This document provides an overview of Chute, a social media and influencer marketing platform for travel brands. It discusses Chute's features for content discovery and management, social media posting, contests, rights clearance, bookings integration, digital ads, live events, image recognition, and video. The document also highlights upcoming webinars on travel marketing topics and includes articles on trends related to user-generated content, influencer marketing, social media strategies, and personalization in the travel industry.

1. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 1
Sightseer
TIPS FOR GENERATING
MORE UGC
YOUR DESTINATION FOR TRAVEL MARKETING NEWS & STRATEGIES
5
Find out which platform
beats Instagram!
SOCIAL MEDIA
THE2017
TRAVEL REPORT
INTERVIEW
Norwegian Cruise Line’s
Social Media Manager
reveals top trend for 2017
VISITPALM SPRINGS
SHARES HOWTHEY VET
INFLUENCERS
PRESENTED BY

2. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 3 2 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
Chute Products
SOCIAL INFLUENCERS
CONTENTDISCOVERY &
MANAGEMENT
BLOGS
SOCIAL MEDIA
CONTESTS
RIGHTS CLEARANCE
BOOKINGS
DIGITAL & SOCIAL ADS
LIVE EVENTS
IMAGE RECOGNITION & AI
VIDEO
A combination of software and services designed to
automate the process for brands to identify, engage
and work with influencers to drive brand aware-
ness, affinity and ROI.
Find the authentic photos and videos most
meaningful to your destination or travel brand
through hashtag, user and geolocation filtering.
Then, manage all this content across teams in your
custom-built workflow.
Easily drag and drop authentic photos and videos
into your text-based posts to create more engaging
and visually appealing blog posts, articles, FAQs, etc.
Draft and schedule posts to publish to Instagram,
Facebook & Twitter. Track analytics across all of
your accounts in one dashboard against your com-
petitors as a benchmark.
Collect and display photo and video contest
submissions in a digital display, which includes
voting and sharing capabilities.
Operationalize and simplify the process of getting
rights to the earned media travelers create across
Instagram, Twitter and Youtube.
Chute makes it easy to incorporate photos of
guests’ and travelers’ real experiences into your
online bookings platform or to promote destination
partners. These visual endorsements increase
interest and conversion rates.
Chute allows you to easily spice up your digital
ads by infusing them with dynamic fan photos and
videos. Ads automatically update with the latest
approved media.
Capture the excitement and buzz at games,
concerts, festivals and conferences with a live
display streaming real-time photos, videos and
tweets from the audience.
Image Recognition Intelligence Software — IRIS™
— enables you to search for logos, objects, scenes
and similar photos across Instagram and Twitter all
within the Chute platform.
You can now import, moderate and request rights
to YouTube videos! Video content can then be
republished to your Chute displays, social accounts,
ad units, and any of your marketing channels.
Chute is the #1 visual and social marketing
solution for destinations and travel brands.
Bring authenticity, emotion and influence to your destination marketing
www.getchute.com/travel/
photo by @katejoie

3. 4 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 5
WEBINARS
SEETHE LATESTWEBINAR AND SIGN UP:
http://www2.getchute.com/webinar
Upcoming Topics Include:
Social Media Best Practices for Travel
Brands & Destinations
Social Video: The Formats, Strategies,
and Platforms You Need To Know
Metrics Matter: How Travel Brands
Should Set and Measure Social Goals
Discover the latest travel marketing trends and learn best practices
from real industry experts in our monthly webinar series!
In This Issue
06
08
10
12
16
18
20
24
28
LETTER FROM THE CEO
DIGITAL MARKETING UPDATE
UPCOMING EVENTS
2017 STATE OF TRAVEL ON
INSTAGRAM
5 TIPS FOR GENERATING MORE
UGC ON INSTAGRAM
INTERVIEW WITH NORWEGIAN
CRUISE LINE'S SOCIAL MEDIA
MANAGER EVELYN MACKI
THE 2017 SOCIAL MEDIA AND
TRAVEL REPORT
HIGHLIGHTS: UGC & INFLUENCER
BEST PRACTICES WITH VISIT
PALM SPRINGS
THE TRAVEL MARKETER'S GUIDE
TO WORKING WITH INFLUENCERS
Ranvir Gujral, CEO of Chute,
shares his thoughts on travel.
Discover the top social media
updates.
From governor’s conferences to
general travel marketing events,
this is your guide to where the
industry will be for the next few
months.
In this report developed by Chute
and Macromeasures, you'll find
the top destinations and topics
based on real traveler preferences
and interests.
Outside of standard ads and
social promotion, discover ways
brands can really amp up cus-
tomer participation.
Hear from Evelyn Macki on
the cruise line’s strategy for
Instagram success. Plus, discover
what trend she sees as pivotal
for travel marketing teams in
the future!
Chute surveyed hundreds of U.S.
consumers who have traveled
overnight in the past year to
better understand their pref-
erences and opinions on travel
brands’ social presences and also
to get a better understanding of
their personal sharing habits.
Visit Palm Springs shares best
practices when it comes to both
influencers and user-generated
content (UGC).
We answer the top questions
travel marketers have around
working with influencers.
26
ARE TRAVEL & TOURISM
WEBSITES THE LAST FRONTIER OF
PERSONALIZATION?
BVK's Creative Strategist, Rachel
Whitt, explores the question.
34
2016 – WHAT ITTELLS US
ABOUT 2017
MMGY Global's President & CEO,
Clayton Reid, shares his thoughts.

