World’s largest travel content publisher Lonely Planet has recently acquired TRILL Travel, an AI-based tech startup that essentially converts visual content from influencers to transactional bookings. What it means, in other words, is that if you’re driven by a captivating hotel or destination pic, you can actually book that activity or experience at the click of a button.

“We are looking at this acquisition from an asset perspective – we want to incorporate TRILL´s tech and capabilities into our digital products and soon reimagine our Pathfinders program,” says President and CEO, Luis Cabrera. “TRILL is another example of how we strive to enable a seamless user journey and interaction between influencers posting content, consumers looking for adventure, and our travel partners,” he added.

According to TRILL Founder & CEO, Eric Shepard, Lonely Planet is the perfect platform to fully realize the potential of TRILL. I’m extremely excited to be part of this new chapter at Lonely Planet and look forward to finding other ‘TRILLs’ out there looking to push the envelope and thrive.”

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Since the time smartphones burst onto the market, developers have come up with an innumerable range of apps designed to make lives easier. Travel apps are no less ingenious, but with the number of such applications on the rise, being simply useful is no longer enough; it also needs to be quirky and innovative (think packing for a pet).

As global smartphone adoption continues to increase, travellers’ demand for mobile apps shows no signs of stopping. According to a report by mobile marketing specialist Somo, 30 million individuals seek travel information via mobile devices and travel apps each month, while 44 percent of travellers even plan their trip via mobile device.

For the social and mobile consumer, apps that provide access to reviews, purchase comparison and local recommendations have become an integral part of the entire travel process. So, while travellers can still glean all advice and itineraries from experienced travellers and popular blogs, the latest in apps offer a way to digitally tap into the expertise of a guide with the advantages of GPS to make the journey smoother and the smartphone smarter.

#1. Guides by Lonely Planet – The city guide app helps users plan trips and learn about worldwide destinations. Launched in 2016 with content covering 38 cities, including London, New York, Paris and Rome, the Guides app includes an average of 1,000 points of interest for each city, and allows users to download individual city guides and access offline maps for these locations. Users can browse points of interest based on categories including ‘see,’ ‘eat’ and ‘sleep,’ among others, and can also browse lists of curated content based on themes.

Users can also browse a city’s map to find attractions in a particular neighbourhood, and can also browse attractions based on their current location. In addition, the app provides an overview of each city, as well as tips for planning a trip on various budgets. Guides has expanded massively since it launched and is now available for 177 cities, and remains free.

Read more about Lonely Planet India’s journey in the country, here.

#2. AudioCompass – Whether you’re looking to try a new adventure sport or simply soak in a city’s culture, this official audio tour app of Incredible India, AudioCompass, is a handy guide for anyone who’s been disappointed by tourist guides. It has well-researched audio guides narrated by local experts, that bring alive the history, culture and heritage of destinations. From the architecture of the Taj Mahal to even homes of Bollywood stars in Mumbai – the app covers everything.

With more than 1200 attractions in different countries including, India, Singapore, Oman, London, and Istanbul, there’s something for everyone. The destinations can be downloaded on phone for offline use as well. While some of the audio on the app is for free, users can upgrade to Pro for just INR 49. Available on iOS.

#3. PackPoint – PackPoint not only helps travellers organize what they need to pack based on duration of travel, it also tells you the weather at the destination and any activities planned during the trip. The app prepares a customized packing list, based on the data it accumulates from the destination. One of the other highlights of this app is its feature that lets travellers create a website for their packing list. By doing so, it allows users to share the website link with fellow travellers in a group so they know what to pack as well.

Available on iOS and Android for free.

#4. GateGuru from TripAdvisor – In addition to offering basic flight tracking, GateGuru connects the dots between many other intricacies of travel plans. The application basically allows users to view their TripIt and KAYAK itineraries, details such as where to check in at the airport, estimated security wait times, and maps of amenities within the terminals, replete with 35,000 reviews and tips and 10,000 photos from fellow travellers on the airport terminal and all its amenities.

