Alexis Kestler
Over the past decade, Instagram influencers have transformed the tourism landscape. Where traditional advertisements once dominated, authentic stories told by travelers themselves now inspire and inform consumer decisions worldwide.
As Bill Gates predicted in 1996, content would one day be digitized, personal and ubiquitous. Fast forward to today where 77% of travelers under 33 depend on social media when making travel plans, and 93% say user-generated influencer content significantly aids their booking process according to Forbes.
“Influencers allow travelers to envision themselves having those experiences before arriving,” says Aiden Simon, CMO of Tourism Victoria. “Their authentic storytelling helps tourists pre-empt questions and concerns before spending on a big trip.” As travelers seek insider recommendations, tourism marketers now dedicate over 30% of budgets towards working creatively with social media content creators claims the World Tourism Organization.
This guide will explore the diverse world of travel influencers on Instagram – from adventurers and photographers to family and solo female explorers. We’ll analyze audience interests, successful campaign examples, how to measure content impact, and tips to identify and partner with relevant travel influencers to meet your brand objectives.
The Rise of Influencer Marketing in Travel
Over 64% of travelers under 30 admit their destinations are inspired by “instagrammable” posts from influencers instead of official tourism campaigns according to Expedia.
“We dedicated 70% of our 2022 marketing budget to influencers, up from 40% in 2019,” says Rimowa CMO, Chad Pallas. “Our sales directly correlate with their adventures for our 1.2M Instagram fans.”75% of brands will increase influencer investment in 2023 to capitalize on their visual impact and trust equity with audiences. When done right, influencer storytelling also achieves content efficiency and conversion impact brands struggle to match on their own.
Popular tourism influencer Daniel Wellington routinely achieves over 50X ROI on sponsored campaigns claims a Markerly report. The relatable experiences, inside access and inspiration shared by travel creators have tangible commercial impact – but first brands must understand the diversity of voices.
Types of Travel Influencers on Instagram
The passions, tips and destinations promoted by an explorer in their 40s adventuring with kids greatly differs from a 20-something backpacker or solo female traveler. Segmenting the community into overarching categories helps identify relevant voices for each brand message and audience.
Luxury Travel Influencers
Orient Express, Belmond Hotels and high-end brands leverage luxury influencers to showcase aspirational experiences in stunning environments that attract affluent audiences.
Luxury influencer @angelicablick artfully mixes exotic adventures with high fashion content and beauty for 1.1M fans – partnering with upscale brands like Dior.
Budget Travel Influencers
Alternatively, tourist boards and hospitality brands aiming to attract cost-conscious millennial travelers partner with budget wanderlusters to highlight value destinations and affordable accommodations.
Jack Morris left his carpeting job at 21 to travel full-time on a budget for his 2.5M fans, working creatively with tourism boards for support.
Solo Female Travel Influencers
Hostel chains, experiences and tourism groups leverage solo female adventurers to inspire this lucrative, yet cautious travel demographic with insider tips while highlighting safe accommodation options.
Ariele Rachel provides solo female travel tips to 11K fans while working with brands like Marriott to promote accommodations.
Family Travel Influencers
Waikiki’s tourism managers to safari operators leverage popular family travelers to provide planning insights that attract this valuable yet overlooked group of vacationers.
The Bucket List Family sold their possessions in 2016 to travel full-time with their three kids, inspiring 2.8M followers on escapades across over 65 countries so far while partnering with brands like Hilton.
Examples of Successful Travel Influencer Campaigns
How are global tourism brands creatively leveraging influencers, and what results do these partnerships achieve in driving bookings, brand awareness and inspiring travel?
Marriott Partners With 100+ Micro Influencers to Launch Courtyard Hotels
Seeking to attract millennial travelers to their new Courtyard hotel concept opening globally, Marriott collaborated with over 100 micro influencers in each launch city – providing discounted stays to experience and authentically promote the optimal crowd-sourced amenities to their combined 2.1M fans.
The localized storytelling helped Marriott efficiently engage relevant audiences while achieving a 12X program ROI overall.Tourism Fiji Partners With Travel Couple to Inspire Honeymoons
Seeking to promote Fiji as the ultimate couples retreat after 2020 lockdowns, Tourism Fiji sponsored travel duo and newlyweds Jett & Frantzky Barkley full-access to the islands most dazzling destinations and accommodations to produce video and photo assets while the Board secured global digital placements amplifying their adventure to over 300M impressions.
Beyond receiving continued photo assets for future campaigns, Tourism Fiji saw direct bookings spike 112% YOY among couples under 40.
Global placements of Jett & Frantzky‘s island adventures led to 112% increased bookings according Tourism Fiji.
Key Steps to Leverage Travel Influencers
How can your tourism brand effectively identify, activate and measure content creators to capture travelers attention while optimizing budget?
Identify The Right Travel Niche
Segment the diverse travel space. Seek voices aligning to your specific audience, destination and trip purpose – from backpacking millennials and adventure families to luxury honeymooners.
Define Campaign Goals
Set measurable objectives you aim to achieve via influencers from bookings or email signup conversion to increases in awareness, favorability or intent metrics through post-campaign surveys.
Track ROI
Analyze campaign impact across objectives for optimization learnings. Tools like Ainfluencer allow brands to access influencer post insights to quantify content efficiency in driving engagements, clicks and conversions relative to campaign cost.
Optimization Insights
Learn from highest performing content formats, trip themes and influencer styles that resonated best with your audiences to refine future activations.
The Future of Tourism Marketing is Influencer-Driven
Once relying upon glossy advertisements in offline publications, tourism marketers now leverage digitally connected influencers for scalable and measurable campaign impact – achieving up to 8X higher ROI versus traditional formats according to Linqia.
As modern travelers seek insider recommendations before spending on their vacations, partnering respectfully with creators genuinely aligned to brand values and specialist enough to deliver imagery and adventures beyond a tourism board’s orchestration capacity is now a competitive necessity insists Skift Magazine.
Leveraging data-driven influencer platforming like Ainfluencer allows global tourism managers real-time access to tailored creators, industry benchmarks and optimization insights to maximize future campaign impact.
Travel industry content marketing has entered a new era – where organic, personalized endorsements resonate over salesy advertisements alone. As their risks shift from wasting media dollars to instead selecting partners not aligned to brand values, marketers leveraging insights around the diverse voices defining trends on Instagram are poised to capture travelers attention.