4. - J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
6 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 7
LETTER FROM THE CEO
T
ravel is the world's largest
industry. A whopping $8
trillion of economic activity
is driven each year by the
world's wanderers. That’s 10% of the GDP
of the planet. Over $2 trillion of it on direct
travel spend: the planes, trains and automo-
biles; the hotels, motels and Airbnbs. We all
yearn for travel.
As one might imagine, we suffer from no
shortage of wanderlust-inducing magazines,
blogs and social media accounts chronicling
the world's most desirous locales. One might
reasonably conclude that the world does not
need yet another travel publication.
But what of the actual marketing of those
destinations, hotels and methods and modes
of transportation? Of hobbit holes and luxury
abodes? What of the $200 billion dollars
spent each year attempting to awaken our
napping nomad, cajoling us to empty our
wallets, hunt for adventure and gather new
memories? The promise that we shall achieve
longer-lasting value from an investment in a
luxury hotel than in a luxury handbag? That
we are better off not filling our closets but
our camera rolls?
At Sightseer, this is our fascination: the
industry that drives travel. Here, we will dis-
sect and analyze how marketers are spending
the aforementioned $200 billion. And the
travel industry is at quite the crossroads: the
intersection where globalization must meet
personalization.
While there are many travel marketing
themes that capture our attention, our focus
will revolve around the enduring challenge
of travel marketers competing to provide the
right content to the right consumer at the
right place and the right time. But what is
the right content? Issue by issue we will try
to answer just that.
Travel marketers attempt to answer it each
day as their content marketing efforts play
out. We see this in the ways Destination
Marketing Organizations (DMOs) from
TravelNevada to Visit Palm Springs leverage
deeply authentic and personal storytelling,
including leveraging actual visitor photos and
videos, to inspire interest in their destina-
tions above others.
And from the The Ritz-Carlton to the Ramada,
we see hoteliers battle to grow direct book-
ings after largely ceding the consumer book-
ing experience to the online travel agencies.
We are interested to see how they evolve not
only loyalty to drive this reverse migration,
but the story making that will allow them to
lift the personalities of their properties off of
a price-sorted page of listings on an OTA site
and onto the bucket lists of travelers.
On a personal note, I believe we need travel
now more than ever. Only travel has the
power to bend the earth to create neighbors
from strangers across the world. While we
devise more ways to turn people away from
our borders, only travel gives us the power
of shared stories. Shared stories that lead to
shared understanding. And what can’t we
accomplish with shared understanding?
For those inner nomads to wander, however,
we need strong travel marketers. We need all
of you to coax us out of our shells. We need
you to help us overcome our fears to wander
to places we wouldn’t dare imagine to go
until you ‘incept’ it into our minds. So cele-
brate your travelers. Tell your stories. Find
us wherever we are and make sure we hear
them. We will all be better off for your efforts.
We thank you for joining us on this journey,
and we hope to tell the story behind the
story here.
Sincerely,
Ranvir Gujral
"Not all those who wander
are lost."
photo by @ozeias

5. 8 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 9
In a move that could challenge Yelp, Instagram will
soon let people book appointments with businesses,
part of an effort to expand the app's consumer uses.
People will be able to make a reservation, for example,
by going to a restaurant’s Instagram profile and clicking
on a button to schedule it. The new feature is set to roll
out in the next couple months.
As part of its growing competition with Google for travel
dollars, Facebook has launched its own city guides,
which include the capabilities of booking a hotel, restau-
rant, or tour. The app is also making use of its geoloca-
tion data by showing users lists of cities their friends
have visited, “places locals go” based on the most popu-
lar and highly-rated spots, and recommendations.
Pinterest expects to earn
more than $500 million in
revenue this year.
DIGITAL
MARKETING UPDATE
AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, and more of the United
States’ biggest advertisers said they would stop
running ads on YouTube and other Google
properties due to concern Google is not doing
enough to prevent brands from appearing next to
offensive material, like hate speech.
Google has previously outlined steps it would take
to stop ads from running next to “hateful, offensive
and derogatory content” on YouTube and websites in
its display network. However, while Google pledged
to improve, brands wanted to hear there would be
zero risk that their ads would appear near content
promoting things like terrorism.
Reports say Twitter is set to announce
that it will open up its livestreaming
API to allow media companies to
livestream to Twitter. This move would
let companies use Twitter software
directly to livestream video. Currently,
companies have to sign deals with
Twitter in order to use this feature or use
Twitter's live video app Periscope.
Instagram launches multiple
images and video posts, aka
“carousel posts”.
Twitter is considering whether
to build a premium version of its
popular Tweetdeck interface aimed at
professionals, raising the possibility that
it could collect subscription fees from
some users for the first time.
Pinterest will now let you search for
products using any image you find online,
without visiting Pinterest, through
it’s Chrome extension. This comes as
part of the platforms expansion of its
visual search to
locate specific
or similar items
and attributes in
photos - both on
the platform and
across the web.
BOOK IT
These are the latest updates from top social and
digital platforms, all in one spot.

6. DIGITAL
M
ARKETING
A
CADEMY
10 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 11
Upcoming
Events
May 8-10, 2017 | THE GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM (NEW MEXICO)
Learn more: http://newmexicohospitality.org/events/2017-governors-conference-hospitality-and-tourism
May 10-11, 2017 | KENTUCKY SPRING TRAVEL FORUM 2017
Learn more: http://www.ktia.com/
May 10-12, 2017 | 2017 OREGON GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON TOURISM
Learn more: http://industry.traveloregon.com/oregon-governors-conference-on-tourism/registration/
May 15-17, 2017 | OKLAHOMA CONFERENCE ON TOURISM
Learn more: http://www.viethconsulting.com/Calendar/moreinfo.php?eventid=39598
May 16-18, 2017 | PHOCUSWRIGHT EUROPE (AMSTERDAM)
Learn more: http://www.phocuswrighteurope.com/
July 19-21, 2017 | ARIZONA GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON TOURISM
Learn more: http://www.azlta.com/events/governors-conference/
June 27-29, 2017 | CALIFORNIA TRAVEL SUMMIT
Learn more: http://dlewis607.wixsite.com/-cts2017
July 12-14, 2017 | DMAI ANNUAL CONFERENCE (MONTREAL)
Learn more: http://www.destinationmarketing.org/annual-convention
Aug 19-22, 2017 | ALABAMA'S GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON TOURISM
Learn more: http://alabama.travel/upcoming-events/alabama-governor-s-conference-on-tourism
Aug 28-30, 2017 | ESTO (MINNEAPOLIS)
Learn more: https://www.ustravel.org/events/esto
Aug 28-30, 2017 | FLORIDA GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON TOURISM
Learn more: http://floridatourismconference.com/
Sep 26-27, 2017 | SKIFT GLOBAL FORUM (NYC)
Learn more: http://forum.skift.com/newyork/
Oct 23-25, 2017 | KENTUCKY TRAVEL INDUSTRY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Learn more: http://www.ktia.com/
Nov 6-8, 2017 | WORLD TRAVEL MARKET (LONDON)
Learn more: http://london.wtm.com/
Nov 7-9, 2017 | PHOCUSWRIGHT (FLORIDA)
Learn more: http://www.phocuswrightconference.com/
Have a travel-related
event happening
between June and
January 2018 that
should be added?
Email Sightseer@
getchute.com!
CHUTE
Digital Marketing Academy
Join the FREE
Being a travel marketer requires constant learning. New platforms.
New apps. Changing expectations both externally from travelers,
and internally by senior leadership. The Chute Digital Academy
for DMOs and hospitality tackles the latest in digital and social
marketing to keep your marketing skills at the top of their game!
Establishing your brand voice
What's new in the world of social platforms and content creation
Influencer and micro-influencer marketing
Measurement and tracking
A sparkly certificate to tout your digital prowess upon completion
WHAT YOU'LL GET:
SIGN UP: http://www2.getchute.com/TravelAcademy
CERTIFIED
Your Name
Jody Farrar
VP MARKETI N
G
,
C
HUTE
17.06.2017
DATE
DIGITAL
M
ARKETING
A
CADEMY

7. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 13 12 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
The 2017
on INSTAGRAM
STATE OFTRAVEL
OVER THE COURSE OF 2016, MORE THAN 98 MILLION
PHOTOS RELATED TO TRAVEL WERE SHARED ON
INSTAGRAM. Over the past year, we tracked and analyzed all
of these posts in a monthly report: revealing which destinations,
influencers and topics were trending at various times of the year.
This report looks back at all of 2016 collectively to show the current
state of travel that marketers should know for 2017 - as told by real
travelers. Keep reading to discover not only the top photo of the
year, but also the top trends and consumer insights based on the
analysis of these millions of photos.

