Schiphol is the 9^th busiest airport in the world; 125,000 people go through the airport everyday, and you cannot buy gum there.

Instead of gum, I had to get mints.

The reason? According to the bored kiosk attendant who I interrogated, it was costing too much in cleaning time to scrape the gum off the floors and furniture, so they banned the sale of it. You can still chew in the airport – if you knew you had to buy it before hand.

I imagine someone did a cost analysis and discovered that the revenue made from selling gum in Schiphol (which I conservatively calculate to be somewhere around, $1.8M USD** per year), was less than the costs associated with cleaning up the gum.

**(My calculation is based on Palm Beach Airport stats, the only airport which had gum figures available. They had 6m passengers in 2010 and reported gum revenue as $225,000 per year)

I understand its tough business to run an airport these days – and if you were loosing money on gum, its logical not to sell it.

But this doesn’t solve my problem, so  here is my suggestion: sell the gum in duty free, get it sealed up in those permanent ziplock baggy things and deliver it to gate, just the same as whiskey or mascara. The airport concessions make the revenue, the passengers ears don’t pop and the mess becomes the airlines problem.  I sent an email with this suggestion to Schiphol – I’ll let you know if anything comes of it.

PS: There was surprisingly little written about this issue on the Internets.  And when I say little, I mean, nothing.  But I learnt a lot of other interesting things when I googled “No Gum at Schiphol,” such as:

-       The #6 result on Google was a Wikipedia article on the “Urinal.” Why? Well, wouldn’t you know that Schiphol airport was the first place to put fly targets in urinals (I didn’t even know that was a thing until I read this entry).  The cleaning crews found a significant reduction in cleaning time after the fly was introduced.

-       GUM is the Airport code for Guam. There are no direct flights from Schiphol to Guam.

-       You also cannot buy gum at DisneyLand or Sydney airport.

-       At Schiphol the baggage handlers are robots

-       Finally, you can get married at Schiphol.

Urinal Fly.

UPDATE!!! Max from Schiphol wrote back to me – ten points to Schiphol! Which I should add, besides the gum is a pretty great airport:

They’re tweeting hilarity  such as:

- Yeah, it’s true. My Hekla is the gate to Hell… vetica.

- Yeah, nice piercing, see my ring road?

- Is it just me or is Greenland trying to hard? (to which I responded and they tweeted back)

The feed, as I found through my Google-sleuthing, was made by TakkTakk the genius firm behind all of Iceland’s social efforts.  Looking at their stuff gives me total social envy – @HispterIceland is only the latest evolution to their incredibly well organized, consistent and open-to-change integrated social media campaign called “Iceland Wants to Be Your Friend,” where the idea is the country itself is just discovering the “inter-nets,” and how to communicate with humans.  Its’ endearing, funny and engaging.

Iceland had a Brand Character Before you Ever heard of The Old Spice Guy

Back in 2009, at the request of Promote Iceland, TakkTakk  decided to take a risk and give Iceland a real personality in their social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Vimeo, Flickr, Foursquare).  They didn’t worry about if not all their stakeholders weren’t cool with Iceland having a quirky, edgy voice and clunky style, occasionally misspelling stuff.  Earlier, I suggested they leverage the adorable, dancing, British girl – but they didn’t need to, they’ve already got a perfect “Brand Character,” this staccato voice that permeates all channels of “Iceland wants to be your friend.”

Super Hip Takeaways

Two lessons: (1) its neither possible nor desirable to please everyone – but going for something unique and memorable is.  This way, those who connect with Iceland’s brand are really going to connect. (2) Leaving room for growth is key – HipsterIceland is a recent addition to the family of social channels, but since Iceland is well known for hip bands, cool wool sweaters and ice bars – they decided to leverage the top of mind associations.

Its probably super hipster to be writing a blog about this; but to be safe, I’m wearing skinny jeans and listening to bands you’ve never heard of as I write this.  Maybe now @hisptericeland will follow me back, (it’s @getnat, boys).

So, what can the tourism world learn from this campaign?  The first is the power of a brand character or mascot.  These have been used successfully in marketing for a long time (think: Pillsbury Dough Boy, the Most Interesting Man in the World, etc). What I like about them is their staying power and the ability to re-invent.  But we don’t see them a lot in tourism.

