet, books a taxi online, or contacts their local tour guide without hunting for physical SIM cards or paying high roaming fees.
This story can help promote the idea that your services promise reliability, ease, and hassle-free travel. And when audiences see themselves in that story, they are more likely to trust and choose your brand.
Therefore, PR helps create narratives, which in turn encourage customer emotional connection with your products or services.
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Crisis Management: Weathering the Storm
Crises in travel and hospitality often come without warning. And they may include things like natural disasters, health emergencies, cybersecurity breaches, global pandemics, or even a viral customer complaint.
How your business responds to the crisis can make a difference between a temporary setback and long-term reputation damage. And here is where public relations comes in. It can help your brand weather the storm by doing the following:
Preparing in advance
As mentioned earlier, a crisis comes without warning. Therefore, early preparation is essential. And PR professionals often have a crisis management plan with clear roles, emergency procedures, and communication strategies. This helps to ensure everyone knows what to do when a crisis hits.
Responding quickly
The last thing a business in the travel and hospitality industry should do is stay silent when a crisis occurs. That’s because silence tends to breed speculation. Public relations ensures that silence does not take place. At the same time, it works on solving the issue quickly and provides updates to all relevant stakeholders.
For example, if a hotel chain suffers a last-minute cancellation due to bad weather conditions, a skilled PR team reduces backlash by providing timely updates, offering sincere apologies, and outlining clear next steps. The quick response helps to control damage and ensure customer trust in the long run.
Providing recovery and reputation management
After the crisis passes, PR professionals shift their attention to recovery and reputation management. They do that through post-crisis communication, which helps to rebuild confidence, reinforce safety measures, and refocus the public’s attention on the brand’s core values.
Boosting Visibility Through Media and Influencers
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If you want your business to succeed, then you must be visible to the public. How can you do that? Well, that’s through public relations. PR connects brands in the travel and hospitality industry with new audiences. Also, it helps build credibility through trusted voices. They do that by:
Leveraging media
PR professionals build relationships with journalists and editors. These relationships help to provide consistent coverage, interviews, and opportunities for expert commentary. In addition to that, PR teams craft compelling press releases and pitch them to journalists and editors at newspapers, TV stations, magazines, and online outlets.
Once the press releases are approved and published or advertised, they can help brands earn valuable coverage that promotes enhanced visibility.
Partnering with influencers
Many travellers browse through their social media pages before making decisions about which travel and hospitality brands to choose. And that’s why Statista expects that the global influencer marketing value will be over $30 billion in 2025. PR professionals aim to tap into that value by partnering with influencers whose goals and audience match their brand.
These partnerships ensure that brands in the travel and hospitality industry gain access to engaged communities that trust influencer recommendations.
Driving Bookings and Long-Term Loyalty
PR generates buzz and interest in your business offerings. Then, it turns that interest into bookings by doing the following:
- Highlighting your unique offerings and value.
- Providing social proof through positive reviews reassures new customers.
- Collaborating with influencers and journalists to increase your brand’s visibility and drive traffic to your booking platforms.
- Making your brand more appealing by promoting exclusive deals, packages, or perks for direct booking.
In addition to boosting bookings, PR also encourages long-term loyalty. It does that by maintaining ongoing communications with guests through newsletters, social media, and personalized follow-ups. This keeps your brand top-of-mind for future trips.
Make PR Your Growth Engine
The travel and hospitality industry is highly competitive. For your business to stand out, you should make PR your business’s strategic ally and not use it just as a promotional tool.
PR supports every stage of a customer journey and encourages long-term success by protecting brand reputation, building emotional loyalty, enhancing visibility, and converting interest into bookings.
Remember, when you invest in PR, you invest in your brand’s future. Now is the time to make PR a cornerstone of your overall strategy.
Discover the latest PR insights, trends, and tools to empower your brand. Visit Agility and take your communications to the next level.