The app probably offers one of the most comprehensive listing of airport amenities. The search engine is easy to navigate and also lets users bookmark favourite airports and preferred amenities. GateGuru currently covers 29 Asian airports, apart from other international airports, and is free on iOS and Android.

#5. Trips by Google – Google Trips serves as a trip planner and travel guide for anyone who is exploring a new place. The free app, which is available on Android and iOS, organizes plane tickets and hotel reservations, offers editorial guides to more than 200 cities, and makes personalized recommendations based on a user’s Google history.

While Trips lacks pro-travel features like the ones on TripIt, it makes up for that lack with its useful city guides that leverage a range of Google services. The heart of the app is in its ‘Things to Do’, which builds custom itineraries based on how long a traveller will be in town, popular destinations, and anything that they may have previously starred or saved on a Google service. Moreover, each guide can be edited to include other destinations. Best of all – all of this works offline as well.

Read more on Google’s efforts at reshaping the travel industry, here.

#6. Weather Pro – While nobody can control the weather, this app definitely helps them prepare for a rainy day. Weather Pro offers weather reports for more than two million geographical locations, feeding in everything from cloud formations and atmospheric pressure to wind speed and humidity, all in extensive detail. The core functions of this app should help users sail smoothly and are easily accessible via five main tabs. The most amazing features of Weather Pro include a 3-hourly forecast for one week ahead, a list of chosen favourite locations, alerts for extreme weather conditions and a global satellite to give general weather update in major cities.

A big plus- It is crazily accurate. The app is available on iPhone, iPad for INR 159 and for INR 220 on Android.

The post Six travel apps and why you should have them on your phone this year appeared first on TravHQ.

Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide book publisher in the world, continues to be on top of a traveller’s mind for over four decades. This year, Lonely Planet had launched an Instagram like app called Trips on the App store. The free app allows users to share their travel experiences with their friends. Last year, Lonely Planet had launched ‘Guides’ Travel App on iOS & Android platforms. The city guide app was essentially designed to help users plan trips and learn about worldwide destinations. Mobile continues to be a strong focus for brand’s global growth strategy.

We spoke to Sesh Seshadri, the general manager and Director of Lonely Planet in India and talked to him about the company’s journey in India, destinations trends for 2018 and more.

The post Video: Tête-à-tête with Sesh Seshadri, Director Lonely Planet India appeared first on TravHQ.

As the industry shifts to mobile and media consumption patterns change, media companies are the first to adapt to the change. They have to stay ahead of the curve as it is crucial for them to ensure their content reaches where their audience are. Lonely Planet is one of the biggest names in travel publishing and the brand has been following the trends closely. In fact it is one of the first media brands to get onboard the recently announced Google Assistant to help Google answer travel related queries. With the evolution of new media platforms, travel brands are exploring them to market their products better. During the recently concluded TiE Travel Marketing Summit, Naveen Seshadri, COO, Lonely Planet engaged in a discussion with Daksh Sharma, Founding Partner, TravHQ to shed some light on the new trends that are emerging in travel marketing and how Lonely Planet is adapting to this shift. Here are the key highlights of the session:

(L to R) Daksh Sharma and Naveen Seshadri

Inspire the right way

The very first point Naveen highlighted is rather obvious yet often overlooked by brands. For most of the travel brands, a very important part of the marketing strategy is to educate and inspire travellers. However, they are not looking for the obvious destinations anymore. The content on your social platforms should go beyond that and educate people about something new which could be of more interest to them.

Build your own community

While the ceiling is dropping on travel publishing, Lonely Planet has found room for itself by constantly experimenting and with the brand value. There is a significant increase in number of self publishers or bloggers on different platforms which offers collaboration opportunities for brands to leverage the reach and provide content. However, brands also have to consider the fact that they might not be loyal to one brand. Which is why brands should look at building their own communities or work on a hybrid model with them so that they don’t keep hopping brands and lose relevance.

