Berry Whale (www.berrywhale.travel) is a tourism marketing agency specialized in marketing, communication, technology and PR for the tourism industry in Latin America. We are known as a team with passion and commitment. Honesty, loyalty and humility are the characteristics we are most proud of. aspects that identify each and every member of our team. These qualities are what make Berry Whale stand out from the rest.
Travel.Domains: What does Berry Whale do?
Sjoukje Van Alst: Basically, we are a marketing, communication, public relations and technological development agency specialized in the tourism sector in Latin America.
Travel.Domains: What makes you stand out in your industry?
S. Van Alst: We believe that we have a strong understanding of each of the sub-sectors of the tourism industry. We have more experience in Latin America than most of our clients. We believe in passionate commitment, integration and diversity, and consider travel to be an essential component of life of for human beings.
Travel.Domains: Let’s talk about the products or services that are most in demand.
S. Van Alst: The development of technology platforms for the Internet (websites, microsites, landing pages) accessible from desktops and mobile devices and also the conceptualization, design and development of mobile applications. Also creative thinking, advertising design and planning and hiring advertising agencies for the marketing campaigns of tourism brands are other examples of the lines of services most in demand.
Travel.Domains: You are the leading tourism marketing agency in Latin America. How have you attained this leadership in several countries?
S. Van Alst: We believe in treating each project as if it were the first and only opportunity we have to make it excellent. The rest is to try to understand what the upcoming trends are, correctly interpret the points where the products and services of our customers connect with their target audiences, select a experienced teams that are prepared and can work quickly. In each location we have specialized teams with localized expertise.
Travel.Domains: How did you find out about .travel and why did you decide to use it?
S. Van Alst: We learned about .travel and travel domain extensions a while ago but didn’t get it right away. However, the redesign of our identity motivated us to think that www.berrywhale.travel should be the primary domain for our website.
Travel.Domains: Choosing the right domain/brand on the internet is the first step to success online. What do you think the advantages to a .travel domain name are?
S. Van Alst: I think the .travel domain allows tourism businesses to generate a stronger bond and differentiation within the industry as it makes it easier for the user to identify the brand as part of the travel and tourism segment on the internet.
Travel.Domains: How has .travel helped to position your page as a solid tool to deliver a message or present a product to your audience?
S. Van Alst: The domain berrywhale.travel is increasing the level of organic traffic coming from Internet search engines.
Travel.Domains: What trends and developments are impacting the tourism industry today?
S. Van Alst: There are several trends currently impacting the tourism industry today, I can list some of them. Many travelers prefer to go directly to hotels, airlines, car rental, or tour operators rather than to an OTA like Expedia for online reservations. Millennials travel differently than their parents, for example. More people now tend to enjoy holidays with friends or family for short periods and closer to home than they use to. Travelers with a high purchasing power are increasingly willing to plan their own trips, hire their own providers and choose options based on information from websites with reviews and online comments. Finally, we’re seeing the adoption of video streaming augmented reality applied to the marketing of travel experiences.
Travel.Domains: What do your clients want? What do they need?
S. Van Alst: Our customers need a value plan with competitive prices, unique, intelligent and emotional creativity, on-time delivery and verifiable results.
Sjoukje van Alst – Project Coordinator at BERRYWHALE.travel
Travel.Domains: An adequate tourism promotion strategy requires having an attractive and effective website as it is the first medium tourists use to search for information. How does your website differentiate itself?
S. Van Alst: In principle, it is necessary to present a web platform that can be seen and you can navigate on any internet device. The next important step is to establish what the key information a potential customer wants to know is and in a way, showing well organized and prioritized content contributes to a user experience that can change into a business opportunity for the agency. The findability factor from the various internet search engines for a company like ours is essential, therefore, we made a major effort to “write” on the site the main combinations of keywords that a potential customer uses to obtain the services of a tourism marketing agency.
Travel.Domains: Based on your background and experience, what conditions must a website have to attain a good quality index and be a guarantee for success? How do you improve and optimize online promotion?
S. Van Alst: The website of a destination is, of course, the leading digital asset of any tourism brand. And now most users are accessing websites from their mobile devices. Given that reality, it is essential to know the tourist and understand what their interests are to be able to offer an immersive and unique experience in the destination for each person.
Team Photo
Other elements to consider are:
Translate natively the site to as many languages as possible.
Present the local culture and customs first.
Show the human quality and warmth in the destination travel experience.
Communicate safety, comfort and quality available at the destination.
At BerryWhale, we have some rules when designing an internet platform for a tourist destination:
1. To minimize and reduce the graphical elements in the design interface.
2. Content that tends to educate and raise awareness.
3. Efforts to provide confidence and closeness to the visitor.
4. Development of creative thinking that differentiates the destination from the competition.
5. Organize information and knowledge of the destination by audience segments.
6. Ensure that navigation is functional and intuitive on any device.
7. Understand the processes involved in the travel cycle and display useful information and resources.
8. Invest in technology and content distribution networks so that loading times and publication of the contents of the portal are ultrafast.
9. Entice with an authentic and original story.
10. Design a visually unique site.
If you’re a travel industry executive seeking marketing services in Latin America, don’t hesitate to reach out to Sjoukje and the team at www.berrywhale.travel.
Search now on www.travel.domains to find great travel domain names for your travel agency, destination, booking site or blog.
