Tourism 2.0

: internationalization by internetization : TravelTailors : digital internationalization strategy

Abstract

TravelTailors is a Portuguese-based travel agency with activity established in 2010. The agency sells tailor-made travel plans to its customers and, simultaneously with this competitive advantage, their success is based upon a constant monitoring of their customers before, on and after traveling. In TravelTailors, they are no general, equal or impossible travel plans. Although the company has been very successful in its primary market, Portugal, it decided that was time to invest across boundaries – United States of American. Part of the internationalization plan would be supported on their online channels. Thus, this dissertation aims to elaborate a digital marketing strategy for TravelTailors based on six cornerstones: Website, Travel blog, Social Media platforms, Search Engine Optimization and Pay-per-click advertising. To outline a digital marketing strategy, it was important to do a benchmarking. Focus was given to American agencies and Portuguese travel agencies that were already operating in the American market. Bearing in mind what were the market best-practices and the dimensions that affect the company-customer relationship, the following step was to investigate American travelers’ latest trends and tastes. This would guarantee that TravelTailors’ digital marketing strategy would be tailored to the market they chose. The conclusions of this dissertation highlight the importance of high-quality sites which transmit confidence and clear positioning. This empowers limited resources companies to use sponsored links as a backup option if their organic link does not place well. Accordingly, a special focus to website quality factors and SEO techniques was given.

Date of Award	18 Jul 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)