Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is at the World Travel Market in London exploring digital marketing to deepen its horizon in source markets.
Across the three days of WTM London – the event themed where ideas arrive – there will be 17 inspiring sessions with social media gurus, bloggers, digital influencers, content creators, marketers and entrepreneurs.
Speakers will share their expertise to help delegates pep up their posts, overhaul their hashtags and create content that pays dividends.
Highlights on the first day of WTM London (November 4) included Using Original Content and Social Media to Seamlessly Sell Travel Online, with an in-depth look at UK start-up, Culture Trip, which recently launched an accommodation-booking service alongside its inspirational articles about travel and culture.
ZTA Head Corporate Affairs Godfrey ‘Chief’ Koti who is part of the Zimbabwe delegation says the destination must proactively create content, own and tell its own stories in order to control the narrative.
“There is more than 500 million tweets posted each day and Facebook has a gigantic 2.4 billion regular users, the statistics surrounding social media are just incredible for us travel marketers.
There are more than one billion Instagram users, and millions using YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn and new channels such as TikTok. The reach of these sites prove that this is unquestionably the direction in which travel marketing is heading” he said.
“We have attended very imeducative sessions on the power of social media and its capabilities in marketing a destination. We need to be in a position to collectively create good compelling content in order to manage our general perception as a destination. It is important to own our narrative and this can be effectively done by telling our story on our own,” he said.
“We’re here to study lessons learnt over the years and look into a crystal ball to predict future trends on how to use social media to effectively market destination Zimbabwe. We’re optimistic that we will also be in a position role out massive digital media campaigns with high level partners out here in Europe,” he added.
WTM London’s Senior Director, Simon Press, said: “We here at WTM London, are incredibly proud to be leading the way when it comes to embracing the role that content creators have in the development of the travel industry. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why we launched BorderlessLive in September of this year. This unique new event allowed content creators to meet the brands and destinations, exchange ideas and form the business partnerships that will shape the travel industry into the future.
“The sessions, and other social media seminars being held at WTM, will inspire delegates with imaginative ideas to help them to stay ahead of the curve and create content that will see a return on investment.
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