European Cities Marketing

The video is a lecture about European cities marketing. They studied 14 cities in Europe and did a survey about their usage of social media marketing and also their feelings on it. Most of them thought social media marketing is a very useful tool to promote their own countries and attract tourists to come. They usually use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and their own blogs as tools to do marketing. They believed that this kind of marketing can expand their networks and reach more visitors all over the world. In the future, they will make more use on the internet and have more integration with their marketing strategies.

Blog of London

From this video, it shows that European cities are more rely on social media and internet for marketing. It means that social media is very useful and important for DMOs. In my opinion, not only European countries but also Asian countries tend to use social media marketing for promoting their destinations. Like my home town, Hong Kong, HKTB used a lot of social media to get tourists’ attention and interests to visit Hong Kong. As mentioned in the last blog post, HKTB has lot’s of social media like RSS, podcast, facebook and twitter etc. It shows that HKTB is experienced of using social media as a marketing tool. When using the level of expertise to describe HKTB, it is at level 3. HKTB has its own application for tourists to download from the website. The applications are travel guides and current events hold in Hong Kong. Also, HKTB has a well-organized homepage, with interaction corners which provide lots of social media tool, which help tourists to get the latest news and promotion of Hong Kong.

After watching this video, I am quite sure that more and more DMOs will make use of social media for promoting their countries. Using social media is very convenient and more people can be reached. The more people DMOs can reach, the more people will come and visit the cities. Also, using social media can build up better public relationship. They can have more communications and also knowledge exchange. Tourism is undeniably the main income of most countries. Therefore, a well-developed marketing strategy should be used in order to attract more tourists to visit and spend in the city. Although Hong Kong is now well-developed in using social media marketing, it still have lots to improve. HKTB needs to keep updating the latest technology news so as to modify their existing applications and tools for tourist. Tourists will visit a city if it gives them convenience. So DMOs should always try improving their tools to give tourists more help and social media is undoubtedly the most convenient tool.

e-Tourism in my home town - Hong Kong

Due to the emerge of new technologies, more than half of the tourists find information for travel on the internet. As more and more target customers use internet as a tool to plan their trips, the DMOs of many countries put a lot of efforts to improve their official website. They tried to use more new technologies to let tourists get familiar with their countries. Also, they use the new technoogies to promote their countries and give some help to tourists. Here are some of the new technologies that my home town, Hong Kong, use in order to attract more tourists.

1. Online Video


This is one of the promotion video of Hong Kong. In this video, it shows the characteristics and the charming places in Hong Kong. It also lets tourists know the culture and the atmosphere there. Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) posted this video on youtube, which is the famous onlin video website in the world. They posted it there because this can alert people and it has a bigger opportunity for tourists to reach this promotion.

2. RSS

RSS stands for ' really simple syndication '. When tourist uses RSS, they will be informed when there are changes for that website. For HKTB, they have RSS function for its website. Tourists who uses this function can know the lastest promotion and events that HKTB held. This function is good for both HKTB and tourists as this can help HKTB promote their acivities and tourists can get more inofrmation from HKTB.

3. Podcast

Like some of the DMOs in some countreis, HKTB has podcast as an audio guide for tourists. Tourists can download the audio guide from the homepage of HKTB. It is very convenient and useful for individual travellers( those who do not join tours). HKTB has even divided the  tourist spots into different categories in order to give tourists a clearer mindset.
Here is one of the audio files from HKTB:
Giant Buddha & Po Lin Monastery

4. Virtual Tours

Virtual tours is a tool for tourists to have a first impression of a tourist spot. It likes photosynth. After you have chosen a tourist spot, the overview of that tourist spot will be shown. It was shown in a 3D view so it is just like reality. It helps tourists to get familiar with the tourist spots. It is also one of the most powerful ways to introduce the city to tourists.

From the examples above, it shows that techonologies play an important role in tourism industry. They help the culture and the atmosphere of the destinations become virtualize and it make DMOs feel easier to promote their countries. For my home town, they use a lot of technologies to help tourists know more about Hong Kong. I think HKTB has done a great job and use the techonologies well.

To know more about the technologies which HKTB used, you can go to:
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/index.html

Mobiles

In the past, map and guide books are the only tools for traveling. But now, more and more new technologies are invented and they provide a more sophisticated guide for tourists and make the trips easier to go. New technologies like Wi-Fi and GPS are the most popular tools now. Wi-Fi is a wireless local area network. People can use Wi-Fi to get access to the internet and search for what they want. Wi-Fi is very useful as you can find maps, descriptions of the tourist spots and transportations on the internet. GPS is a tool that can trace where you are. By using satellites, GPS can show you the position and also the way to go to the places you want. Using the new technologies can make travelers feel safer and give them convenience. Feeling more secure and convenient, people are indirectly encouraged to travel more.

Everything seems fine when there are new technologies. But do you think it is good to have new technologies around us always? It is no doubt that technologies give us convenient and make our life better. They can improve our life quality and save our time. But because of the convenience that technologies bring, people rely on them more. It is not uncommon to see people using iphones, netbooks or smart phones on the street. Wi-Fi is everywhere. You can get access to the internet even in a shopping centre. Technologies were at first an additional tool for people. But now they have already become daily essentials. People can’t live without them.


Travel by using technologies has undeniably shortened travelers’ time to find the way and tourists do not even need to bring the heavy guide books with them. For me, traveling using maps and guide books can bring us more memorable experiences than using new technologies. Using maps, you are searching by yourselves. But using GPS, you are just following the instructions. It sounds like you are controlled by the new technologies.

I can’t agree more that technologies help us a lot in travel. I do think that we should make use of new technologies when travelling. But I would like to remind people not to just rely on new technologies. People are not that stupid and they can live without technologies. Technologies are only tools that help you but not control you. So, don’t let technologies lead you and try to control over them.

photosynth