By Bruce Dickson, Tourism Development Solutions (TCDS), P.O. Box 19654, Portland, Oregon 97280.

Website: www.developtourism.com   Email: tourismsolutions@msn.com 

 

 

Successful person to person communication, whether written or visual, is normally based on long standing, ‘tried and true’ techniques.

 

Three proven principles:

 

 

[Check this site occasionally for new destination, business and marketing development resource papers.]

Proven newswriting & travel guide publishing principles*

 

 

TOURISM RESOURCE: COPYWRITING & COMMUNICATIONS 

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Tourism and Community Development Solutions (TCDS) are destination development, strategy planning and local development specialists for rural, urban, regional and state tourism.

 

We welcome inquiries from visitor destinations and their CVBs, Chamber of Commerce, local Councils, Economic Development agencies and interested others. TCDS have extensive and diverse experience in assisting newly emerging regional destinations and moderately resourced communities & attractions. Special interest tourism strategies (including drive tourism audits and strategies) are also a specialty. 

1. Journalism’s ‘inverted pyramid’ copywriting principle: Consistently applied to the writing of news stories. This involves structuring the story or message, with the most important points always placed first ... and the least important last. (It is amazing how often this basic principle is broken in tourism publications.)

 

2. Travel guide design: The enormous popularity, growth and influence of so many internationally published travel guides and handbooks is no accident. They too serve as a guide to successful communication principles and the intelligent structuring of comprehensive travel and destination advice and tips. (Even if a little too successful at what they do, and consequently now possibly at risk of a backlash from some independently-minded travelers.)

 

 

TCDS applies additional analysis and destination based judgments

to strengthen the use of these techniques. 

They succeed because they have provided the destination insights and practical travel information that visitors are really seeking. The more successful of them also take seriously their feedback and suggestions from readers & travelers on how to constantly improve their approach.

 

[ALL IN ONE]  In addition, the success of most ‘independent’ travel handbooks & guides is based on providing visitors with an ‘all in one’ or ‘one stop’ shop, for the tourism information their readers will need. (And this includes ‘tourism’ maps, not just road maps). They also include other helpful local information of cross-cultural value, social orientation and background interest to visitors.

 

[TRUST]  Whether deserved or not, these guides are perceived as trustworthy and offering independent and well informed perspectives - even when drawing heavily upon largely subjective, personal opinions. (Many of the travel writers assigned to them remain subject, as well, to the normal stresses of meeting the publication deadlines surrounding most tourism publishing efforts.)

 

[WORLD WIDE WEB]   In similar fashion, the internet - which can carry information and opinion sources on any subject matter in a manner that is far more anonymous and potentially deceptive - has also possessed the advantage of being perceived and trusted in this way ... at least until recent times.  However, with the web in general, user satisfaction, speed and functionality remain far more serious concerns.

 

Having recognized its vital (and increasingly dominant) importance to information supply and access, most leading travel guides maintain strong presences on the web via their own sites and related links.

 

*Sample methods applied by TCDS, when conducting a visitor communications assessment - e.g. brochure reviews, map assessments or website reviews.