8. 14 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 15
THE
CONTENT
CREATOR
ANALYSISThis section looks at the top-performing trends,
accounts and content shared over the past year.
For this section, we’ve partnered with
Macromeasures to analyze the content and
accounts of everyday Instagram users for key
attributes and interests. This section measures
both the percentage of the creators who are
interested in a certain topic along with how much
more interested they are in a topic compared to
the general population.
TOP TRAVEL INSTAGRAM of 2016
TOP BRAND ACCOUNTS
TOP TRAVEL INSTAGRAM DESTINATION of 2016
We select the top photo based on engagement (likes and comments),
with comments weighted to be more meaningful. It might be surpris-
ing that this bear photo by renown photographer Paul Nicklen is the
top travel photo of the year on Instagram. However, if you combine
the rarity of spotting a Kermode bear in the wild with the beauty and
cuteness of the image, plus National Geographic’s massive following...
is it really that surprising?
Over the course of 2016, we saw auto brands expand their content and
reach by tapping into both the travel and fashion communities. Overall,
the top brands’ accounts were almost all fueled by user-generated
content. It’s impossible for any marketing team to be everywhere, but
their consumers are constantly exploring and sharing photos of those
travels. For brands with products like GoPro and auto brands, this
makes user-generated content key for their social strategies. Nobody
captures what matters most to other travelers better than real travel-
ers - something for hotel brands and destinations to keep in mind.
When it comes to media outlets they care
about, it’s probably not surprising that many
are interested in National Geographic, Condé
Nast Traveler and Lonely Planet twice as
much as the average consumer. However,
also important to note is that blogs and
independent magazines like Kinfolk also
resonate with this group. Plus, keep in mind
that Instagram travelers don’t just want to
travel the planet - they also care about it. In
fact, they’re 11 times more likely than the
general population to be invested in forest or
rainforest conservation.
What about brand and destination
interests? Well, to start things off, if they’re
posting a photo, it’s highly likely to be one
they took on their iPhone and edited with
VSCOcam. However, if they are using a sepa-
rate camera, it’s probably a Canon. In terms
of actual travel preferences, this group is far
more likely to post about or be interested in
hotels than the average consumer. Chains
like the Hyatt or Hilton rank high for these
travelers, but Airbnb is also an important
player. Lastly, of course we had to look at the
destinations themselves. We examined the
destinations they might post about, but also
the ones they’re most interested in based on
who they’re following and interacting with.
South Korea is at the top of the wanderlust
list, with the travel Instagram community 30x
more interested in that destination.
ITALY
Looking at the interests of travel creators on
Instagram really allows you to see the two
most distinct archetypes of the Instagram
traveler. First, you have the maverick. This is
a traveler who lives for adventure - they love
backpacking and hiking. They’re not afraid to
rough it, go camping, or eat street food over
dining out. On the other hand, you have the
luxury traveler. This is the group that’s proba-
bly the reason so many fashion and luxury car
brands were so successful in the first section.
They want to be pampered, eat the best food
and have exclusive experiences.
❶
❷
❸
❹
❺
National Geographic - @NatGeo
GoPro - @GoPro
Mercedes-Benz - @MercedesBenz
National Geographic Travel - @NatGeoTravel
Audi - @Audi
4%
17%
of all travel photos mention Italy – that's 4 million posts
11%
posted about Rome, making it the top Italian city
posted the most about nature and architecture
The top photo was a UGC photo by @pangeaproductions reposted by Mercedes-Benz
BASIC INFO
INTERESTS & AFFINITIES Camera Wars
Hotel Interests*
Top Destinations*
21%
7%
5%
6%
from the U.S.
from the U.K.
from RUSSIA
24% National Geographic
*mostly, 13% are using
VSCOcam on their phones
12ₓ Travel Blogs
11ₓ Rain(Forest) Conservation
47%
F
53%
M
from ITALY
ACTIVITIES
6%
6%
1.4%
Canon
Nikon
Leica
20ₓ
12ₓ
17ₓ
13ₓ
South Korea
China
National Parks
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Rome
7ₓ
16ₓ
6ₓ
5ₓ
Hiking + Backpacking
Chinese Cuisine
Spas
Seafood
6ₓ
7ₓ
5ₓ
4ₓ
Adventure Travel
Burger
Luxury Travel
Dining Out and/or
Street Food
Food Favorites*
12ₓ
11ₓ
5ₓ
6ₓ
4ₓ
Hyatt Hotels
Hilton Hotels
Four Seasons
Starwood
AirBnB
General Interests*
General Activities*
* x refers to how many times more than average
14ₓ
27ₓ
Photo by Paul Nicken (@paulnicken) for National Geographic