Ocean City for a while had a hot life guard called Rodney who would rescue people from boredom.  Switzerland currently has Sebi and Paul, but they don’t even talk.   It’s perhaps risky for a tourism board (a government body) to select something so subjective to represent a whole country.  And real people, unlike cartoony Mr. Clean or the Michelin Man, get old and maybe become something other than actors.  But I still think, destinations could try them out for a while.  Here are some suggestions for unbiased people I’d love to see represent the following countries.

• Iceland could use that cute Dancing British Girl Who LOVES Iceland (pictured below)
• Argentina: Soccer is a big deal in Diego Maradona’s homeland, and its something that transcends the provinces.  The Voice from the Stadium from the Nike Commercial could be a fun tourism mascot.
• Namibia: Their impressive conservation work is their most powerful competitive advantage – a voice of conservation would appeal to most travelers and Namibians.
• Canada: David Suzuki (he’ll show you how to travel sustainably!)
• Connecticut: Should obviously use homegrown talent Dancing Matt!

Any other ideas?

Part 2: Interaction in Social Media – Coming up Next

Tourism Toronto has launched a website that features a type of Augmented Reality of the whole city.  The site pulls information from social networks like Twitter, Foursquare, and blogs to show whats “trending.”  That trending information is plotted on a map of Toronto.  There are two views: (1) “Video View,” (above)  which shows a live feed from web cams of popular places, and (2) “Map view” (below), which shows Toronto through the lens of Google Earth.    You can pull up quick info on Eating, Drinking, Sport Events, Art Events, and Shopping.

I really believe that for a online tourism campaign to be successful, especially in a city, it is critical to get the residents involved and excited.  Local enthusiasts convey a contagious sense of pride in their place, which inspires visitors – who tourism boards are trying to reach in the first place.  Visitors are looking for hot and current information, especially “insider tips,” however, they have no reason to contribute or stay involved with a tourism site after their vacation is over.  So these types of initiatives rely on the UGC of residents to stay current. But they still have to get that content.

Trending Toronto is especially smart because it tackles the issue of content generation by using platforms that people are already on, such as Foursquare and Twitter. They created a hastag, #torontotrending for Twitter and are also pulling form the feeds of  well known Toronto blogs and personalities.

It will be interesting to see if this has staying power – but if Toronto residents continue to update their location and opinions via Twitter and Foursquare, the site will be fed with content and become a great place for visitors to get a real feel for it.

I suppose tourists will mostly use the site to plan their trip.  Unless they are able to use their mobile phones in Canada without getting charged exorbitantly high roaming charges. Tourism Toronto might be able to make this more useful for international tourists (who are less likely to use their cell phones on a 3G network) by creating wi-fi hotspots around the city, say at the places where they have the Video Views, like Dundas Square and Union Station.  They could create more engagement by requiring a check-in in order to access to sites beyond Trending Toronto.

In any case, nice work, Toronto. Its a great way for tourists to see the city through local’s eyes.

Although I’d protest the “eco” label (at a cost of $10,000 a day to the country, yet producing zero energy, its hardly sustainable), I think it would be a cool place to visit.  They are hoping that revenues from tourism (50 cents entrance fee) will help cover the idle plants operational costs (its unclear what costs they have, since, it’s um, not operating).

While the company who owns the plant hopes to show the world that the plant is safe to revive, Greenpeace is also supporting the tours but for a totally different reason.  They see it as “as a momument to remind people of the inherent dangers of nuclear power.”

The Greenpeace campaigner who commented for the article says he thinks it will be a hit, because “How many people can upload a photo on Facebook of themselves taken from the middle of a control room of a nuclear power plant?”

I have to say, on this – I agree with Greenpeace. The appeal of sharing a trip to a nuclear power plant is high.  It’s a totally unique experience, with an interesting history. But, the eco-label has got to go.

That’s what Croatia did as an attempt to attract adventure tourists.  From April to June, four guys traced the word “welcome” over 2,500 km of Croatia (using only non-motorized transportation such as kayaks, bikes and their own feet, they crossed over 8 national parks! 11 mountain tops! Six rivers!) By tracking their course by GPS the whole way, the word “Welcome,” appears on Google Earth.

The team used two channels to promote the journey : Facebook (+8k likes) and their own site: www.welcome.hr, with a photo gallery and day by day blog.  An impressive list of partners from T-mobile an ORYX rent a Car (a funny partner for a non-motorized journey) supported the trip.

The journey has now ended.  I only learnt about this campaign because it appeared in a “Google Alert,” that I have set up on “Adventure Tourism,” – otherwise, it did not appear in any of my social feeds or on any of the blogs I read.