Smartly package quality

The internet is flooded with listicles. “10 things to do when you visit Mumbai” is the kind of content audience love, probably because it is easier to skim through text content that is divided in smaller parts. However, this format spoils rich, well researched content. Publishers should look at striking a balance between such instantly consumable content and deep, research driven content. Along with text, videos offer a great way to pack more information in an easily consumable format and brands should experiment with videos if they aren’t already.

Don’t try to boil the ocean

While it is good to set optimistic goals, it is never a good idea to invest heavily in advertising in early days. Trying to outspend OTAs and metasearch services won’t yield anything fruitful. The best approach is to define your niche and selectively target the set of audience with a certain degree of personalisation. This will not only increase conversions but also drive loyalty to some extent. With a small set of well targeted audience, you will be able to better match the expectations and thus leave a better impression.

Structure well

We have seen travel startups often find smart use of data and technology to create amazing products. However, in a bid to lead on the technology front, some fail to spend enough time on the user experience. Make sure that you are putting efforts on fine tuning the interface and offering a good user experience (Read how BlaBlaCar is doing it). Only then the users you have acquired with your marketing efforts will stick around.

If you are planning to add videos to your marketing plan for 2017, here are some tips for you from the experts.

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Over the past few years, we have seen many new businesses change how we travel. New products and services have disrupted some of the biggest players in this huge industry. Change is inevitable and it is crucial for brands to adapt and stay aligned with the trends. We have also seen an increase in number of resources available online, whether blogs or planning services, that would help a traveller plan better. A large fraction of these services are available for free and often have to fight each other for the attention of travellers. Despite this, Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide book publisher in the world, continues to be on top of a traveller’s mind for over four decades. The key? Identifying the needs of modern traveller and delivering them the same.

Sesh Seshadri, Director, Lonely Planet India

The Lonely Planet guidebooks and web channels continue to inspire a large number of travellers, educate them and help them plan their trips better. We recently got a chance to catch up with Lonely Planet India Director, Mr. Sesh Seshadri over a cup of coffee at their office in Gurgaon to learn more about how the brand continues to expand its footprint in India and the changes he predicts for travel industry. Sesh comes with decades of experience in publishing industry and is always eager to explore how new technologies can be leveraged to deliver relevant content to benefit the travellers. Here is an edited excerpt from the conversation:

How has the travel content changed over the past few years?

We come from a background of producing guides for the past 40+ years and that was probably the beginning of Lonely Planet- helping the traveller enjoy the experience, discover destinations, put together itineraries- this is where it all began. With the advent of technology, there is a lot more content available on the internet but I think the market is still not mature enough to understand the difference between content and curated content. From LP’s perspective, I would say we still have that huge advantage of providing curated content and if you look at any of our books, you will see that we write about things we have experienced and a traveller should know. That is why there is a definite LP voice.

Talking about the changes, I would say there is lot more content available now and it is difficult for the traveller to identify the right sources. That is where the branded content definitely comes into play. I don’t mean to demean anyone. All I want to convey is that our purpose is very clear, it is to help the travellers get the right information that would help with their travel experience.

What technologies do you see finding place in travel?

Recently I was part of a conference where we talked about location based services. That seems to be one of the key factors coming into travel space and I see that is definitely going to find a place in other industries as well. In travel I think location based services are going to play a definitive role in enhancing user experience. Many new models have emerged in travel industry.

Technology is helping solve lot of problems and we will continue to see that. You don’t have to haggle for cabs anymore or make calls to book one. Technology will be a great enabler in travel. It won’t replace anything but is going to improve a lot of things.

Publishing online is much easier now and we have seen many sources offer travel inspiration. How has this affected Lonely Planet?

From the first impressions, it hasn’t affected us at all. I think people must understand that they are both here to stay and complement each other. It isn’t an “either-or” situation. There will be technology and online media but there will still be printed content. The proportions may change over time but neither one of them is going away. There are some people who want to be engaged with technology and then there are some people who want to be engaged otherwise and that number will keep both opportunities alive.

