Travel ads placed to help combat seasonality this June-July holiday
Photograph: A snapshot of one of the advertising video reels on Facebook showcasing the greater George area.
George, Wilderness and Uniondale Tourism recently ran travel advertisements on DSTV and social media platforms, targeting the Winter school holiday which is traditionally the quietest vacation period of the year.
According to Joan Shaw, Tourism Manager, school holidays are a driver of domestic tourism and therefore targeting the domestic leisure traveller for the Winter holidays can help combat seasonality.
A DSTV app commercial ran for the month of June, promoting the George area. The app allows advertisers to reach a segmented audience at digital advertising rates, thereby ensuring George is paying to ‘speak to‘ the right audience. The content was styled for a domestic family in the top leisure traveller categories, to spark interest in the area, especially showing off the natural beauty for those in Gauteng who do not experience ‘paradise’ daily.
It paid off. The campaign achieved a completion rate of 94.43% , surpassing the industry benchmark of a 90% completion rate. A ‘completion rate’ is when the commercial is watched until the end, where the viewer does not change the channel to avoid the ad or to switch to another show. The commercial also achieved a click through rate (CTR) of 0,9%, well surpassing the benchmark of 0.4 CTR %. This is the number of people who clicked on the commercial when watching it on a device, like a tablet or cellphone. The commercial was linked to the official destination website visitgeorge.co.za. In total, the campaign delivered 64 764 targeted impressions. An impression is the number of times the advert is served. The high CTR and completion rate suggests that the commercial was able to capture the attention of the audience from start to finish.
Shaw said in conjunction with the DSTV ads, the bureau also ran various advert formats across Facebook and Instagram using targeting parameters for a domestic audience with and without children. A total of 11 adverts were delivered – all to create awareness about the destination – using a toolbox of creatives. Adverts about things to do were also served to people travelling in the Garden Route area.
According to online data, the average booking window for destinations within George Municipality was 19 days in June, and 22 days in July during 2022. The school holidays are from 24 June – 17 July this year. The adverts on DSTV and Meta platforms therefore were aimed at creating positioning for George and to keep the destinations in mind while potential, targeted travellers are in the last-minute booking window for the June/July holidays. Said another way, this means that while George’s top domestic markets are making their final winter holiday plans, we helped them to keep George in mind and in the considerable pool of where to go and what to do.
Other ways the tourism section of George Municipality, known as George, Wilderness and Uniondale Tourism, is helping to combat seasonality is through event support. The following events are expected to bring in an economic injection into George during Winter: Craven Week (July), Cantamus National Choir Festival (August), George Agricultural Show (August) and the SA Tent Pegging World Cup (August).
For more tourism stakeholder news, get in touch to discuss free membership options via members@visitgeorge.co.za
Looking for the latest events, amazing things to do, restaurants where you can dine in style and places to stay for your visiting relatives and friends, or for your own weekend getaway? Find inspiration on the official destination website visitgeorge.co.za