It’s a novel way to use Google Earth.  And in fact, I think tourism destinations should take advantage of Google Maps and Google Earth way more than they currently do – because it is somewhere people turn to almost immediately when planning a trip.

But their micro-site is difficult to navigate and I’m not certain their PR push was strong enough to have reached relevant markets outside of Croatia or those already interested in Croatia.

As seems to be the case with online campaigns (except for those done in Australia), this is a cool initiative, but one that probably hasn’t raised the profile of Croatia in a way that made the investment worth it, nor will it greatly increase arrivals to Croatia.

Check out this sophisticated and clever video from MySwitzerland.

The backstory: MySwitzerland released TV commercials and online videos featuring dairy farmers Sebi & Paul as they explored an unnamed big Swiss City. The two simple farmers indulged in fancy food, visited shiny malls and partied at a modern disco.  An attempt to show potential tourists that, besides picturesque mountains, Switzerland also has “Everything for the perfect city break.”

Sebi & Paul became a hit and the tourism board decided to build on their popularity for another campaign, “Holidays Without Internet.”  This campaign is a competition with a clever video and innovative use of Facebook connect. The prize is a holiday in the Swiss mountains with ten Facebook friends, and the winner will be drawn at random after the contest closes on July 8th, 2011.

The new video shows Sebi and Paul chatting over Facebook. The Facebook chat box appears in the bottom of your screen.  At some point during their conversation, they ask to connect with you (the viewer), once you hit “Connect”, your profile shows up on their computer screen.

Sebi asks to "Connect" with the viewer

They discuss your profile a bit (how many friends you have, latest status update) and then after they balk at the amount of time you spend on Facebook (how do they know that stat?!) they say, “She looks like she needs a holiday without Internet.” And you are entered into the contest.

Photos from my FB profile on Sebi's Screen

A few comments:

- Innovative use of Facebook Connect (can’t imagine how much it cost to develop):  But it is a bit invasive.   A friend of mine who has one of those top secret closed profiles, where no one can see pictures that are tagged of her tried it, and Sebi and Paul could see her hidden pictures. The same friend did not appreciate Sebi’s snide comment, “Look, she’s not in a relationship.”  I don’t mind them accessing my profile, but I can see how it might be a bit much for some people.  It might even have been too much for Facebook, who removed the application in late May, which only created a bigger PR buzz.  They re-installed it after three days.

- Smart target marketing: as you see in the video, despite the fact they are sitting across the table from each other, Sebi and Paul are chatting on Facebook, showing how even our offline interaction has gone online.  This should appeal to tired, stressed out Blackberry junkies who desire disconnected time, yet are constantly online.   Presumably, this is also a rich segment with lots of money to spend in Switzerland.

Recently, AFAR magazine sent one of the trio, Jorma, to Kenya, as part of their “Spin the Globe” series, where a famous person spins the globe and travels to whatever country they land on.

The result is a short article by Jorma and a music video of him with a Kenyan rapper, Rabbit. Having been to Kenya, I’d say the images in the video are an accurate representation of Kenya – and there is a notable absence of your typical tourism shots: luxury safari camps, Masai warriors, Lamu beaches etc.

Because of that, I’m curious to know if people who haven’t been to Kenya find the images of dusty, crowded streets and chaotic traffic appealing?  Do descriptions of authentic experiences such as:

The (Carnivore restaurant) is extremely popular with wazungu, as we white people are called here, so much so that soldiers with machine guns scan every car for explosives, apparently fearful that Al Qaeda might blow the place up. Besides the threat of death, it’s charming—like a Kenyan version of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

…make Kenya sound like a worthwhile destination?

Ultimately, I think its cool that AFAR/Jorma decided to highlight the vibrant local music scene, and portray Nairobi as it is – not super safe, and occasionally with contrived tourism experiences, such as the Carnivore Restaurant. But that is certainly not all the country has to offer.

Unfortunately, I think the safety issue, combined with the fact that in his article, Jorma refers to being ripped off and lonely a lot, will not encourage someone who hasn’t been to Kenya to take a vacation there.  Which is a lost opportunity, because nearly half a million people, presumably fans of Lonely Island, rather than fans of Kenya, have watched the YouTube video, and it might have been a chance to encourage them to visit.

Hopefully, Rabbit at least sold some CDs.