For me, technology is not disturbing the delivery of content but is helping the delivery of content. Having said that, a large fraction of the content available online is crowdsourced. The validity of that content comes in question and that is a challenge. If my neighbour is recommending some activity, I will count on that because I know someone trustworthy has experienced that. But if hundreds of unknown people are telling me about the same activity, how can I know if that isn’t an advertorial?

Do you think the same holds true for trip planning startups?

In some markets, it is important to offer itinerary based travel options. For instance in India, offering itinerary based travel which includes the best places and activities to experience at a destination is much more successful. The key factors being time, budget and experience. This definitely works well for a good number of travellers. However, the new generation traveller is not looking for such an experience. They are looking to experience things that not many people choose and are willing to explore less explored places. It is difficult to put the kind of travellers in a small number of categories. We at Lonely Planet also focus on helping the second kind of traveller.

What is coming next for Lonely Planet India?

We are already doing a lot of interesting new things. If you head to our website, you will see that we have launched specific guides in the form of apps for around 38 cities and we are giving them absolutely free of cost. The whole idea is to bring in engagement, help more travellers and provide relevant information to them. You can expect to see more technology driven content coming from us in the near future. However, that doesn’t mean the guidebooks are going away. Guidebooks will continue to be at the centre of our model but we will try to add more value by leveraging technology.

Some of the upcoming titles under Lonely Planet Kids

We are focussing on specific segments of travellers as well. For instance we are now publishing Lonely Planet Kids and we have got some fantastic titles under that segment. We are also publishing a lot of gift books which are travel related. There is an appetite for things beyond the guide while staying within the travel portfolio and you will see relevant products coming from Lonely Planet India.

Sesh has previously supported us in our events by sharing his knowledge during various panel discussions. Now we are bringing back the events on an even bigger scale. Sign up for the upcoming Startup Knockdown+.

If you are looking for some inspiration or ideas for your next trip, you can head to the Lonely Planet India website.

The post Sesh Seshadri, Lonely Planet India Director talks about the future of travel media appeared first on TravHQ.

The travel and tourism industry plays a significant role in the economy of Singapore. Last year, this country received 15.1 million international visitors who had spent more on sightseeing, entertainment and gaming. Visitors had shown more interest on longer and mono-destination stays. Being one of the most popular destinations of the world, Singapore has received international awards from Lonely Planet as ‘World’s Top Country to Visit in 2015’, from CNN as ‘Top 10 Destinations to visit in 2015’ and from New York Times as ‘Top 6 out of 52 places to go in 2015.

With the rapidly growing Singaporean tourism industry, many travel startups have come into existence and expanded their footprint in 2015. We have listed a few of them below as a part of our Travel Sprint series:

#1 Very Local Trip

Founded by Maxime Besnier in 2014, Very Local Trip is a unique platform that connects travellers with open minded and enthusiastic locals who are ready to share their knowledge of the city’s local culture and food. It helps the travellers avoid the general tourist spots and experience different places as insiders. Their website lists many activities as per the destinations. The activities include Streetfood trails in Chinatown, Bangkok Urban experience and Sticky Waterfall Trip. Interested travellers can take a look at the descriptions of the activities, check reviews and then book an activity of their choice. If you believe in experiential travelling, do check out its website.

Language: English

#2 Travelog

Launched by Matt Kwa, Jason Yoo, Young-Un Cho and Robinson Park in 2014, Travelog is an insider’s travel magazine. Trippers can use them to know more about the cities they are about to visit, the delicious dishes of different places and recognise the hidden hangouts of the tourist destinations. Although the company started out in Singapore, they do have active presence in regions such as Seoul etc. In-terms of content they cover most of asian countries.

Language: English

#3 Flocations

Founded by Shaw Chian, Florian Cornu and Venkatraman Dhamodaran in 2011, Flocations is an online travel discovery tool that helps the adventurers discover the best travel packages. It aggregates the travel packages from the local agencies of the countries as well. The users have filter options to search the different types of packages based on themes such as adventure, beach and family. Interested travellers can use their wide filter searchability features to book the best travel packages of their choice.

