Trending at TwoSix: Mobile Travel Planning

Nowadays, mobile travel planning must be a focus in the tourism industry. Visitors expect to be able to find and use relevant travel information right from their phones. Keep reading to learn more about travel planning, and ways to asses your mobile-friendliness. Let’s get started.

Fact of the Week: Where People Plan Travel

That’s right, people plan their trips in the bathroom. Does that surprise you?

In addition to the loo, visitors are planning their next vacation at any given opportunity. Most folks plan while watching TV, or eating lunch. Others take the liberty to plan during work or school!

All of this leads us to believe that folks are planning their travel via mobile. (In fact, 44% of visitors expect to be able to plan their trips on a mobile device.)

Tip of the Week: Adopt a mobile-first mentality…NOW!

Come on, everyone. Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at the Macworld convention in 2007, and marketers still forget about mobile!

Check out these websites on your mobile device to see some great examples of mobile-friendly sites:

Now, take a look at your Google Analytics, and see how mobile traffic is performing on your site. Generally, mobile and tablet devices account for tons of site traffic. Although mobile audiences tend to have less time on site, we want to continue optimizing content to get them to stay longer (…unless they’re planning their trip in the bathroom because ew).

Do you have a mobile-friendly site? Check out Google’s mobile-friendly tester. It’s a fast, easy, and free way to analyze your efforts.

Noteworthy Article: Facebook City Guides

Could this be the end of visitor guides? Looks like Facebook is taking a swing at online travel planning sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp with “City Guides”.

Currently limited to major cities, City Guides tell you how many of your friends have traveled to this location, and where they checked in. There is also a “Where the Locals Go” section of highly rated locations, upcoming events, and popular attractions.

Right now, it appears there is no way for CVBs to take control of these pages. For now, we recommend encouraging visitors to tag their locations, and rate your partners. This may be helpful for your City Guide in the future.

Check out this new feature for yourself by looking under the “Explore” tab on Facebook!

TwoSix Client Pic of the Week: Meet Northern Kentucky

A post shared by meetNKY (@meetnky) on

This photo is so beautiful, it looks like you could just climb onto that bench and enjoy the sunset!

TwoSix on Tour: CDME, Washington D.C.

Founder and Strategist, Dave Serino, taught industry leaders about the latest trends in Digital Marketing at CDME. The Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) certifcation is facilitated by Destination Marketing Association International and seeks to enhance business acumen through an integrated executive program specifically designed for the destination marketing industry.

Thanks for reading! Are you feeling mobile-friendly? Share this article on Facebook or Twitter. See you next week!