Clearly, Facebook has people’s attention. Consider this:

• According to Alex Trimp, 1 in every 13 people in the world is on Facebook;
• 71.2% of the U.S. web audience is on Facebook;
• 30% of Facebook is older than 35;
• In the U.S., Facebook drives more traffic to websites than Google.

People of all ages and all nationalities are spending more and more time on Facebook and less time on other sites ( the New York times recently commented on the death of blogging). Marketers from all sectors have noticed this and are seeking to engage with their consumers in places where they are already active on a daily basis – such as Facebook. Major product brands are becoming increasinglycreative and innovative in developing their Facebook pages – creating new applications, competitions and functionalities to engage their “fans.”

However imperative, this task is a bit more complicated for tourism destinations because the clients they need to attract – potential visitors – historically only remain engaged as long as their trip planning phase. Once they’ve taken their trip – they have no reason to spend time on a destinations Facebook page.

One way that tourism destinations are learning to cope with this is to to first engage with their residents. They do this by appealing to a sense of local pride and desire to share. Residents will always be interested in relevant, timely news on their place, and their knowledge can be leveraged to offer authentic interaction to potential visitors. Facebook users, like adventure tourists want to feel like they are discovering something new and authentic.

There seem to be a few key success factors for branded Facebook pages. One needs to immediately create a clear and engaging front page that gives users a reason to “like,” the brand. The most exciting Facebook pages are those that have developed custom functionalities and finally marketers need to work to engage users, by asking, surveying, quizzing etc. But these checkboxes are insufficient for tourism destinations – whose target market is unlikely to stay engaged for a sustained period.

We propose 3 key rules for adventure tourism destination Facebook pages:

1. Engage Residents first, and promote interaction between residents and potential visitors

Sydney, Australia is run by Tourism New South Wales, but engages mainly with residents by asking questions such as “How was your weekend, Syndeysiders?” or “What’s the best suburb in Sydney?”

They regularly get over 200 people liking posts and 50 people commenting. The custom tab “Sydnicity,” is more directed to tourists. This tab explains the different facets of Sydney (Adventure, Culture, Icons etc.) and provides information clearly directed to prospective tourists.

I Love New York – one of the oldest tourism brands (unchanged since 1977) has a strong Facebook presence with two custom tabs. The first encourages users to join “Team I love NY,” by liking the destination page. Members of the team create and provide information useful to the “I Love NY” community. The second tab allows users to take a quiz about New York – successful quiz takers have the opportunity to win a prize.

Pure Michigan, one of the first destinations to pay a consulting firm to create a Facebook strategy, has an excellent landing page, which is clear and engaging. Pure Michigan has nearly 200,000 fans, more than NY and Vegas. George Zimmerman, Vice-President of Travel Michigan, has noted that their Facebook strategy has made a difference in their marketing success “As summer travel takes wind, our fans are sharing their favorite vacation spots and experiences, which we believe helps influence interest and travel decision making in Michigan’s favor.” Survey results showed that nearly three quarters of the Pure Michigan Facebook fans learned about places and activities in Michigan they did not know about. In addition, a third of those fans were inspired to travel to or within Michigan after reading the posts.

2. Provide exclusive offers to Facebook users (competitions’, opportunities for recognition, discounts.)

Love UK is a page for people “living here, visiting here, wanna visit here, leaving here (don’t go!) or none of the above.” Nevertheless, it is run by the national tourism agency, Visit Britain . The page currently opens with a competition called “Unite the Invite.” They are giving away half a trip to Britain – each person who enters receives the profile picture of another entrant, and through Facebook they have to track down their partner. The first pair to do this successfully wins the trip.

Visit Colorado’s Facebook page is tantamount to a destination site but offers “hot deals,” and special offers from partners such as Orbitz and South West.

3. Know why people want to visit your place, and create custom tabs to facilitate their finding the information they are seeking:

Typically, Facebook pages are in only one language – but MySwitzerlandposts in four. Their general approach is simple and focused: their custom Tab “Snow Report,” addresses the question that most tourists to Switzerland want to know about: snow!

Vegas immediately offers users the opportunity to plan their trip – perhaps capitalizing on the high number of people who plan Vegas on a whim. They also communicate their brand effectively with strong images and easy messaging: “Vegas Moves Fast, Stay in the Know.”

You’ll notice that all these sites are linked to rich media, through Flickr and YouTube, and while most provide easy links to the destination homepage – users are able to get most information without ever leaving Facebook.

Do you know of any tourism destinations using Facebook in an innovative way? Leave a comment and let us know.