THIEL PR: Agency for creative influencer marketing in tourism
Authentic, emotional, and up close: Influencer marketing in tourism offers destinations, hotels, and tour operators fantastic opportunities. The key to success is professional execution. THIEL PR develops creative influencer campaigns for the DACH market—from data-driven selection of suitable influencers through briefing and campaign management to reporting. It’s not just about reach. It's about brand fit, high-quality content, authentic recommendations, and measurable impact.
Why THIEL PR for influencer marketing in tourism?
- Specialization in Tourism
- Experience in the DACH market
- State-of-the-art research tools
- Strategic selection over reach-based logic
- Integration of PR and digital communication
- Professional management
Why influencer marketing works best in tourism
Influencer marketing in tourism makes destinations, hotels, and travel experiences visible and emotionally engaging. Travel creators don’t just showcase beautiful places—they convey atmosphere, personal impressions, guidance, and trust. Fantastic backdrops, exciting stories: these are the strengths of the travel industry. But atmospheric images alone aren’t enough. Successful content combines visual inspiration with genuine experiential value, personal perspective, and tangible benefits for the target audience—such as travel tips, insights, recommendations, guides, or practical advice. This is how influencer marketing becomes a superpower in tourism marketing.
What influencer marketing in tourism can achieve
Destination awareness
Raise awareness of a destination among new target audiences and inspire people to travel.
Hotel and resort positioning
Bring the atmosphere, service, design, cuisine, and more to life through authentic creator content.
Visibility in the luxury travel segment
Reach discerning target audiences through carefully selected luxury travel, lifestyle, and wellness creators.
Product and experience launches
Highlighting new openings, new routes, experiences, attractions, products ...
Content creation
Produce high-quality photo and video assets for social media, PR, newsletters, websites, and paid campaigns.
Building trust and social proof
Credible recommendations from creators can make tourism brands more approachable and build trust among potential guests.
10 reasons why many influencer campaigns in tourism fail
- Creators are selected based solely on reach.
- The target audience doesn’t match the destination or the hotel.
- Briefings are too vague or too promotional.
- Content features beautiful images but offers no concrete added value.
- The content isn’t tailored to the respective platform.
- Produced material is not fully utilized after the campaign ends.
- Usage rights are not clearly defined.
- Campaigns aren’t integrated with PR, content, or paid media.
- Community communication and follow-up efforts go unused.
- Creators are selected without sufficient analysis of audience, engagement, authenticity, and previous brand collaborations.
Successful influencer marketing in tourism therefore requires a clear strategy, precise creator selection, effective briefings, and professional campaign management.
Influencer Marketing as a Strategic Communication Tool
THIEL PR does not view influencer marketing merely as a means of increasing reach, but as a strategic communication tool. What matters is not which creator has the largest community, but who truly aligns with the brand, the target audience, the tone, and the campaign objectives. That is why we evaluate not only follower counts, but also content quality, community fit, credibility, engagement, aesthetics, professionalism, and thematic relevance.
Effective influencer campaigns in tourism answer key questions upfront:
- What added value does the destination, hotel, or offer provide for the target audience?
- What aspirations, travel desires, or needs should be addressed?
- What authentic experiences can be showcased?
- Which target audience do we reach on which platform and with which format?
- What content is suitable for short-term inspiration and what is suitable for long-term visibility?
Our goal: partnerships that don’t feel like advertising, but instead create credible travel inspiration.
Platform Strategy and Content Formats
Each platform serves a different purpose in tourism marketing. That’s why we don’t develop influencer campaigns based on the “one-size-fits-all” approach, but rather tailor formats to the target audience, platform dynamics, and campaign objectives.
- Instagram for visual inspiration, Stories, Reels, and situational travel impressions
- TikTok for short, dynamic content with high discovery potential
- Pinterest for long-term inspiration and recurring travel planning
- Blogs for detailed travel reports, guides, and sustained visibility
- YouTube for in-depth formats, virtual tours, vlogs, and experience reports
- LinkedIn for professional context, B2B communication, and tourism networks
This creates content that isn’t simply repeated, but is tailored to each channel.
Emotional content with practical value
Influencer marketing in tourism thrives on authentic and emotional content that offers practical value. A good creator experiences a place on behalf of the community. What is the place like? What makes it special? Why is it relevant to a specific target audience? For destinations, hotels, and tourism brands, this means: The campaign must enable genuine experiences, convey clear messages, and provide guidance. This is achieved through content such as:
- personal travel experiences
- specific tips and recommendations
- local insider tips
- mini-guides
- practical tips for travel planning
- Behind-the-scenes insights
- Authentic assessments of atmosphere, service, or quality of experience
Long-term partnerships instead of one-off initiatives
Influencer marketing in the tourism industry becomes more credible when collaborations aren’t just one-off events. Long-term partnerships allow creators to tell the story of a destination, a hotel, or a brand in a more nuanced and consistent way.