Language: English

#4 TripZilla

Launched by Winnie Tan in 2011, TripZilla is an outbound service for people planning to travel from Singapore planning to other countries. Travellers can find itineraries and packages like group tours and land tours by multiple agencies and compare them against each other to pick suitable ones for themselves. There are innumerable deals for flights, hotels, package tours, cruises as per the destinations. To further attract trippers on its website, it has an online magazine with travel stories.

Language: English

#5 PandaBed

Founded by Lester Kang and James Chua in 2012, PandaBed connects travellers with the property managers of apartments, villas and private residences. Travellers can find an inexpensive rental place to stay by getting in touch with the hospitable and helpful hosts. The website has an interesting ‘PeerMatch’ feature that allows travellers and hosts to get connected with each other on similar preferences like culture and language.

Language: English

#6 BeMyGuest

Launched by Clement Wong and Blanca Menchaca in 2012, BeMyGuest is Asia’s leading provider of tours and activities. The brand has partnered with many individuals and thousands of small-to-medium sized travel businesses to offer travellers a wide variety of travel options from the most popular and mainstream tours to the locally specialised activities. A few interesting activities include: Underwater World with Dolphin Lagoon Experience, Night Safari with Tram and Adventure Core Waterpark. Travellers can easily book tours and activities available at attractive deals.

Language: English

#7 Roammate

Founded by Daniel O’Reilly and Hannah Ryan, Roammate helps solo travellers, couples and groups meet each other for tours, excursions, holidays, day trips and events. The travellers can find people with similar interests based on the compatibility test available on the website. They can even share their travel ideas, plans and costs through this platform.

Language: English

#8 Tripnatics

Launched by Bernard Ang in 2013, Tripnatics was developed to encourage the sharing of holiday experiences. The website allows the avid travellers to view, store and share itineraries. Beyond this, it offers reliable reviews by experienced travellers, a feature for finding like-minded travellers and help from ‘Circle of Trust’ to plan the trips.

Language: English

#9 Bon Appetour

Founded by Rinita Vanjre Ravi, Inez Wihardjo and Giovanni Casinelli in 2012, Bon Appetour connects travellers with local hosts who wish to invite guests over to their homes to join them for a dinner. The travellers will get to cherish a ‘home away from home’ experience and make new friends in the cities they are visiting. It gives an opportunity to host and easily monetise through their cooking skills and learn more about the different cultures of the travellers.

Language: English, Spanish, French and Italian.

#10 42Race

Founded by Zhou Mi and Augustine Chua in this year, 42Race is a one-stop portal for marathon enthusiasts. It simplifies the procedure of finding and registering for marathons, book hotels, plan for the trip’s itineraries by providing travel packages especially made for runners and their family and friends who wish to travel with them. This online travel agency (OTA) targets both Chinese and Singapore outbound marathon travellers.

Language: English

If there are any other travel startup that has grabbed your attention for its excellent performance, do share its name with us.

Also Read: Travel Sprint: Our pick of Japan’s 10 coolest travel startups

and Travel Sprint: Our pick of Hong Kong’s 10 coolest travel startups

The post Our pick of Singapore’s 10 coolest travel startups that stole the limelight in 2015 appeared first on TravHQ.

Photography is deeply linked with travel and be it brands or consumers, one can’t imagine a journey without pictures. The whole world celebrated #WorldPhotographyDay on Wednesday, 19th August. It was one of those days, where photographers from all over united and shared their common passion of shooting pictures. Twitter was abuzz with photographs and tweets from destinations, travel agencies, travel guides & magazines and even the hotel industry joined in.

Here is our pick of how some travel brands in India joined the #WorldPhotographyDay fun.

#1. NatGeo Channel India

NatGeo did something very unconventional and unique on the occasion of #WorldPhotographyDay! They did a small campaign around this theme with a simple concept. Their twitter followers had to guess the names of the photographers behind some iconic NatGeo photos. 5 winners, had a chance to win “50 Greatest Photographs of National Geographic iOS app”. The execution of the campaign was planned very neatly and it shows how much brands like NatGeo value such significant days.

