5 essential podcasts for visitor attractions professionals
From daily news updates about the global travel industry to interviews with tourism experts, these 5 podcasts are essential listening for visitor attractions professionals who want to stay in the loop – or just hear some wild stories from tour guides!
1. Skip the Queue
In Skip the Queue, host Kelly Molson interviews industry experts from the attractions world about everything from chatbots to sector cooperation. Each episode starts with a few icebreaker questions, such as ‘What’s your most unpopular opinion?’, which sets the tone for the rest of the interview – an engaging, informal conversation that hits the sweet spot between department meeting, job interview and watercooler chat.
If you only listen to one episode… Line up episode 30: The Making of Harry Potter, with Geoff Spooner. It’s a fascinating insight into why Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter decided to break with convention and opt for a pre-booking-only model – and why the rest of the visitor attractions industry is starting to come around to their way of thinking.
2. The Digital Tourism Show
Presented by Chris Torres of the Tourism Marketing Agency, The Digital Tourism Show is actually a video advice series that’s been adapted for audio to make it more widely available. The series has one goal: to help tourism and destination businesses increase booking rates, value and revenue through expert use of social media, websites, video and experiential marketing. Torres covers topics ranging from audio tours and key sustainability trends to, more recently, how to look for opportunities from the Covid crisis. Episodes are packed with real-life examples and guest spots from travel industry leaders, such as Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Visit Scotland’s Industry Manager, and Emma Jamieson, previously Marketing Manager at Edinburgh Dungeon and York Dungeon.
If you only listen to one episode… Make it episode 255: Traveller Mindset and Intent in 2021 and beyond. Torres runs through the findings of market research with real travellers and muses on how you should market your travel business in 2021.
3. The C Word
No, not that C word! The C Word podcast talks about tourism issues from the perspective of conservation professionals. It sounds niche, but the topics covered are widely relevant to the heritage world, including filming in the heritage setting and returning to work after lockdown. Hosts Jenny Mathiasson and Kloe Rumsey are upbeat and immensely likeable, breathing life into potentially dry subjects such as testing new materials.
If you only listen to one episode… Sit down with a cuppa for episode 3 of series 8: Returning Cultural Objects. Special guest hosts Jeremy Udena and Marina de Alarcón from the Pitt Rivers Museum discuss the role of the conservator when it comes to the return of cultural objects.
4. Skift
For a global view on the latest news and trends in the travel industry, you can’t beat Skift. The organisation is a clever combo of news, research, conferences and marketing services, with one eye always locked on the trends that will come to define the future of travel. The Skift Podcast takes a deep dive into traveller habits and industry patterns through chats with travel industry creatives, executives and entrepreneurs. No other podcast will keep you as thoroughly up to speed with the huge changes taking place across the world’s tourism industry. For now, the main podcast takes the form of the Skift Live Forum Sessions while The Skift Daily Briefing covers the latest news in the travel industry in bitesize updates that you can listen to while brushing your teeth every morning.
If you only listen to one episode… Set aside 3 to 5 minutes a day for the Skift Daily Briefing and stay on top of the latest news from the international travel industry, Monday to Friday. Especially useful if you’re keen to know what’s happening in the States.
5. Surviving Tourism
Canadian tour guide Paula Santana has made the most of her Covid-enforced free time by making this laugh-out-loud podcast about the travel professionals’ stories that their employers don’t want them to tell! Surviving Tourism is definitely NOT one to listen to on speaker – the content is far from PG. In fact, many guests refused to give them surname for fear of getting fired! But if you’ve ever felt hard-done-by in your customer-facing role, Surviving Tourism will make you feel much less alone, and leave you with an abiding feeling of affection for your fellow tourism ‘professionals’!
If you only listen one episode… Episode 5 with Renee deals with drunkenness in Amsterdam – both the tour guide’s and the visitors’…
