Engaging travellers. What's the big idea?

Travel has always been a competitive industry, but today, as internet use continues to explode, the noise is deafening. Consumers are swimming in hotel clips, destination guides, creator content, listicles, ads, reviews, and endless imagery of blue skies and stunning scenery from somewhere they’d rather be. Every brand wants attention, but the volume of content is making it harder for anyone to get it.

The issue isn’t that consumers aren’t engaging with travel content, they are. Brands are blending into a feed full of the same beaches, the same pools, the same drone shots, and the same ‘top 10 things to do’ recycled endlessly.

Posting more often, on more channels, only adds to the blur. To really stand out, travel brands need to invest more time and effort into the creative idea underpinning their content. A strong idea is what creates distinction. Everything else, formats, channels, captions, competitions, should flow from that one underpinning big idea.

Below are the five steps to cut through the noise and build true engagement, starting with the foundation of a big, ownable idea.

1. Begin with a compelling, ownable positioning

High-performing travel brands share one thing, they build around a clear, creatively inspirational brand positioning, not a collection of unrelated and fragmented posts.

Contrary to popular belief, this positioning doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It simply needs to be something the brand can own, repeat, and develop over time. It becomes the thread that holds the social presence and wider marketing activity together, a recognisable point of view your audience comes back for. This positioning then becomes the foundation for developing impactful big creative concepts and campaigns – all laddering up to your core positioning, each one building recognition and equity for your brand.

Developing these creative concepts starts with understanding your travellers. The best concepts are rooted in real needs; clarity, reassurance, inspiration, local insight, or help making confident decisions. Taking time to understand who your audience are and what they want at the start helps to strategically shape your big idea.  

The next step is finding a perspective that sets you apart, guided by your positioning of course. Good ideas usually emerge from the gaps, the tone or angle no one else is taking.

Your big idea should stretch across destinations, formats, and channels without losing meaning. If it only works once, it’s not a big idea, it’s a post but if it still feels fresh after months it's more likely to have engagement weight to it.

Once a clear positioning is in place and brought to life through a big idea, everything that follows becomes clearer, more intentional, and far more impactful.

2. Invest in content that holds attention

A strong creative platform gives your content purpose and direction. With that foundation set, you can focus on execution from visuals that stop the scroll, narrative clarity, and formats that feel native to each platform.

Typically, high-performing travel content tends to include:

• clear views of rooms, pools, lobbies, and amenities

• smooth walkthroughs filmed from a guest’s perspective

• short clips that answer practical questions

• information delivered simply

• hosts or creators who explain what matters

But without the big idea guiding these choices, they’re just isolated clips. When your creative idea drives the content, every asset feels consistent. It reinforces the message travellers associate with you. That consistency is what builds memory, confidence, and trust.

3. Build for behaviour, not for every platform at once

A strong idea also makes channel planning easier. It tells you how the brand should show up, and what version of the idea each platform needs.

Trying to push one piece of content everywhere often weakens it. But adapting the idea for each platform strengthens both the creative and the engagement. Each channel plays a different role in travel discovery:

• TikTok & Reels: Inspiration, energy, immediacy

• YouTube: Depth, reassurance, and detail

• Instagram & Facebook: Social proof and storytelling

If your big idea can inspire quick clips, deeper walk-throughs, and visual storytelling, that’s a sign it has strength. When your channel strategy aligns tightly with the idea, your social presence feels cohesive, not scattered.

4. Encourage participation, not passive watching

Participation is the engine of engagement, but it works best when the audience feels like they’re contributing to something bigger than a one-off post. Polls, competitions, Q&As, creator collaborations and user-generated content all perform well. When participation sits inside a strong creative and strategic foundation:

• followers understand the role they play

• content becomes easier to contribute to

• campaigns have more momentum

• engagement feels meaningful, not gimmicky

If the idea is weak, these tactics fall flat. If the idea is strong, participation builds belonging and in turn, belonging builds loyalty.

5. Support creative ideas with smart distribution

A big idea is only powerful if people see it. Your distribution strategy ensures that the concept gains traction, reaches the right audiences, and builds recognition over time.

Paid support, creator partnerships, retargeting and platform-specific optimisation all help your idea grow and amplify. When distribution aligns with your creative concept:

• your message becomes more consistent

• your content becomes more memorable

• your brand becomes easier to recognise

• engagement becomes more sustained

Bringing it all together

A strong creative idea sits at the heart of every high-performing engagement strategy. It gives your content purpose, shapes how you show up across channels, guides participation and ensures distribution actually works.

When you build from a clear, ownable idea, you don’t just compete for attention, you create a presence travellers recognise, trust, and return to.

At Platform 195, we help travel brands amplify their message so they can reach, influence, and engage travellers with clarity and consistency. Our modular marketing engine Amplify is designed to support this end-to-end, from shaping the big creative idea to producing standout content, delivering it across the right channels, and ensuring it reaches the audiences that matter.

When creativity, content, and distribution work together, travel brands don’t just cut through the noise, they build engagement that lasts. To find out how Platform 195 can help amplify your engagement, contact the team today.

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