Seamless Xtra’s Carolina Lubinus interviews Aseel Nihad, Head of Marketing – Middle East, Big Bus Tours
Transforming Tourism Marketing
1.What are the most significant marketing trends you’ve seen in the tourism industry recently, and how have they impacted Big Bus Tours?
Trends are always ever evolving and so are we at Big Bus Tours. Working on Reels, where we get to showcase our tours and key landmarks has been a key contributor in enhancing our offering, in addition to launching competitions and promoting special discounted offers. Being a part of Consumer Apps such as the Entertainer, Etisalat Smiles and many others has been an important promoter. Partnerships have always been a core key element for us that always yields a positive outcome. Networking, collaborations and branding has always been a success for our business. Finally bespoke curated experiences, allow us to differentiate our offering.
2.In what ways are you leveraging technology and data analytics to enhance your marketing initiatives?
QR codes and promocodes on our collateral, kiosks and bus wraps have been key in measuring and demonstrating customer engagement and interest whether it be in a product, service or offering. Numbers never lie.
3.Can you share insights on how partnerships with other brands or businesses have contributed to your marketing strategy?
Partnering with Hamley’s toy store for Christmas, for the 2nd consecutive year, was a great initiative where mascots where on the bus including Santa Claus and his helpers, where the bus drove around the city to spread the spirit of Christmas, happiness and love. Gifts were distributed to children and that managed to draw Big Smiles on faces, which is one of our core values at Big Bus Tours. We had done similar initiatives with Rove Hotels for the International Happiness Day, previously, where kids were given cookies and giveaways, spreading the spirit of happiness in the city. Tangible results were witnessed, making the Big Bus Tours brand stick in the minds of the community.
4.What type of content has proven most effective in engaging your audience and driving bookings?
As I had mentioned earlier, Reels, social competitions (online) and partnerships related to special calendar days such Valentine’s Day, Christmas and New Years, to name a few, have been a major contributor to our success, allowing for high content reach and engagement with a bigger diverse audience.
5.What do you foresee as the next big trend in marketing for the tourism industry, and how is Big Bus Tours preparing for it?
Agility is key in a business strategy, and I can see that the market is quite saturated, which requires providing more discounted and bundled offers, packages, and more unmatchable added value offering as a business.
In terms of technology, AI is a trend that everyone seems to be riding on, this will complement some of the current jobs and speed up delivery.
Finally, sustainability, a big COP28 mandate, where vehicles are expected to turn electric soon in order to save the environment and avoid carbon emissions. Some of the cities we operate in such as Paris and the UK are already running electric buses, which is something we plan to adopt soon.
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