What Is The Biggest Marketing Challenge You Are Facing In 2010?

We asked 200 travel and leisure executives on LinkedIn what they felt was their biggest destination marketing challenge for 2010. Not surprisingly, “Learning how to do more with less” is the number one challenge with nearly half of all respondents. After all, what company in the travel and tourism space has enough money and resources these days? The economy and its effects on both consumer and business travel have put a major damper on the budgets of many. 

What was eye-opening in the results? The number of tourism pros still challenged with “Creating an emotional connection” with customers and prospects. Nearly a quarter of respondents feel this is their biggest challenge. Concerns with the commodification of the industry is evident here, as OTAs and discounting take their toll. The concepts of branding and connecting with customers have become a luxury for all but the strongest of players. This is supported by the 10% of respondents who chose “Figuring out what sets us apart.”

Could the number of respondents that chose “Dealing with so many new options” point to the confusion brought on by the rise of social media? In times of economic upheaval its a common reaction to abandon fundamentals and get distracted by anything that could offer promise. 

It will be interesting to see if this number grows or shrinks as we begin to look forward to more economic stability in 2010. What do you think?