Standards in Travel and Tourism PR

— Posted Thursday 29th April 2010 by Stacey Stockwell under Stuff worth knowing

A who’s who of the travel and tourism PR world descended on The Cumberland hotel yesterday afternoon for the PRCA’s Travel and Tourism Group debate.

Having only recently been embraced into the travel and tourism sector and coming from a broader consumer PR background, I wasn’t sure how much of the debate I’d be able to get involved in, or perhaps even understand. It was, however an incredibly interesting analysis of the current state of not only travel and tourism PR, but most could be applied to PR in general.

With Travelmole’s Graham McKenzie chairing and a panel consisting of Phil Bloomfield from Virgin Holidays, John Carmichael from Visit Brighton, Leslie McGibbon from InterContinental Hotels Group, Tess Longfield from Visit Britain and Danny Rogers, Editor of PR Week there was always plenty of scope for a lively debate. One subject in particular had everyone talking and it’s one I’ve found myself debating rather frequently, and that’s the emergence of social media and how it affects the way we go about our day jobs.

One particular phrase that has stuck in my mind is Danny stating, “PR is influencer marketing”, making the point that traditional media is no longer always the most important audience for PR as we can now go direct to specific consumer groups. While this makes our messages all the more powerful it also unearths the eternal question of how to measure PR and the all important return on investment.

Social media is a tricky beast when it comes to PR, it has enabled everyone to become a journalist and news is generated 24/7. Yet, still no real social media etiquette has been established, there are no universally agreed rules of engagement. Some believe that connecting online whilst being open and transparent is the only way forward, however, others feel that it’s best to seed your message and let the conversations play out.

Whilst we weren’t able to create a definitive measurement of PR value, or write the rulebook on social media engagement in the two-hour debate, it was certainly a fascinating discussion with some interesting arguments made. I, for one, am looking forward to the next one.