Travel brands capitalise on social trend of our time - the selfie

After being named Word of the Year, the "selfie" has started to emerge in travel industry as a viable form of marketing and creating a community.

For those with heads buried in the sand for the past year or so, Wikipedia defines the selfie as:

"a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone."

Tourradar (TLabs here), a group booking marketplace has launched a contest where users have to post a picture of "groupie", a term for so-called group-selfies (as opposed to exuberant music fans).

But, Austria-based TourRadar has twisted the rules of the game somewhat by insisting on none of the groupie images should have its subjects look at the camera.

The idea is that it ensures users are as creative as possible. Few pictures from Tourradar blog are below:

Groupies that stands out, in terms of originality or a stunning location will win prizes from Tourradar. Users can send the Groupie to Tourradar's Facebook page, or Tweet to @TourRadar with the hashtag #groupie.

On the other hand, Malaysia Airlines has launched 'MHInsure Travel Photo Contest' where the Facebook fans (of Malaysia Airlines) are asked to upload their selfie in the MHInsure Selfie Facebook app. The airline will approve the selfie once it meets its terms and conditions.

Once approved, the owner of the photo should acquire 25 likes for the (selfie) photo. This contest runs until mid-February, with the top three pictures by vote wining free flights on the carrier.

MHInsure is the travel insurance product that customers can buy while booking a flight with Malaysia Airlines.