Due to past negative experiences, many marketers have given up on online display advertising (banner ads). However, with improvements in technology, these once-maligned offerings are proving to be a viable option for legitmately increasing sales. When it comes to tourist attraction marketing, that means getting more people to your website, and ultimately, through your turnstiles.

Retargeting, those ads that follow you around once you’ve visited a website (think Zappos), is now an essential part of online advertising. And if you need to market an amusement park, museum, aquarium, or other type of tourist attraction, it is really a no-brainer.

Retargeting gives you the opportunity to keep your brand in front of “window shoppers” and brings them back to your website when they are ready to take action. For some industries, being followed around online might seem creepy. But when it comes to tourist attraction marketing, this approach makes complete sense for three main reasons:

1. People want to go to tourist attractions. Planning a vacation or a day trip is fun and exciting. If prospective visitors come to your website, they are likely to be a highly engaged audience. Retargeting is an opportunity to remind them of how much fun they can have when they come for a visit.
2. Those who are visiting an attraction’s website are likely considering it within their competitive set of things to do in the upcoming days or weeks. Retargeting allows you to be front-of-mind, while your competitors simmer on the back burner.
3. Retargeting isn’t just about awareness. It’s also about conversion. If you add a discount to the mix, perhaps for purchasing tickets in advance, you can use retargeting to directly affect your bottom line.

Statistics show that 95% of users leave a site without making a transaction; those who are retargeted are 70% more likely to complete a purchase. In fact, retargeting outperforms traditional media buying by up to 10 times. While the cost of retargeting may only be 2-3 times the cost of traditional behavioral inventory, the cost is well worth it. (Source: AdGorithms)

Hotels and destinations across the globe are already using this approach heavily, with much success. It’s only a matter of time before the Tourist Attraction industry catches on as well. Which is why your attraction should get in on the action (and do it well) before your competitors even make it to the table.