This creates:
- greater credibility
- deeper brand loyalty
- better content quality
- stronger community engagement
- continuous visibility
- better insights into target audiences and formats
Especially for destinations, wellness hotels, resorts, and tourism brands with more complex offerings, long-term creator relationships can be significantly more effective than individual posts.
Trends in Influencer Marketing for Tourism Brands
Influencer marketing in the tourism industry continues to evolve. For destinations, hotels, and tourism providers, the following trends are becoming particularly important:
- authentic content instead of generic staging
- relevant recommendations instead of mere reach
- Sustainability and meaningfulness as credible themes
- short, dynamic video formats
- Stronger community engagement
- Long-term collaborations with suitable creator personalities
- Better utilization of produced content across multiple channels
- Stronger integration of influencer marketing, PR, content creation, and paid media
This shifts the focus: Successful campaigns don’t just showcase beautiful places; they take people on an emotional journey while also offering concrete guidance.
Our Influencer Marketing Services for Tourism Brands
Strategy & Concept
We develop the strategic foundation of the influencer campaign: from defining objectives and analyzing target audiences to selecting platforms, campaign mechanics, and a storytelling approach. This results in a concept that generates measurable engagement.
Influencer Research
Using powerful research tools, we find the perfect influencers and creators for your brand from a pool of over 20 million. It’s not just about brand fit, but also about a strong engagement rate.
Campaign Management
We coordinate every step of the influencer campaign—from timing and briefing to coordination with creators and content quality assurance. This ensures that the campaign remains strategically managed, efficiently executed, and aligned with the defined goals.
Reporting
We analyze the results of the influencer campaign in a structured manner—from reach and engagement to content quality, target audience fit, and storytelling impact. From this, we derive clear insights and recommendations for future campaigns.
Influencer Strategy and Campaign Development
We develop a campaign strategy tailored to your brand, your target audiences, and your communication goals.
Services:
- Goal definition and campaign planning
- Identification of relevant target audiences
- Selection of suitable platforms
- Development of campaign mechanics
- Thematic and storytelling approaches
- Timing and action planning
Influencer Research and Community Analysis
The perfect match out of 20 million! Using powerful research tools, we scour vast databases to find the best influencers and creators for your campaign. We don’t just look at follower counts; we focus primarily on brand fit, target audience quality, content quality, credibility, and campaign compatibility. To do this, we combine human, strategic expertise with powerful, AI-based research and analysis.
Community analysis is key for us. So we look not only at reach but also at engagement, follower growth, audience origin, age structure, language, interests, interaction quality, and follower authenticity. This ensures that creators truly reach the right audience.
Previous brand mentions are also factored into the evaluation. They show which brands a creator has already collaborated with, the formats in which these mentions occurred, and whether they have experience in a relevant niche. At the same time, potential overlaps with competitors can be identified early on.
Services:
- Tool-based research, analysis, and pre-selection of suitable creators
- Target group and audience analysis
- Assessment of engagement, growth, and authenticity
- Evaluation of relevant brand mentions
- Comparison of similar creators
- Assessment of campaign potential
- Recommendation of suitable collaboration formats
Presentation, briefing, and coordination
We handle all professional communication with influencers and ensure that expectations, deliverables, and timelines are clearly aligned.
Services:
- Reaching out to creators
- Coordinating availability
- Briefing creation
- Coordination of content ideas
- Timing planning
- Ongoing communication
- Quality assurance during implementation
Influencer trips, hotel stays, and destination experiences
In the tourism industry, compelling content is created on-site. We design influencer trips and stays that offer authentic experiences while also supporting clear communication goals.
- Planning of creator trips
- Planning of hotel and destination experiences
- Coordination with local partners
- Itinerary planning
- Coordination of travel, accommodation, and itinerary
- Support before, during, and after the trip
- Follow-up on the collaboration
Coordination of Contractual, Budgetary, and Usage Rights
Professional influencer marketing requires clear guidelines. We help coordinate services, compensation, disclosure requirements, and usage rights.
Services:
- Budget Planning
- Definition of services
- Coordination of deliverables
- Coordination of usage rights
- Clarification of timelines and approvals
- Briefing on labeling requirements
- Documentation of agreements
Reporting and qualitative analysis
We evaluate campaigns to determine whether the content aligns with the brand, reaches the right target audience, and creates long-term communication value. Metrics:
- Reach
- Impressions
- Engagement
- Interaction quality
- Content quality
- Target audience fit
- Storytelling impact
- Lessons learned for future campaigns
Who is influencer marketing in the tourism industry best suited for?