9. 16 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 17
1This is the most high-leveltactic on
this list. Working with an influencer will
allow you to reach hundreds of thousands
to millions of highly-engaged people. They
often have audiences who trust them more
than they trust celebrities, and some are
even bigger names than your traditional
celebrity. The key here is to take the time
to really vet the influencer – subscriber or
follower counts alone are not enough. Look
at how their community responds to them
in terms of engagement.
4As social media and UGCbecome less
of a “nice to have” and more of a “must
have,” think about how your own employees
can support these efforts. This could be as
simple as prepping employees with informa-
tion about the hashtag, the campaign, or the
types of content you’re seeking. For example,
if a group of friends asks a cast member at a
theme park to snap a group photo of them,
that employee can at the very least mention
tagging the brand and using the hashtag. You
can even take it a step further and encourage
your staff to also be on-site photographers.
For example, using something like the Chute
Capture App, an employee at a hotel can snap
photos of guests or events, get permission on
the spot to use the photos, and then share
them back to the corporate team to use.
2Micro-influencers are peoplewith
anywhere from hundreds to tens of
thousands of followers. These creators might
have smaller audiences, but they often will
have even higher engagement rates than
people with millions of followers. Work with
these creators to begin to fill the pool with
high-quality content to kick off a campaign
on the right foot. For example, using geo-lo-
cation and hashtag searching, find people in
your area who have built up their own social
following thanks to their beautiful content.
Locals are a fantastic (and low-cost) asset to
any destination or travel brand.
5Nobody wants to feel likethey’re shout-
ing into the void. If you go through all the
trouble to generate a ton of UGC, you need
to do something not only with the content,
but with the people engaging with you. This
could be something as simple as just liking
their photo or a quick comment. If the photo
is particularly great, ask them for permission
to reshare it and then do that (giving them
credit, of course).
3Your social platforms arenot the only
ways you can reach your consum-
ers. More than likely, you also have some
physical touchpoints too, right? Hotel? Add
the hashtag and instructions to room keys
so your guests always have the information
with them. Destination? Add the hashtag to
brochures and informational displays.
TODAY, THANKS TO THE RISE OF SOCIAL
platforms and mobile devices, the practice
of creating and sharing real-time content is
becoming more ingrained in our daily lives.
With this growing consumer trend, travel
marketers are looking to user-generated con-
tent (UGC) as a source of authentic and ever-
green media to promote their destinations
and attractions. And for good reason: this
type of earned media is 84% more effective
in improving consumer engagement, accord-
ing to Nielsen. Furthermore, ads featuring
user-generated content have a 55% higher ad
recall and generate 3.4 times more clicks. Plus,
in Chute's research, we found that 78% of
millennials said they would rather see photos
of real customers over professional photos
created by the brand.
By now it’s clear that UGC is not just a
campaign and that the brands with active
communities are the ones that earn that
elusive and lucrative millennial brand loyalty.
With this in mind, more travel brands and
destinations than ever are encouraging
consumers to share UGC – from featuring
real customers on booking pages to photo
galleries at live events or in hotel and visitor
guides. However, announcing a campaign and
launching a branded hashtag is just the first
step to generating UGC. So outside of stan-
dard ads and social promotion, what are ways
brands can really amp up traveler participa-
tion? Check out our 5 tips!
Work With Influencers Tap Into Micro-Influencers Use Every Customer Touchpoint Empower Employees Reward Participation
5 Tips For
Generating
More UGC
On Instagram
@katejoie
@agatakamler
@aritaontheroad
@agatakamler
@kenziebell
By Monica Watson
Senior Manager of Content, Chute

10. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 19 18 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
F
ocusing on guest happiness
and experience isn’t just
something that Norwegian
Cruise Line does on their
cruise ships – it’s also a driving force for the
digital media strategies. We recently got to
discuss these efforts along with future trends
with Norwegian Cruise Line’s Social Media
Manager, Evelyn Macki. A big focus for Macki
and her team? User-generated content.
Content shared by guests is collected,
rights-cleared, organized, and published
through the Chute platform. The Norwegian
Cruise Line team also enables their crew to
create and share by providing them with
the Chute Capture App, where they can take
photos, easily get model release signatures
from any guests featured, and then share
back with the social team.
Why so much focus on user-generated con-
tent? Put simply, it’s effective.
“Most of the content we publish is
user-generated content, and our community
responds much more to UGC than stock from
an engagement perspective,” Macki said. “The
integration of UGC into our content strategy
has definitely been an effective one.”
And true engagement is a vital metric for
Macki. Her team wants to really know what
content is driving brand love, so while using
authentic content is important, they also
make sure their copy encourages real interac-
tion over empty likes.
“Some brands continue to ask fans “to
like or to heart,” we don’t see this type of
engagement as valid or a true depiction of
fan affinity,” she said. “We like our posts to
inspire engagement due to quality and cre-
ativity of content, not because we are directly
requesting it.”
Being a source of great content for
consumers means always being aware of
upcoming trends and thinking about how to
best implement them. What does she see
as a big future focus for all travel marketers?
Macki said that video, particularly 360 and
virtual reality, should be on the radar of travel
marketers. However, the challenge she’s
seeing already is keeping consumers engaged
and excited about the format – which takes
good storytelling.
“While 360 is growing in popularity, it is
really still not fully adopted,” she said. “Some
people are into it, others get bored after a
few seconds. I think the challenge for market-
ers is leveraging the technology but not rely-
ing on the 360 format to be the main driver of
engagement. Marketers will still need to tell
a good story via 360, it cannot just be 360 for
the sake of 360.”
As consumers also adapt to viewing and
creating their own 360 video, this could be
yet another way to bring authentic visuals
into a travel brand’s arsenal.
INTERVIEW
Norwegian
Cruise Line's
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Evelyn Macki
with
Most of the content we publish is user-generated
content,and our community responds much more to
UGC than stock from an engagement perspective.
– EVELYN MACKI

11. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 21 20 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
T
he #1 source for millennial
travel inspiration is social
media. Similarly, this group of
travelers said recommenda-
tions sourced from peers was the top way
they got recommendations for places to
travel and things to do. But how do the plat-
forms rank in terms of travel content? After
Facebook, Youtube and Instagram are the top
places travelers turn to for content related to
travel with Pinterest, Twitter and Snapchat
making up the bottom three.
This doesn’t outright mean that those
bottom platforms should be ignored by
brands. It just means it’s not where consum-
ers first think to go to view travel content.
There’s definitely still room and ways to
market effectively on each - whether it’s by
being a resource through customer service
or collaborating with influencers who already
have audiences.
Drilling down into some platform-spe-
cific actions, what tools are these travelers
using and what content are they creating
themselves?
For Instagram, the “Places” (or geoloca-
tion) search capability on the Explore page is
key for discovery. This is definitely something
to keep in mind when encouraging people and
any influencer partners to share: make sure
they’re tagging the correct location!
What Instagram features do consumers
use when looking for travel content or ideas
on the platform? 45% said Places search (or
geolocation search) was a tool they used.
This is when a person searches for the name
of a specific place, whether a country, city,
or business, and can see both the top and
live photos shared from there. This is why
encouraging geo-location tagging in photos
is incredibly important. Not far after geolo-
cation, travelers search by hashtag, and 21%
both said they looked for specific users or
chose “other,” which mostly meant scrolling
through the “Explore” tab.
As for content they create themselves, it’s
clear Instagram is a huge winner here. Not
only is this the #1 place millennials choose
to share their travel content according to our
previous UGC report, but the platform also
sees tens of MILLIONS of photos each month.
Travelers are definitely sharing to other
platforms too! 45% of travelers who are also
Snapchat users send 1-5 snaps per day when
traveling. Meanwhile, 27% send more than 11
per day! Also, 5% make content for Youtube
based on their travels. While this is a seem-
ingly small number, keep in mind the barrier
for entry between an instant platform like
Snapchat and a more curated and edited one
like Youtube. 5% of travelers is still a large
number of people creating videos about a
specific destination or experience.
SOCIAL MEDIA HABITS
Top Social Media Platform
for Travel Content
What Instagram features do travelers
use when looking for travel content?
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
INSTAGRAM
PINTEREST
TWITTER
SNAPCHAT
Geolocation / Places search
Hashtag Search
People Search
Today, destinations and travel brands are
investing an increasing amount of time
and budget into social media. The indus-
try has realized that while at one point
travelers would turn to travel agents or
traditional marketing channels, like mag-
azines and ads, for planning and inspira-
tion, today’s travelers are finding their
inspiration on social media and digital
platforms. To keep up and reach consum-
ers where they are, all travel brands, from
destinations to airlines, are moving more
budgets to this form of marketing.
However, there are still questions around
what content best performs on what
platform. For this report, we surveyed
hundreds of U.S. consumers who have
traveled overnight in the past year to
better understand their preferences and
opinions on travel brands’ social pres-
ences and also to get a better under-
standing of their personal sharing habits.
Traveler Social
Media Preferences
2017 Report
1
2
3
4
5
6
Other with suggested
content on the explore
page being a top response
45%
42%
21%
21%

