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Pokeselfie – the 7th Travel Tribe

I heard of the 'Travel tribe’s' last year and was reminded about who they are and how they travel. It’s a great reference point for agents to consider.

I heard of the ‘Travel tribe’s‘ last year and was reminded about who they are and how they travel. It’s a great reference point for agents to consider.

I can appreciate we all like to take a photograph and a selfie. What I just cannot get my head around is people who base a holiday on it like the ‘Social Capital’ seeker.

Social Capital …structure their holidays almost exclusively with online audiences in mind, relying heavily on peer reviews and recommendations to validate their decisions. .”

My main issue with this (apart from just enjoy your own holiday) is I go somewhere to get away from it all. Experience, immersion. I don’t understand why you would spend your entire time focusing on a 6-inch screen. It’s like video’ing the rock concert and not watching it.

In the Philippines last year, two stunning South Korean ladies spent 30 minutes poolside getting their make up right and a further 90 minutes taking the same photograph approximately 2,000 times over. In front of a beautiful but non descript pool.

 

My big lesson

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Their holiday is all about going places and taking photographs of themselves at landmarks (or in the queue at the airport check-in lounge). That brings them pleasure. Rubbing it in on their mates.

The Smart Agent packages and sells a holiday to these people on that premise – “we can put together an itinerary where you can get 600 photographs in front of 37 landmarks. Your friends will be insanely jealous. Only a travel agent can build this itinerary….”

Good luck to them.

 

But there is a seventh tribe

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PokémonGo has shown us over the last 10 days how fast things move.

With respect to travel, it was only launched in three countries including Australia. There are business opportunities that exist today that did not exist two weeks ago.

Reports of wealthy Asian travellers flying to Australia to go hunting for Pokémon. That’s right, people are getting on planes and going not places not just to take photographs, but play interactive augmented reality handheld games.

If you get down to the nuts and bolts of the game and “Pokemonics” it’s simple.

Players run around locations and power up with ammunition to capture creatures, build status and then challenge other people to battles. Some creatures are common, some are rare. Rarer the better. Check this flash mob in new York. They are adults on the phone.

Corporates can put themselves on the virtual map (by paying) to be a “pokestop” or a place you refuel your ammunition. Pokemon can be lured to locations with traps. You can buy traps and tempt Pokémon to hang around your physical location in the real world.

People see the Pokémon and find themselves outside a McDonalds. On a 90 minute fact finder on Saturday eve, my 8-year-old wanted McNuggets.

 

Travel opportunities

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Who is the first travel franchise in Australia to buy virtual real estate to get people gathering outside their building and increasing brand exposure? Helloworld? Flight Centre?

Will tourist boards pay to have Pokémon appear near their famous landmarks? Can you get people back to the pyramids by putting a rare Pokémon there? Where will these Pokémon be?

How much would you pay to chuck some Pokemon outside your backpackers in Siem Reap?

Travel agents can put together an itinerary that would appeal to the seventh tribe of Pokémon hunters.

Are you seeing the Pokemon movement in travel?