Take part in the #WhoClickedIt #Contest at 4pm and put your photography knowledge to the test. #WorldPhotographyDay pic.twitter.com/KmSwQKBUra

— NatGeo Channel India (@inNatGeo) August 19, 2015

#2. Mumbai Heritage

Mumbai Heritage didn’t talk much about the #WorldPhotographyDay but when they did, they made sure they posted some high quality visuals. They shared two beautiful photographs of Mumbai which received good number of retweets and favourites.

Mumbai Island City. Photograph by Robert Stephens. #WorldPhotographyDay pic.twitter.com/VKOi6totex

— Mumbai Heritage (@mumbaiheritage) August 19, 2015

#3. Lonely Planet India

Ours is a beautiful country and what better way to celebrate the occasion than with some stunning photos of the most beautiful monument here. Lonely Planet India shared a blog post with 6 best views of the Taj Mahal. The post not only included the pictures but also some facts about the famous monument and places around it.

Now that the Taj Mahal is on Twitter, they could have mentioned @TajMahal as well.

#WorldPhotographyDay: 6 best views of the Taj Mahal: http://t.co/nKiOtLpiHI pic.twitter.com/pHEKGvQ68O

— Lonely Planet India (@lonelyplanet_in) August 19, 2015

#4. Stayzilla

Pinterest is a platform that largely depends on high quality visuals. Stayzilla, the online marketplace for budget stays, used the #WorldPhotographyDay to promote their Pinterest account on Twitter. They shared multiple tweets with beautiful pictures and link to their Pinterest account.

It is better to use images that have a landscape orientation rather than portrait on Twitter. Portrait images don’t look very neat on Twitter timeline.

Happy #WorldPhotographyDay! Pictures always inspire! Follow us on @Pinterest & get inspired. https://t.co/6k0Do2opQF pic.twitter.com/AC2icpx9pn

— Stayzilla.com (@stayzilla) August 19, 2015

#5. OYO Rooms

OYO Rooms, India’s largest chain of rebranded budget hotels, wished its followers a happy #WorldPhotographyDay but missed on a picture to go with the message. Though later they announced a photo contest around the topic with hashtag #OYOgraphy on multiple platforms that will be running till August 25.

We wish everyone a happy #WorldPhotographyDay! May your camera capture images that inspire people to travel the world.

— OYO Rooms (@oyorooms) August 19, 2015

#6. Taj Mahal, New Delhi

Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi also decided to use this occasion to drive some activity on their Twitter accountby showcasing their hotel room. They tried to spark some conversations by inviting people to share their pictures but there was hardly any activity after that. There were very few people who used the hashtag or shared their photos with them.

Have you indulged in this #RoomWithAView? It’ll be nice to see your pictures! #WhenInDelhi #WorldPhotographyDay pic.twitter.com/RCQAyvnyvz

— Taj Mahal New Delhi (@TajMahalHotel) August 19, 2015

#7. Samsonite India

Samsonite positions itself as a companion for business travellers but every once in a while, the brand uses its social media accounts to connect with leisure travellers as well. On #WorldPhotographyDay, they tweeted just once about it with a fairly average photo to accompany it.

Celebrate your love for photography & change the way you see the world with nothing but a lens! #WorldPhotographyDay pic.twitter.com/HGQy1Hcvjv

— Samsonite India (@SamsoniteIndia) August 19, 2015

#8. Ginger Hotels

Ginger Hotels used this opportunity to interact through a photo contest. Follower dug into their old photos for a chance to grab Flipkart vouchers by sharing their old memories with #TakeMeBack. The contest saw an impressive level of participation with the hashtag being used around 1500 times.

It's #WorldPhotographyDay, and we have something special in store for our fans! Stay tuned to find out more. #StayAtGinger

— Ginger Hotels (@stayatginger) August 19, 2015

#9. MakeMyTrip

Like many others, MakeMyTrip also made a tweet about #WorldPhotographyDay and invited people to share their photos. Only a couple of people responded with their photos which was expected as the twist in the tweet was missing.

They could have used some high quality visuals similar to what they have used in the past. Some incentive like a feature of best photos would have motivated more tweeples to share.