12. @claudiazi
22 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 23
R
ight now, the biggest hurdle
for travel brands and desti-
nations is getting people to
follow their accounts. 75% of
travelers do not follow any destinations on
social media and 74% do not follow any other
travel brands (like airlines, hotels, etc).
For destinations, making travelers aware
that they exist on social media is the biggest
challenge with 54% of travelers who don’t
follow destinations citing unawareness as
the top reason why. After that, 41% said they
think the content is just too promotional. Far
down the list, 4% said the content was too
produced and only 1% cited inconsistency.
Unsurprisingly, what encourages people
to follow destinations is because they’re
researching a trip to that location (38%) or
because they’ve already been there (37%).
Considering 25% said that they follow
a destination purely because they like the
content, it’s clear that building awareness
is going to be the big strategic focus for
many destinations. While ads are one way to
promote an account, consider working with
influencers who have audiences that match
your desired demographic.
W
hile there are general best practices that apply to social as a whole,
the audiences on each platform expect certain types of content
and interaction that differs from place to place. Think of each
social media platform as its own nation in the social world: each
nation has its own customs and laws. It’s up to the marketer to understand each well
enough to create and target on the platform even better. Check out some of the types of
content travelers said they most prefer across many of the top social platforms:
TRAVEL BRANDS' GREATEST HURDLES WINNING CONTENT
On Facebook, travelers most want travel brands and destinations to post:
On Twitter, travelers most want travel brands and destinations to post:
What kinds of content do travelers prefer on YouTube?
Only 5% say they watch snaps from brands or publishers. What would get them
interested in following a travel brand on the platform?
Photos and videos created by or featuring other travelers (1)
Guides and How-tos
Professional/brand-created photos
Customer service assistance
Facebook Live videos
Deals and news (2)
Beautiful travel-related photos and videos
Customer service assistance
Memes and funny posts or interactions
Informational videos/travel guides (3)
Vlogs found by searching for content based on a destination
Videos from travel brands or destinations
Vlogs from people I’m already a fan of
Livestreams
Beautiful travel-related photos and videos (4)
Real adventures shared by or from other travelers
Content that educates me in some way Livestreams
32%
44%
27%
45%
32%
28%
17%
32%
16%
17%
12%
23%
10%
11%
9%
5%
9%
In conclusion, as travelers become more social media-focused, travel brands and desti-
nations will need to meet those new needs and expectations. Just like people aren’t one
homogenous group, the social media channels they turn to also have their own nuances.
Travel marketers who dive in fully and are able to be agile will reap the benefits through
awareness, brand love, and, ultimately, dollars spent.
75% of travelers
do not follow any
destinations
74% do not follow
any other travel
brands
54% don't follow
destinations
because they don't
know of any
50% don't follow
travel brands
because they think
the content is too
promotional
M
eanwhile, for travel
brands, consumers are
really turned off by what
they consider content
that’s too heavy in promotion with 50%
saying they don’t follow airlines, hotels, and
other travel brands because the content
shared is too promotional. Other reasons
cited for not following travel brands were
that 44% don’t know of any to follow, 5%
don’t like the overly-produced content, and
1% thought they posted too inconsistently.
If people do choose to follow a travel brand,
it’s mostly because they’re already loyal to
the company with 45% saying they follow
because they’re a rewards member. Only
12% said they follow these brands because
they actually like the content. Other reasons
listed: 18% said it’s because they’re research-
ing a trip or destination, 12% said it’s
because they plan to book with the brand
in the future, 12% said it’s because they
purchase frequently from that brand.
So content quality is clearly the big hurdle
for travel brands. Our suggestion? Instead
of trying to put your brand at the heart of
your social media story, consider ways to be
guest-first. On Instagram, this would look
like featuring real photos and stories from
actual guests. On Facebook, you could create
travel guides or helpful tips that travelers
can use. Basically, create value and goodwill
amongst consumers instead of always trying
to make a hard sell.
1
2
3
4

13. 1What social platforms are
they prominent on? And
which is their *main* platform
- i.e., are they Youtuber’s first
with a community that follows
them over to Instagram or
Instagrammer’s first? Knowing
where they post will give you
a better idea of what kind of
content you can ask for in return
for their visit.
2This is a matter of band-
width. If the influencer
wants to come during in-season,
they have to have a lot of follow-
ers to make working with them
beneficial for all parties involved.
During off-season times is the
best time to work with influenc-
ers with smaller followings.
3When they post to IG, are
they actually getting a good
amount of engagement? This
engagement rate is far more
valuable than follower rates
alone.
4Do they include the geo-lo-
cation and hashtags? Even
if they have a lot of followers, if
they don’t do this, they won’t be
super helpful in reaching actual
goals.
ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 25 24 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
VISIT PALM
SPRINGS
On UGC and Influencer Marketing
The team behind Visit Palm Springs saw the
importance of maintaining fresh content on
their website, so they came to Chute with
a goal of maintaining a flow of always-up-
dating content on their site to increase
engagement and time on site. They used the
Chute platform to discover and clear rights
to the user-generated content being shared
by real travelers. This content is now used
across their site to showcase and link to
local restaurants, shopping, event spaces and
more.
Comparing two months before using the
Chute platform to two months after, Palm
Springs saw a decrease in the bounce rate on
their homepage and an increase in the time
visitors spent on site. Plus, they also gar-
nered an 8% engagement rate on the displays
- compared to the 5.3% industry benchmark.
At Chute, we were recently joined by the
marketing team behind Visit Palm Springs’
authentic marketing success: Kara Walker
and Sarah Hahne. The two shared their expe-
riences and best practices when it comes
to both influencers and user-generated
content (UGC) – from how to best prep for an
influencer visit to a destination to promoting
partners with UGC. Here, you’ll find some of
the highlights from the discussion along with
their results from implementing UGC, which
you can watch in it’s entirety here: http://
www2.getchute.com/PalmSpringsInterview
We realized early on that we
wanted only square images.
ON WHAT MAKES 'GOOD' UGC: This ques-
tion truly comes down to audience and plat-
form. The content that performs best on your
website or in an ad may differ from what will
perform best for organic social posts. Visit
Palm Springs started off broadly and over
time saw the content with which users were
most engaged, and used that knowledge to
be even more strategic around what content
they posted and where.
“We realized early on that we wanted only
square images,” Hahne said. “After working
with our brand person, we also realized that
people in the images really work for adver-
tising and really appeal to visitors on our
website because they can see themselves in
those images. However, for Instagram and
our social platforms, pictures of palm trees,
rainbows and mountains do really well.”
ON USING UGC TO PROMOTE PARTNERS:
Palm Springs now features content shared
by real travelers to assist in the promotion
of local places to stay, dine, shop, and even
get married. These pages feature carousels
through which visitors can scroll. Clicking on
an image allows the viewers to learn more
about who took the photo and the place
being featured. The visitor can then click
through to learn even more about the local
business mentioned.
ON VETTING INFLUENCERS:
When it comes to working with influencers, the Visit Palm Springs
team takes the time to think through 4 key factors before agreeing to
work with a creator.
Learn more about how
Visit Palm Springs
preps and works
with influencers and
manages their UGC
tactics here: http://
www2.getchute.com/
PalmSpringsInterview
Main Social Platform
# of Photos Added to Library Home Page Bounce Rate Down Increase in Engagement Rate
From Industry Standard
Total Photography Cost Savings Avg Time Increase on Carousel Pages
288+ 10.85%
51%
$273k 23%
The Results
Engagement RateTime of Year Practices

