Sounding Off: Don't forget that travelers still make choices in-destination

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered on our site that week.

This much we know and has stood true for decades now.

Huge sums of money (almost $11 billion between Booking Holdings and Expedia Group in 2018) is spent on customer acquisition by travel brands.

Search marketing, YouTube video content, broadcast radio and television ads, billboards, printed media, etc - much of it produced with the idea of moving travelers to and accommodating them in a destination.

Those charged with marketing for a destination - tourism boards and their ilk - are, again, targeting those who are looking for ideas of where to go.

Many will showcase what the visitor can do in a destination but, largely, activity to keep hitting them with further inspiration once the traveler is there does appear to diminish.

But with the rise of mobile apps, the concept of the always-connected traveler and brands wanting to (or pretending to) hold the hands of their customers throughout the journey, a lot more can be done here.

Booking.com knows this and is already looking at expanding its platform to "weave" every element of a trip together.

Yet there is an argument that marketers of the products in-destination, such as tourism boards and attractions, are not capitalizing on the opportunity to continue their activity once the consumer has settled in to their accommodation and is still pondering what to do during their stay.

Such providers can, of course, rely on their third party friends to do their bit and allow bookings on apps but branding and in-your-face showcasing of a product should be considered part of the strategy.

And with platforms that collect so much data from users - Google, Facebook, even Amazon - and their location, there is clearly a big opportunity to micro-target to them specifically during the dates that they are still unsure of their plans when in-destination.

The "set it and forget it" mentality needs to be overhauled. It is happening but clearly not at the pace that it should.