Love travelling? Love taking photos while travelling? This #WorldPhotographyDay, share the love with us! After all #DilTohRoamingHai

— MakeMyTrip.com (@makemytrip) August 19, 2015

Are there any other World Photography Day campaigns that caught your eye? Do share them with us.

The post How India’s Travel Industry celebrated #WorldPhotographyDay on Twitter appeared first on TravHQ.

Even though we have entered the second half of 2015, social media marketers still continue to evaluate the true potential of Google+ and for most of them it is ranked after Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram. Having said that, the entire Google Plus platform has evolved a lot in the last couple of years as a result of which several brands have jumped forward and adopted the platform. The increasing presence of travel brands on Google Plus is a clear sign that they acknowledge the importance of this platform.

Why Google+ has an instant connect with Travel Brands?

In the travel industry, we offer memories and experiences to our customers and that is why travel brands rely heavily on the use of high quality images & photographs. Google Plus allows the display of gif animations that can be used to convey your brand’s message to drive user engagement. Another fact to keep in mind is that it is the brainchild of Google, the search giant. The reach of a Google Plus page also helps to increase your search engine visibility. You can track your page performance with analytical tools such as Page Audit & Ripples.

How can your brand use it?

If you are a travel brand looking to harness the power of Google Plus, ensure that you have a right strategy in place. Content duplication from other social networks isn’t a great start-point. Identify your niche, what you want to say and how it will be different from other platforms that will increase the relevance of your presence on Google+. Experiment with photos, use the editing filters and every now and then try a GIF animation. Ensure that your Google+ page and website are cross-connected.

Visual storytelling also works very well in promoting a travel brand. Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, you can use Hangouts to boost interaction. It can either be a two way interaction or a broadcast. For instance, destination brands can do Hangouts on Air to talk about top things travellers can do in a city.

Relevant hashtags should be used on Google Plus like other platforms to be more visible. Hashtags like #ttot, #traveller or #travel are commonly used but you should use them with some less popular and brand or campaign specific hashtags. Using very popular or trending hashtag might give you instant visibility but soon your post will be lost in a sea of other posts competing with the same hashtag. A less popular one on the other hand will make the post visible for a longer duration. So it is best to use a mix of both types of hashtags.

You should also engage actively in communities that relate to your niche of products and services. For example a business offering adventure activities can interact with fans who are active in Adventure Travel communities. We found two communities having 41K and 34K members with people posting their experiences and asking questions. Try to get noticed by being helpful and don’t advertise directly.

How popular is Google+ among Indian Travel Brands?

Most global travel brands are having active Google+ pages to cater to their Indian audience. According to our research, Lonely Planet India has got the strongest following on Google Plus among all Indian travel brands. They have 687K+ followers with over 20M views (profile + content view).

Along with a good volume of visual content, they are actively using hashtags on their posts to increase the content reach. However, we would love to see Lonely Planet exploring the native features of Google+ more often.

After Lonely Planet India, Expedia India takes the second spot with 579K followers which comes as a bit of a surprise if you think of OTAs in India, MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip and GoIbibo take the bigger market share. We were expecting them to have a much bigger community however they sit at 7K, 4.5K and 2.5K followers respectively. Yatra.com has a similar story with 4K followers. They can look at brands like Lonely Planet India, Expedia India, ixigo or some international travel brand pages for some inspiration.

With informative videos and funny visuals, ixigo, the travel search engine has a following on 514K on Google Plus. If we take a look at travel media, Conde Nast Traveller India is quite popular on Google Plus with 525K followers but they are giving videos a higher priority while ignoring posts.

Follower count of travel brands on different platforms

For online businesses, Google Plus is a very important network that certainly can’t be ignored in the overall digital marketing mix. The activities on other platforms shouldn’t be diluted but you should consider allocating resources for this platform as well. It will go a long way in enhancing your online marketing efforts.

If your travel brand is hosting an interesting campaign on Google+, do tell us about it. We would be happy to feature it on TravHQ

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