14. 26 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 27
OPINION
Are travel and tourism websites the
last frontier in personalization?
By Rachel Whitt, Creative Strategist, BVK
AS A DESTINATION MARKETING organiza-
tion (DMO) or someone who is more broadly
engaged in the travel and tourism space,
you know how important understanding
your audience is to achieving key metrics
like intent to travel, increased visitation or
duration in destination. And because of that,
you probably have some form of audience
profiles. Whether it’s a formal quantitative
study, qualitative personas or a hybrid of
both, you’re almost certainly using informa-
tion about who is visiting your destination to
inform your marketing efforts.
Depending on the channels you’re employ-
ing to reach current and potential visitors,
these insights may be driving anything from
media placements to email lists to social
media targeting. But how are you using that
data to inform your website? I mean really
using it to speak the right language to the
right audiences at the right times to drive
engagement? If that question caused you to
pause, you’re not alone.
While that sentiment is entirely common-
place, it’s not necessarily good for business.
Consider this: your website can be the first
consumer touchpoint for your potential
visitor and continue to be relevant all the
way from the initial dreaming phase through
in-market visitation.
So, what's the hold up?
Sure, you can add a call-to-action that cap-
tures the attention of a young family with
two kids from an urban area looking for out-
door adventure. But that very same content
will also be seen by an older couple looking
to experience fine dining and culture. As a
result, most destination websites are orga-
nized in a fairly standard fashion, by leading
with general buckets like Activities and
Accommodations and folding more tailored
content tucked neatly underneath.
Now picture those same two audiences
through a new lens. The family with young
kids is on your site looking for hiking trails
at the same time your empty nesters are
browsing for wine festivals. What do they
see?
In this reimagined website environment,
the young family will prominently see the
best places to camp with kids, while the
older couple will be greeted with the newest
4-star restaurant opening.
Can't we just do that?
Up until very recently, there wasn’t much
that could be done to truly apply audience
data to a website experience. In the last year
or so, a whole host of third party tools have
popped up that claim to be able to tailor your
website experience to the individual needs of
your site visitors. But what do they really do?
Digging deeper, none are quite living up
to their promise or hype. At their best, these
tools are aimed at straightforward conver-
sions, never getting beyond an “if you like
this, you might also like this” model.
Truth be told, while the promise of true
personalization against audience insights is
thrilling to marketers, it’s a concept that is
experiencing some serious growing pains.
Sure, it is possible to use cookie data and
browsing behavior as a recommendation
engine or to track someone coming from an
email to your site against a CRM database.
But no one provider is truly tapping multiple
data sources and creating profiles of visitors
in a comprehensive and actionable way. With
so much data out there, a true personaliza-
tion strategy demands more touchpoints as
well as the content to meet those demands.
Don't forget to feed the machine.
Just about everyone has jumped on the
content bandwagon, but quantity rarely
corresponds to quality. The overall dearth of
good content is just as responsible for the
slow adoption of website personalization as
the technology behind it. Without a solid
content strategy, the mechanism for delivery
becomes moot.
While all of this is still in its infancy, there
is no question that this level of anticipatory
content delivery is where things are headed.
And there is truly no better place for this
re-imaged site experience than the travel
and tourism space.
Patience isn't always the answer.
Knowing what’s coming has advantages and
BVK has never been an agency of me-toos.
We abide by the model that quality content
drives quality experiences. We have been
working with several of our existing clients
to reimagine true personalization of the cus-
tomer journey on the web and are currently
exploring our own data aggregation models.
We truly can’t wait for what’s next.
Seriously, we can’t wait. So instead, we’re
helping to shape it.
For additional insights, visit www.bvk.com
Let us step into the night
and pursue that flighty
temptress, adventure.
– Albus Dumbledore,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

15. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 29 28 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
T
oday, travelers get inspiration for and plan
their trips based largely on what’s posted
to social media - both from their peers and
the influential creators they follow. Social
influencers have become a key part of marketing strat-
egies across industries. According to Chute's influencer
marketing report, 66% of all marketers have introduced an
influencer marketing strategy to their organization. Why
have so many adopted this form of marketing? The top
reason, according to 80% of respondents, was to reach
a new audience, and 70% specifically wanted to reach a
niche audience - for example, travelers.
Why is it that travel and destination marketers spe-
cifically want to work with these creators? According to
TravelNevada’s Kaitlin Godbey, influencer content is key in
inspiring travel decisions.
“Working with influencers has become pivotal to
our marketing efforts,” Godbey said. “This content has
immense sway with today’s travelers - influencing where
they go next and what they purchase.”
Despite knowing these creators are important for mar-
keting strategies, there are still lots of questions around
this form of marketing: With whom should I work? On
which platforms? How often? How much should I pay? Or
should I just offer a free trip? How much control over the
message should I retain? How do I know when this work
is effective? How do I report back? In our Travel Market-
er’s Guide to Working With Influencers, we answered
those questions and included best practices and examples
of great influencer marketing tactics. In this article, you’ll
find highlights from the guide, which you can down-
load in its entirety here: http://www2.getchute.com/
TravelInfluencerWP
THE TRAVEL
MARKETER'S
GUIDE
To Working With Influencers
“ “Working with
influencers
has become
pivotal to our
marketing
efforts
By Monica Watson, Senior Manager of Content, Chute

