Our go-to social media app for travel inspiration is Instagram. Travel is very visual and Instagram is where visual content thrives! The app has proved itself time and time again as the number one spot for travel inspiration on the go. There has been a huge change in consumer behavior and these days our next destination is determined by a visually compelling Instagram photo.
“The survey by home insurance company Schofields Insurance asked over 1,000 UK adults aged between 18 and 33 – AKA millennials – what was most important when choosing a holiday destination, and ‘how Instagrammable the holiday would be’ has been identified as the number one motivator.” _ The Independent
When we think of visually compelling, two cities come to mind Cappadocia, Turkey and Chefchaouene, Morocco. These two cities have have received a huge inflow of visitors, all thanks to Instagram. During our trip to turkey, our conversation with Halis, the hot air balloon pilot, helped us put the power of Instagram into perspective. According to him, hot air ballooning in Cappadocia grew from having only 5-8 flights to over 100 flights daily after Instagram became popular. The photos of Cappadocia on Instagram are spectacular and the destination lives up to all the hype you see.
Wouldn’t you want to be here?
OFFICIAL TOURISM PAGES ARE GETTING ON THE INSTAGRAM HIGH
Whether you are on Instagram for travel fashion inspiration, information, travel tips or tricks or just searching for Instagrammable locations, the best place to start off is the official tourism page of your destination of choice. Some of them are steadyfalling hand (a Nigerian term for not living up to expectation) but some are extremely detailed with all the information you might need about a particular location.
The official tourism pages give you insights to off-the-beaten path locations, local cuisine, currency, restaurants, great hotels or Airbnb homes and the list goes on.
“I love checking out hashtags for ideas and also official tourism pages. People sleep on official tourism pages and they have a wealth of information” – @stylishtrotter
Most of them rely on user generated content and they act as aggregators; sifting and showcasing the best of the best from their country. Think about an official tourism page as a marketing tool for a country to sell itself to the world. Countries that are big on tourism do not play with their Instagram pages! Examples are The Philippines, New Zealand and South Africa.
CREATIVE WITH THE HASHTAGS
These tourism pages not only post beautiful photos from their country, they get so creative with their hashtags as well. We remember the first time we saw the official hashtag of the Philippines, we wondered how anyone will tag such a long name “#itsmorefuninthephilippines”. But guess what? That hashtag has over 3 million photos and counting! Check out our 10 favorite destination hashtags.