Influencer marketing is particularly well-suited for:
- Destinations and tourism regions
- Cities and tourism organizations
- Luxury hotels and boutique hotels
- Wellness and spa hotels
- Resorts
- Tour operators
- Cultural and leisure activities
- Tourism events
- International destinations targeting the DACH market
- Tourism brands with offerings that require explanation
Influencer Marketing for Destinations
Destinations benefit particularly from collaborations with creators because travel decisions are heavily influenced by visual inspiration. Creators can showcase landscapes, culture, cuisine, activities, and atmosphere in a way that helps potential guests get a feel for the place.
Possible campaign goals:
- Build awareness for a destination
- Communicate new travel opportunities
- Highlight seasonal offers
- Reach younger or specific target groups
- Showcasing hidden gems
- Generate content for social media
- Bring topics like nature, culture, active vacations, or sustainability to life
Influencer Marketing for Hotels and Resorts
With the right creators, hotels and resorts can do more than just showcase rooms or amenities—they can convey a complete brand experience. Collaborations are particularly effective when the atmosphere, service, cuisine, spa, design, and destination are presented in an authentic way.
Possible campaign goals:
- Increase the visibility of the hotel brand
- Reach new target audiences
- Communicate special offers
- Support hotel openings or relaunches
- Showcase spa, wellness, or culinary offerings
- Build social proof
- Create high-quality content for other channels
Influencer Marketing for the DACH Market
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are demanding travel markets. Successful influencer campaigns must therefore align with the media habits, tone, and expectations of German-speaking target audiences.
THIEL PR helps tourism brands identify suitable creators for the DACH market and professionally execute collaborations.
In doing so, we take into account:
- Target audiences in German-speaking regions
- Platform usage and content formats
- Seasonal travel occasions
- Cultural differences in communication
- Travel interests of different target groups
- Requirements for transparency and advertising disclosure
- Long-term brand impact rather than short-term reach
Which creators are a good fit for your brand?
Not every influencer is a good fit for every tourism brand. The key is finding the right alignment between the target audience, content style, brand values, and campaign goals. These are the relevant creator categories in tourism:
- Travel Creator
- Luxury Travel Influencer
- Family Travel Creator
- Outdoor and Adventure Creators
- Food and Gourmet Creators
- Wellness and Spa Creator
- Lifestyle Influencer
- Culture and City Content Creator
- Sustainability and Slow Travel Creator
- Micro-influencers with an engaged community
For many campaigns, smaller, specialized creators are more effective than large accounts with broad but less relevant reach.
Here's how an influencer campaign with THIEL PR works
1. Analysis and Goal Setting
- We identify target audiences, markets, campaign objectives, and existing communication strategies.
2. Strategy and Creator Selection
- We develop a campaign concept and identify suitable influencers and creators.
3. Briefing and Platform Planning
- We create clear briefs, define content, and plan which formats to use on which platforms.
4. Implementation
- We support creator residencies, content production, and publications.
5. Content Usage and Renewal
- We are exploring how the content we’ve created can be used across other channels.
6. Reporting and Lessons Learned
- We analyze the results and develop recommendations for future actions.
Connection to PR, content creation, and social media advertising
Influencer marketing is most effective when it is not viewed in isolation.
As a complement to tourism PR, influencer marketing can create additional digital reach and visual proximity. Combined with content creation, it generates high-quality assets for websites, social media, and campaigns. Through social media advertising, selected content can be further amplified and targeted specifically at relevant audiences.
These disciplines remain distinct services but can be strategically integrated.
- Tourism PR in the DACH Market
- Media Relations in Tourism
- Content creation in tourism
- Social media advertising in tourism
Let's discuss your influencer marketing strategy.
- No obligation
- Personal consultation
- Specialized tourism expertise
- Focus on Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Frequently Asked Questions About Influencer Marketing in Tourism
What is influencer marketing in tourism?
- Influencer marketing in tourism refers to collaborations with creators who make destinations, hotels, or tourism offerings visible and tangible through digital channels.
Who is influencer marketing in tourism suitable for?
- Influencer marketing is suitable for destinations, hotels, resorts, tour operators, tourism events, and brands that want to build digital visibility and inspire travel.
How do you select the right influencers?
- The key factors are brand fit, target audience quality, content style, engagement, credibility, and thematic relevance—not just reach.
Are micro-influencers useful in the tourism industry?
- Yes. Micro-influencers can be particularly valuable if they have a clearly defined community and produce credible, specialized content.
How can the success of an influencer campaign be measured?
- Possible metrics include reach, impressions, engagement, content quality, target audience fit, website traffic, saves, shares, and qualitative feedback.
Can influencer marketing be combined with PR?
- Yes. Especially in tourism, the combination of PR, influencer marketing, content creation, and social media advertising is effective when each discipline is strategically and effectively utilized.