16. Inspect their comments section
Google or search their name on Tumblr
Look at their @ replies on Twitter
@lazytolovely @shouldbetrue
30 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 31
Understanding Influence Better
INFLUENCE 101
S
o often when we talk about influ-
encers, we speak about them as
though they are one monolithic
group, all getting tens of thou-
sands of dollars to jetset around the world. In
reality, this broad perception only represents
a small set of influencers.
Chute's co-founder, Gregarious Narain, has
presented these stages of influence before as
a pyramid. At the bottom are everyday cus-
tomers and above them are evangelists - this
is what you want to empower your customers
to become. These are everyday creators who
create user-generated content around your
brand or destination and recommend you to
their family and friends, purely because they
enjoyed their visit or interactions. After that,
you have micro-influencers. These are either
people who are evangelists with thousands
to tens of thousands of followers or niche
creators whose audience you want to engage.
They often have a higher rate of engagement
and are viewed as more authentic by their
audience. Sponsoring a post by a micro-influ-
encer is also a lot less costly than sponsoring
a massive influencer’s post, and sometimes
they’ll post for free with a bit of engagement.
Lastly, at the top you have major influenc-
ers - these are the creators garnering large
paychecks after working with a brand. If
your goal is reaching a large audience, and
you have a big budget, these are definitely
creators not to discount.
EVERYDAY CUSTOMERS
EVANGELISTS
MICRO-INFLUENCERS
MAJOR INFLUENCERS
1This is the last way we recommend
you identify or evaluate an influencer.
Follower count is a vanity metric, and can be
easily purchased if the creator is willing to
invest. It also doesn’t denote an active audi-
ence - as anyone who has ever subscribed to
someone on Youtube and then never watched
that person’s videos again can attest to.
However, it’s unfortunately still seen as the
most important indicator of how important
an influencer is. The key way follower count
comes into play is differentiating a major
influencer from micro influencers.
2Engagement is the next factor to con-
sider. This provides a more accurate
representation of how influential the creator
is. This level of interaction shows people
aren't just passively viewing, but are actually
being affected by the content in some way.
This metric is also quite a bit harder to fake,
but it is still possible to buy likes and basic
comments. If you're planning to really invest
in an influencer, take some time to scroll
through their comments section. Is it filled
with one-word responses? Then there's a
chance they've hired a bot.
3Ultimately, this is what separates people
who actually have influence and people
who just call themselves influencers. The
reason brands want to work with influencers
is to tap into a targeted audience that actu-
ally cares about the content the creator posts.
That's why it's important to vet influencers
to ensure you're working with someone
whose audience actually cares about them.
Unfortunately, this is the category most diffi-
cult to assign metrics to. Knowing if a creator
has established a real community takes a bit
of time, investigation and a general under-
standing of the influencer landscape.
Followers
Engagement Community
Influencer Measurement Metrics

17. THE TOP REASON INFLUENCERS SAID
they wouldn’t work with a brand again is
because the brand was overly controlling
(74%) of the creation process. 49% said
they accept only half of the offers they get
from brands, followed by 24% saying they
accept 1 or 2 out of every 10. When asked
specifically what kind of direction or guid-
ance influencers would most prefer from
brands, 66% said they want some guidance
but still want to retain creative freedom.
Meanwhile, 20% said they want very little
input and just need to understand brands’
top level goals and run from there. Only
13% said they want as much input as
possible.
32 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 33
BEST PRACTICES
1The first place brands often look for
influencers to work with is by search-
ing for those who post content specific for
their industry. For example, a travel brand
would seek out influencers who only post
about travel. That’s great, but the people
who follow travel creators are not the only
people who travel. In fact, we’ve seen huge
crossovers in multiple industries - with fash-
ion being a significant part of what people
post about when traveling, as one example.
Instead of thinking about what industry is
important to your brand, figure out which
industries are important to your audience.
3For most brands, influencer partnerships
are about growing awareness and brand
love and ultimately moving that potential
customer further down the decision making
process. Plus, some travel brands - like des-
tinations - aren’t bookings-driven. However,
that doesn’t mean direct sales should be
completely ignored. Visit Palm Springs, for
example, uses the UGC created by both
everyday travelers and the influencers they
work with to highlight local partners - like
hotels, event spaces, restaurants and shop-
ping destinations. By including this content,
they’ve decreased bounce rates for these
pages and increased time on site - not to
mention being able showcase Palm Springs
through a more authentic and personal lens.
4Marketers listed engagement as the most important metric. Usually, that just
includes engagement with the specific piece of content created. However, we advise
always trying to have a call-to-action the influencer can encourage, but be sure to get
their input on what they think their audience would respond best to.
2This is still a scary one for marketers
tasked with creating and managing an
organization’s brand image and voice. But the
key thing to remember is that when you hire
an influencer, you’re not hiring a freelancer.
You’ve partnered with them in order to reach
an audience that they’ve been able to build
on their own - an audience that trusts them
and already likes their content.
Broaden Your Industry Tie Sales to Content Encourage Engagement
Let Go of Control
For example, Marriott works with Youtube
comedian Grace Helbig for a variety of execu-
tions, including the promotion of their Book
Direct campaign, which informed travelers of
perks like free wifi and mobile check-in when
they choose to book on Marriott.com instead
of another site.
“We wanted to figure out how to put out
that message without talking about our self
and entertaining an audience first,” David
Beebe, former VP of Global Creative and Con-
tent Marketing at Marriott says. “We part-
nered with [YouTuber] Grace Helbig to create
these spots. [...] She helped us develop the
creative from scratch, writing the scripts, and
in her own funny way told these mini-stories
and related that to booking direct on Marriott.
com.”
Beebe reports that the spots have per-
formed really well for Marriott, with over six
million views and lots of engagement.
“We wanted to figure out
how to put out that message
without talking about
ourself and entertaining an
audience first
“ For example, for National Literacy Month, Visit Seattle partnered with prominent book
creators on Instagram to launch a campaign celebrating the stories that take place in
Seattle. They placed “little free libraries” in cities across the U.S. for people to find and
take books from, and the Instagrammers shared this news and encouraged their follow-
ers to search for them. This is also a fantastic example of not being afraid to work with
creators who aren’t just travel creators.
Visit Seattle's little free libraries campaign for National Literacy Month

18. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 35 34 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
2016–What It Tells Us About
2017By Clayton Reid, President CEO, MMGY Global
I cannot remember a time when industry disruption and
growing global demand have combined with unprece-
dented intermediation and distribution fragmentation. We
may well look back on this decade as a tipping point for
massive changes in the global travel industry. With the first
quarter of 2017 behind us, we are starting to see signs of
what this means for our industry.
Emerging
Trends GROWTH AND INNOVATION HAVE BEEN SPURRED IN TRAVEL,
partially from the old axiom “necessity is the mother of invention.”
New shifts among travel companies and continued change in traveler
content consumption have led to “new normals,” which in turn have
forced industry evolution.
1 TRAVELSUPPLIERS
▸ Further supplier consolidation, epitomized by the Marriott and Starwood
merger, is fueling a change in the fight for customers. While consolidation has
largely been about competitive strength and efficiency vs. OTAs – across the
board, transaction costs are coming down for suppliers – it is also creating
opportunities for smaller operators to compete through innovation and prod-
uct niches.
▸ Ultra-Low-Cost-Carriers (ULCCs), with brands such as Sprint, Wow! and
Frontier, showcase how consolidation (vs. mainline carriers) opens up a lane
for new entrants. We see the same trend in rental cars (Silvercar), cruises
(Viking) and attractions (City Pass).
▸ Pricing strength may have tipped the scales in favor of suppliers versus
third parties, but we also see a bifurcation in product delivery. In the hotel
space, development capital flows are directed to luxury lodging products,
while at the same time mid-market hotel operators are blending multiple
brands into massive, ubiquitous offerings that resemble more of an aggregated,
OTA-type proposition than a tiered brand/product strategy.
TECHNOLOGY
▸ We have truly arrived at a mobile-dominated digital landscape as travel
engagement on mobile devices has surpassed desktop engagement.
▸ Social platforms, especially Facebook, have found their range in terms of
meaningful revenue contribution and tracked, attributable value. Leveraging
paid social models has allowed travel companies to refine targeting and apply
multitouch attribution strategies to cast a wider net, beyond last-click focus.
▸ The collection and leveraging of data is happening in a much more signifi-
cant way, led by programmatic data partners such as Adara and aggregate data
platforms such as Experian. Smart travel companies are applying smart data to
define truly unique customer relationships.
▸ Loyalty platforms are transforming for reasons that go beyond point accrual
and redemption. Today, it is crucial for suppliers to demonstrate a preexist-
ing relationship with customers so that special rates and service levels can
be offered within a direct booking relationship. It's about the traveler's data
profile.
2

19. 36 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1 ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 37
THECHANGINGFACEOFINTERMEDIATION
▸ This last year saw a clear inversion of how travelers see OTAs, travel
agents and other third parties. While suppliers are growing control of more
lower-funnel booking volume, OTAs have been moving up-funnel to create
early customer engagement. This flip-flop from past norms represents trav-
eler booking savvy, but also represents the reality that OTAs still have billions
to spend on market voice, thus impacting behavior throughout the travel
planning process.
▸ As we’ve seen in our research for two years now, traditional travel agents
are growing in influence. With travelers of all ages, agents offer the ability
to interpret an overwhelming amount of travel information while cutting
through a level of distrust travelers have with online providers. In luxury
especially, specialty agents influence those who travel and spend more.
▸ Disintermediation in Europe has started in earnest as travelers in this
region of the world show an increased propensity to book unbundled travel
and move away from tour operators. Travel behaviors in Europe have started
to mimic those in North America from a previous decade.
So What Does This Mean
Moving Forward?
VIRTUALREALITY,
VIRTUALLYEVERYWHERE
EUROPEANSMOVINGAWAY
FROMTOUROPERATORS
SOCIALMEDIAINVESTMENTSIN
MAINSTREAMENTERTAINMENT
▸ Retailers such as Samsung are now aggressively
marketing a low-cost headset, which is creating new
awareness of VR technologies. And, as the price of entry
comes down, more mainstream use is inevitable.
▸ The bigger hurdle is the standardization of a tech
stack and common platform for accessing applications
that enable the technology.
▸ As we noted in our 2016 trend data, we see European
consumers moving away from packaged tours to unbun-
dled, à la carte booking.
▸ B2C marketing costs will be rising for suppliers, while
advantages shift to OTAs that have deep pockets and the
ability to aggregate inventory and price.
▸ Retail travel agents, airlines with tour operations
and tourism destinations will need to rethink their
approaches on how to address the intra- and inter-Euro-
pean markets.
▸ As consumers increasingly choose to consume content
through social channels, companies such as Twitter,
Facebook and Snapchat will make investments to own
mainstream news, sports and entertainment. This
changes how we engage customers.
▸ You can now watch events in real time through
Facebook Live or see an NFL game on your Twitter feed.
We expect options for long form content to increasingly
allow marketers to specifically target viewers inside this
content.
▸ Moving forward, media platforms in general, and
Facebook specifically, must create more efficacy in view-
through, engagement and served impression metrics.
YouTube has recently received heavy criticism for inap-
propriate content/ad match.
GROWTHINCURATEDTRAVEL
ANDCUSTOMEXPERIENCES
▸ In 2017, we believe data-led initiatives will allow travel
suppliers to develop customized experiences, direct
and rebated pricing, as well as timely packaging. Major
advancements in data science and the willingness of
aggregators to broker the data itself will lead to much
smarter market engagement and product alignment.
▸ The ability for marketers to predict behaviors, both in
shopping and in booking, will allow for unprecedented
niche travel products. A perfect example is the effect of
legal marijuana on state travel economies. While contro-
versial, this has become a major marketing opportunity for
suppliers who segment the appropriate audience.
▸ A great deal of investment capital will flow into tech-
nologies that connect households (through tools such as
Alexa) and then use that technology to seamlessly package
and book travel experiences.
▸ We would not be surprised to see Airbnb follow through
on its commitment to create a “smart” vacation packager,
but perhaps an OTA will launch its own hotel brand or a
collection of ubiquitous independent properties under its
own flanker brand.
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20. ISSUE 1 | SIGHTSEER 39 38 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
GENERATIONALSHIFTSBEGINANEW,ANDTHEREFORE
MARKETINGINVESTMENTSCHANGETOO
▸ As older Millennials – especially the members of this group that really spend in travel –
edge toward 40 years old, they will look more and more like their parents. Plan your marketing
accordingly.
▸ As marketers grow tired of the Millennial narrative, expect them to quickly make their
way to Generation Z (3–16 years old). This group, also called Pluralists and the Homeland
Generation, is already being stereotyped.
5
We believe the marketing focus in 2017 will include several key areas: original con-
tent development, user-generated content (UGC) development and distribution of
this content in tightly defined ways; utilization of smart data segmentation to inform
marketing investments that connect to real-time consumer needs; the continued
resurgence of brand and differentiation through a unique and clear narrative; the
ability to react quickly to a complex global marketplace and source markets and
demand generators that can change quickly.
Our industry is not for the weak of heart, but fortunately we see many in travel who
are becoming visionaries and trend leaders. It’s an exciting time to be in travel.
For more information visit www.mmgyglobal.com
WE TRAVEL,
SOME OF US
FOREVER,TO
SEEK OTHER
STATES, OTHER
LIVES, OTHER
SOULS.
- Anaïs Nin

21. 40 SIGHTSEER | ISSUE 1
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