Reunion Island Tourism inoshandisa blogger dzakakurumbira kuwedzera kuoneka muSouth Africa

#GoToReunion is the hashtag which was created by Reunion Island Tourism (IRT) as efforts are now unfolding to build a new branch of marketing for the destination through social media channels. Hand in hand goes the “So Much More” campaign which is now being launched in South Africa, from where visitor numbers increased by a third over the past year since visa requirements for tourists were changed, granting visitor passes on arrival at St. Denis’ Roland Garros International Airport.

The presence of some of South Africa’s leading travel bloggers on the island earlier in July also drew a lot of attention to Reunion Island, and the participants continue to make waves on Twitter and Facebook, on Pinterest, YouTube, Google+ and other social media sites, highlighting their experience while on the island.

Among the South African travel bloggers were the locally and globally very well-known Meruschka, aka http://www.mzansigirl.com/ ; Kati Auld from http://www.getaway.co.za/ ; Natalie Roos, aka http://www.tailsofamermaid.com/ ; and Selene Brophy of www.news24.com/travel .

All the participants came to Reunion to help Reunion Island Tourism to accomplish their objectives which were named as:

• develop awareness of the destination on the South African market and abroad;

• increase the number of visitors from South Africa and the world;

• position Reunion Island as a new holiday destination on the South African market; and

• build and unite a community in line with South Africa and internationally through #GoToReunion.

Ten days after the launch of the blog, nearly 1,646 visitors were recorded, for a total of 4,815 page views. On average, the user spent nearly 4 minutes on the blog and read more than three pages – double the time spent in general on a blog. 34% of users have since their first visit returned to the blog.

Blog visitors are originating from 58 different countries with those in the lead being South Africa (55%), Reunion Island (11%), France (9%), the United States (4%) and the United Kingdom (3%).

26,573,934 impressions recorded with the launch of the blog is considered excellent and exceeding expectations, demonstrating the potential of Reunion Island as the new exciting destination for South African nationals and other international visitors. The blog is directly connected to social networks and IRT guest bloggers, allowing a better ranking of the destination on the web, identified under the hashtag #GoToReunion. This year, Reunion Island was elected “most beautiful island in the world” by members of Wayn, a social network for travelers comprised of over 22 million people in over 193 countries around the world. To reach Wayn members, Reunion Island Tourism has established a communication campaign in order to further promote the destination as unique and fascinating, an island of stunning scenery.

Added activities now undertaken by the IRT include:

• the creation and installation of five sliders leading to a selection of ten categories on the home page of the destination: mountains, beaches, outdoor activities, nightlife, culture, food, gardens, museums, ecotourism, relaxation. and well-being;

• the establishment of banners, accompanied by visuals and videos of the destination to 12,000,000 contacts for 6 months;

• establishing a presence and highlighting Reunion Island on the homepage of the site Wayn for 2 months;

• writing and publishing a special section on meeting the new platform stories.wayn.com that reaches over 15,000 views and dissemination via Facebook, Twitter, and Google+; and

• dissemination of a video destination via the distribution networks and Wayn AOL Travel among more than 40 million contacts.

Currently, Reunion Island appears in fourth place on the site with 118,806 fans, behind South Africa (677,493 fans), Mauritius (146,781 fans), and the Seychelles island (121,329 fans).

Reunion Island is going places no doubt. For more information about the destination, visit www.reunion.fr