What Are the 4 Mistakes to Avoid Online If You Manage a Tourism Business?
The idea for this article comes from my daily experience working with entrepreneurs in the tourism sector: tour guides, restaurant owners, vacation home or B&B owners who want to gain more visibility online, especially during the high season.
The problem? Too often, the focus on digital communication is limited to the months of operation, while during the winter, channels are neglected or even abandoned.
Yet, it is precisely during the winter months that many people begin organizing their summer vacations, choosing destinations, and planning their travel activities. It’s true that often these decisions are made impulsively, but online visibility doesn’t happen overnight. Reactivating channels at the last minute means missing valuable opportunities and seeing real results only when the season is already coming to an end.
That’s why I’ve decided to gather the 4 most common mistakes I see clients make and share some strategies to avoid them.
But first, let’s clarify what is meant by “seasonal activities” or “tourism businesses.”
What Are Seasonal Activities?
Seasonal activities take place during specific periods of the year, influenced by weather conditions, holidays, or market needs. Some examples include:
- Tourism and hospitality: hotels, B&Bs, vacation homes, and campsites that operate mainly in the summer or winter, depending on the destination.
- Food and beverage: beach establishments with dining services, waterfront kiosks, mountain huts, and ice cream parlors that see an increase in customers only during specific periods.
- Leisure services: rental of sports equipment (skiing in winter, bicycles or kayaks in summer), guided tours, and excursions related to specific seasons.
- Events and entertainment: organizing festivals, summer concerts, Christmas markets, amusement parks, and seasonal attractions.
- Farm stays and agricultural businesses: activities related to the harvest, picking seasonal fruits and vegetables, producing new olive oil, or making local products sold during specific times of the year.
- Seasonal retail and commerce: stores selling summer items (swimsuits, beach equipment) or winter goods (ski clothing, Christmas decorations), as well as temporary stores and pop-up shops for specific events.
For entrepreneurs in seasonal industries, the main challenge is balancing income and expenses throughout the year, using marketing strategies to maintain visibility during the off-season and build customer loyalty for the next season.
Now that we’ve clarified what is meant by seasonal activities, let’s look at the 4 mistakes to avoid if you manage a tourism business.
1. A Neglected Website: The First Mistake to Avoid
The website is the digital storefront of your business and often the first point of contact with potential customers. A poorly maintained website can convey a negative image and cause missed business opportunities.
What to do to improve it?
- Keep the website always updated with accurate information about opening dates, prices, and services offered.
- Use high-quality images that highlight the experience you offer.
- Ensure the website is mobile-friendly, as most users browse from smartphones.
- Optimize loading speed to prevent users from leaving the site too soon.
A well-structured and updated website helps improve your visibility on search engines and conveys professionalism and reliability. If you want to know if your website is competitive with your competitors on Google, check out my article on the 7 useful tips to optimize a website.
2. Ignoring social media channels during the off-season
Many seasonal entrepreneurs make the mistake of abandoning social media during the off-season, thus losing the opportunity to stay connected with their audience.
How to keep your social media presence alive year-round?
- Schedule regular content, at least once a week, to keep your followers engaged.
- Share curiosities, tips, and behind-the-scenes stories of your business. For example, if you run a hotel or restaurant, you can showcase preparations for the upcoming season or share the history of your establishment.
- Engage your community with polls and questions to understand what they expect from the next opening.
- Build anticipation for the new season with exclusive offers for those who follow you year-round.
Keeping social media active even during the off-season strengthens your relationship with the audience and makes promotion more effective when you reopen. If you run a hotel, you might also be interested in “How to Promote a Hotel on Social Media.”
3. Relying solely on advertising after months of inactivity
Many people think that launching an advertising campaign just before the season is enough to get immediate leads and bookings. In reality, without a constant online presence, the performance of the campaigns will be much lower.
What to do instead?
- Build your audience year-round by keeping your website, blog, and social media active.
- Optimize your search engine ranking (SEO) with relevant and regularly updated content.
- Use email marketing strategies to stay in touch with past and potential customers.
- When launching an advertising campaign, make sure your site is well-optimized and ready to convert visitors into customers.
A continuous communication strategy makes your advertising campaigns much more effective and profitable.
4. Not adapting content to different web channels
Each platform has its own audience and dynamics, so it’s important to adapt your communication based on the channel used.
Here are some practical tips:
- On your website, prioritize in-depth, clear content optimized for SEO.
- On Instagram and Facebook, focus on engaging images and videos, storytelling, and interaction with followers.
- On Google Business Profile, frequently update photos, reviews, and useful information to improve your local visibility.
- On TikTok and YouTube, you can use dynamic, short video content to showcase the experience you offer.
Adapting your messages to each platform increases the effectiveness of your communication and improves interaction with the audience.
Managing a seasonal business requires constant attention to your online presence, even during the off-season. Avoiding these mistakes and adopting a well-structured digital strategy will help you improve your brand visibility, stay in touch with your audience, and optimize bookings or sales when the season restarts.
If you want to improve your digital strategy and make your business more visible online, follow me on my social channels! I’m Eleonora Martis, a web marketing consultant for tourism, and since 2017, I’ve been helping businesses and professionals in the sector enhance their online presence. On my blog and social profiles, I share practical tips for improving digital presence and attracting more customers, along with travel suggestions to discover fascinating destinations.
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn so you don’t miss useful content and updates on the digital tourism world!
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!