Do local tourism businesses still need independent domains?

[NiceNIC]

Smaller destinations can become popular quickly through social media and travel content.

That can create demand for local hotels, tours, guides, and regional travel sites.

For hosting providers, do small tourism clients still buy their own domains?

Or are booking platforms and social media replacing that need?

 

[Mivocloud]

Smaller destinations can become popular quickly through social media and travel content.

That can create demand for local hotels, tours, guides, and regional travel sites.

For hosting providers, do small tourism clients still buy their own domains?

Or are booking platforms and social media replacing that need?

Everything happens in different ways, but the bigger the business, the more likely it is to take over the domain.

 

[bigredseo]

We’ve built city tourism sites, chamber of commerce sites, and sites for local business networking groups. Those projects usually expose the same problem pretty quickly: the city site looks good, then somebody clicks through to the local automotive shop and lands on a website created in 2009 that still has animated flashing GIFs 😉

Social media and booking platforms are useful, but they’re rented land. They should be used in conjunction with a website, not instead of one. Facebook can bury your posts, suspend your page, or change the rules about what it shows. Booking platforms can raise fees, and they basically own the customer relationship. A domain is the one place the business or organization still has total control.

And not just city or booking sites, but we've been involved with a number of businesses that build websites for RV parks and vacation rentals, so they don't have to pay Airbnb's high fees. Airbnb gets the exposure, but the return visits are often handled through their main site.

So yes, small tourism or city pages still need domains and hosting. AI uses the domain as the source of truth. Maybe they'll use social media in the future, but right now social is used in conjunction; the domain is the authority.

I think I could write a whole blog post on this topic 🙂 Maybe I will 😉

 

[SenseiSteve]

Brings back fond memories. I created a few sites back in 1997 with animated flashing GIFs.

 

[bigredseo]

Brings back fond memories. I created a few sites back in 1997 with animated flashing GIFs.

I'm with ya! The web was wild back in the 90s 🙂 Hot Pink/Purple flashing to Yellow was almost as standard back then as a hero image is today 😉

 

[NiceNIC]

Everything happens in different ways, but the bigger the business, the more likely it is to take over the domain.

That's a good way to put it. Once the project becomes a real business, someone usually starts asking who controls the domain.

We’ve built city tourism sites, chamber of commerce sites, and sites for local business networking groups. Those projects usually expose the same problem pretty quickly: the city site looks good, then somebody clicks through to the local automotive shop and lands on a website created in 2009 that still has animated flashing GIFs 😉

Social media and booking platforms are useful, but they’re rented land. They should be used in conjunction with a website, not instead of one. Facebook can bury your posts, suspend your page, or change the rules about what it shows. Booking platforms can raise fees, and they basically own the customer relationship. A domain is the one place the business or organization still has total control.

And not just city or booking sites, but we've been involved with a number of businesses that build websites for RV parks and vacation rentals, so they don't have to pay Airbnb's high fees. Airbnb gets the exposure, but the return visits are often handled through their main site.

So yes, small tourism or city pages still need domains and hosting. AI uses the domain as the source of truth. Maybe they'll use social media in the future, but right now social is used in conjunction; the domain is the authority.

I think I could write a whole blog post on this topic 🙂 Maybe I will 😉

Thanks Conor, this is a great real-world example. If yo write that blog post, I'd definitely read it. 😁

 

[bigredseo]

You asked for an article; you get an article 🙂

https://www.bigredseo.com/do-businesses-still-need-a-website/

This goes a little further than our discussion here, but it's still on track, I believe.

 

[NiceNIC]

You asked for an article; you get an article 🙂

https://www.bigredseo.com/do-businesses-still-need-a-website/

This goes a little further than our discussion here, but it's still on track, I believe.

Thanks Conor, I read it.

The "source of truth" point really stands out. Platforms can bring people in, but the business still needs one place it owns and controls. The AI angle is a good point too. If the website is clear and updated, AI at least has something reliable to read from.

Good article👍👍👍