5 reasons Portugal is Europe’s hottest destination – San Antonio …
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Portugal is a hotter than ever for travelers — just ask Madonna who recently bought a luxurious villa in Sintra, where Portugeuse royalty had frolicked for centuries in their palatial retreats.
Portugal is considered one of the most geographically diverse European countries offering a surprising number of beaches, mountain ranges, wine regions and national parks. The small country, the size of Maine and saturated with history, is home to numerous UNESCO world heritage sites. Exciting culinary adventures abound for foodies offering a vast array of regional cuisine.
Did you know:
1. A pastry paradise awaits. The country’s unofficial national pastry, Pastel de nata, an egg custard tart, originated in Lisbon during the Age of Exploration.
Digitalization has changed tourism. Exploring new destinations, booking, planning what to do and even post-holiday reviews about our experiences – all of this takes place online.
At ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest travel fair, digitalization is a core topic for 10,000 exhibitors from 186 countries.
Apps, social media, virtual reality, 360 degrees videos – it’s the end of traditional travel as we know it.
And no matter who you speak to, they’ll tell you it’s a game changer
Today’s tourists interact at every stage of their journey.
A great experience – and, conversely, a bad one – is likely to be exposed much more than ever before through social networks.
So how do travel destinations do this?
The Seychelles in the Indian Ocean increasingly lets influencers temporarily take over its own social media accounts.
The national tourism board says that influencers are not paid. What they get is the country’s beauty as a backdrop to impress and to enlarge their following.
“What they do for us”, say Sherin Francis, CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board. “Is they drive a lot of their traffic to our social media page. And once the people are on there, they stay on there. They are now our followers even if after one week the influencers give us back the page. “
Yet tourists can become advertisers. Visitors were asked to film their experiences. The prize for the winning Romanian couple: another trip to the Seychelles – this time to the presidential villa on the North Island.
It might be a bit wobbly at times, but the entrants sure generate plenty of free of charge footage.
“The amount of content it’s amazing,” says France. “We would have had to pay $50,000 dollars to get a company to produce this content. And we did it through a competition and of course we will be doing more of this. “
So how do you get your target group involved? It’s a key question for the travel industry today. The larger the potential audience, the bigger you have to think.
“People are glued to their phones,” says Cathy Domanico, Vice President, Global Trade Development, Brand USA. “So we created apps, we created large-screen movies to help people learn about destinations.”
The US has just launched not just a website or a social media page but an entire first-of-its-kind connected TV network called Go USA.
It is a source for on-demand video content about travel experiences in the USA, in single episodes or even travel series.
Brand USA say its aim is to generate three million views in the TV network’s first year.
“It’s a great platform,” says Domanico. “It’s loaded with destination content and the audience can stream it.”
Kazakhstan is launching an online game through which tourists can explore 100 holy sites.
“There will be an app you’ll be getting certain currency, like coins,” says Kairat Sadvakassov, Deputy Chairman, Kazakh Tourism. “The more you progress with visiting and travelling these 100 spots, you’ll be getting titles. The highest title will be Khan, the coins you’ll get while travelling you’ll be able to monetize, to upgrade your flight, depending on the partners we have on this program.”
The app will have both content for virtual play and content closely tied to geo-location, which means you can only discover it on the ground by visiting Kazakhstan’s diverse landscapes.
Although the game will be mostly for a home audience to begin with, Kazakh Tourism says engagement is a field with great untapped potential – both domestically and internationally.
Fun in the sun for your holidays seems to be a thing of the past. Travellers today want more.
User experience, personalization and proactivity are the new watchwords.
And destinations such as India are aware of these changes.
Alphons Kannanthanam, Indian Tourism Minister: “Today actually people don’t just travel for the sake of travelling. People want to have individual experiences. So, it all depends on a whole lot of feedback. So I think that influenced the decision making of people. This is true about younger people, but when you mean youn
Media: Euronews
2. Surfs up. The Algarve, or southern region of Portugal, is a world class surfing destination. Surfers flock here for surf competitions and to catch the big waves.
3. Ready to retire? Americans are discovering this safe, welcoming country where the cost of living is incredibly low. Portugal is a popular retirement haven for Northern Europeans.
4. The journey is easy. It’s a cinch to get around and explore Portugal via car, plane or train. The country has great roads and an efficient rail system connecting cities.
5. Authentic experiences abound. Travelers experience cultural immersion every step along the way. You’ll feel welcome here. The Portuguese are very warm and friendly folks. Many regions are known for producing traditional, Old World handcrafts such as filagree jewelry, lace, hand- painted tiles and ceramics.
For more information visit: VisitPortugal.com
Nine U.S. cities fly non-stop to Portugal, including TAP airlines.
Catch Michelle Newman sharing what she loves about Portugal on San Antonio Living with host Shelly Miles at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 20, on News 4 San Antonio. Follow Newman on Instagram and Twitter: @travelyenta . Check out her website www.enlightenedtravel.net.
