TikTok isn’t just for dances and lip syncs. It’s a gold mine for travel brands. Just look at Dubai and its bright lights! If you haven’t heard, the Emirate has just been crowned the most popular city on TikTok, amassing over 29.7 million posts, surpassing cities like London (10.3 million posts) and Paris (8.8 million posts) by miles! Just WOW.

This data, revealed by Bounce travel experts, highlights the social app’s role as a primary travel inspiration source to 46% of Gen Z travellers on the platform.

Dubai’s appeal lies in its youthful vibe, attractions and luxurious lifestyle – qualities that appeal to many young travellers today. With TikTok’s vast reach and influence, Dubai’s prominence on the platform showcases its allure to a global audience of digital-savvy travellers.

There’s no doubt its poularity on the platform contributed to the 9.31 million international overnight visitors in the first half of this year, a 9% increase from the same period last year, according to data published by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET).

Why TikTok is effective for travel business marketing

With more than 1 billion monthly active users who spend an average 95 minutes per day on the platform, TikTok can TikTok can be a super powerful tool and a total game changer for travel agents and operators.

The platform’s engaging video format captures users’ attention quickly, fostering high levels of interaction and engagement. Its favours trending content and enables videos to achieve viral status, therefore significantly enhancing brand visibility. 

Additionally, the emphasis on user-generated content adds authenticity, making the platform a powerful tool for building trust. Compared to traditional advertising, TikTok offers a cost-effective means to reach a large, diverse audience of travellers, making it an invaluable asset for agents and operators.

10 step checklist to optimise your travel TikTok right now

@thequickstylee

Stepping into the desert like 🥵☀️ #uae #quickstyle #dance #move #dubai #fjp

♬ original sound – thequickstyle

Whether you’re already on TikTok, or just getting started, here’s a ten-step checklist to start seeing improvements in your engagement and reach.

1. Put your audience front and centre

Are you tailoring your content to your target demographic’s preferences and interests, or are you trying to appeal to everyone? It’s important to know and understand your target audience to ensure your content catches and retains their attention.

2. Jump on trends

From viral audios, entertaining challenges, or new trends, jump on the bandwagon and invite your followers to participate and you’re more likely to go viral. Including your audience on the brand’s journey is one of the best ways to engage, communicate and gain more followers.

3. Hashtag overhaul

Use hashtags wisely. Gone are the days where it is the most effective to add 50 hashtags to a video. Instead research the ones that are most relevant to your business, as well as what your audience is searching. You’re more likely to be discovered by finding a niche and using a popular hashtag that matches you perfectly, than going with irrelevant ones.

4. Phone a friend

Don’t be afraid to collaborate with influencers and other businesses. Being a social platform, others are likely to be open to collabs when objectives align, and all parties will gain in expanding reach to new audiences, increase brand awareness and boost credibility. 

@rachellepresto08

Habibi come to dubai 🤣 #fyyp #fyp #glassslide #skydubai #kabayan #tiktokerist #uae #mydubai

♬ Habibi Come to Dubai – ANDI VEGAS

5. Don’t be afraid of ads

TikTok’s advertising options are designed to boost visibility and engagement. There are plenty of options that will allow you to get in front of your audience, so ads can be lucrative when used strategically and implemented properly. 

6. Be consistent

Users and the algorithm are not fans of sporadic posting. Being consistent helps to keep your audience engaged with interesting and relevant content. It also attracts new followers and improves account credibility with TikTok. 

7. Engage with your community

Don’t be afraid to use TikTok features like duets, challenges, and Q&A to foster engagement and community building. You might like to kick off a challenge on ‘best travel hacks’ or ‘little known facts’ and see followers start to participate. Be creative. Go nuts!

8. Highlight exceptional experiences

When it comes to travel posts, sometimes they can blend in with one another. Gen Z in particular enjoy looking for experiences that are new or newly trending, a little different, lesser known or just that much more special – so lean into your unique selling points (USPs) and showcase as many of these finds or experiences as possible. 

9. Stay analytical 

Regularly review your backend data and analytics to better understand what works with your audience and continue to refine your strategy. It’s okay to repeat some styles of video if your audience are responding well, but make sure you’re adapting to what your audience is engaging with and don’t be afraid to experiement. 

10. Encourage user-generated content (UGC)

Increase brand credibility, awareness and trust by encouraging clients and customers to share their travel pictures or reviews on TikTok. Use branded hashtags and challenges to make them easy to find, and incentivise sharing for existing customers. 

Five TikTok content ideas for your travel business

1. Highlight local culture experiences and attractions

This can prove popular with travellers and locals. Create content showcasing the incredible cultural elements and attractions of your destinations. Don’t forget to find interesting niche and local hashtags which will make your content more discoverable. 

2. Behind-the-scenes

Invite followers into your day as a purveyor of dreams. Offer sneak peeks into what you do, what you sell, how you do it, and all the fun and perks that come with the job – for e.g. a ‘day in the life of a travel agent or tour operator’ taking followers along on hotel inspections and familis, and the work that goes into ensuring everything you curate is of top quality. Most people don’t know this side of the business, so offering them a behind-the-scenes perspective can help build excitement, interest and trust in your business. 

3. Promotions and incentives

From promotions that highlight seasonal events and offers to contests and giveaways, these campaigns can help to increase engagement and attract new conversions. Just make sure you strike a healthy balance between promotional and fun content on TikTok. Nobody likes to be sold at, but they do like to be entertained.

4. Social proof

Share user-generated content and testimonials to build trust and authenticity. Plus, try to include others in your content – for e.g your team in the office and other travellers (with their permission). Putting faces to the brand creates personality, engagement and credibility for your account. 

5. Go live

Interact with your audience in real-time, answer FAQs, or go live from a location/experience (e.g. a site inspection or industry launch event). Bringing your followers with you on your discovery journey will help create a sense of exclusivity to the stream.