All-time record of visitors to the Turismo Rías Baixas website and strong impact on social networks
The social media used by Turismo Rías Baixas to keep people informed and to reach potential visitors have experienced a significant growth throughout 2020, despite months of lockdowns at home and mobility restrictions during most of the year. The institutional website registered a new record of visitors and the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the Rías Baixas-province of Pontevedra destination increased their visits by 13%.
Digital communication has been crucial to keep the Turismo Rías Baixas brand visible, mainly in the national market. We have focused on digital and audio-visual contents aimed at entertaining people in their homes including virtual tours, photo galleries, contests and adapting popular sections, such as birdwatching routes, to a new digital format.
Thus, we had to look for new ways to keep on promoting the natural resources, heritage and cuisine of a destination that is being increasingly popular, which is evidenced by the number of visits to our website. Thus, in spite of all restrictions, in 2020 the Turismo Rías Baixas website reached a record number of visitors, a total of 285,329, which means a growth of 33.1% compared to 2019.
The visits to the website increased by 7.8% annually and the number of recorded logins also increased, with a total of 356,289, 29.7% more than in the previous year.
One of the most successful contents was the campaign "Follow your Instincts", launched in January 2020 at the International Tourism Fair in Madrid and starring Celia Freijeiro. The campaign, which encouraged visitors to go back to the origins and get in touch with nature, was also very well received, and reached 64,086 visits in the second half of the year. Our website section Beaches was also among the most popular contents, as well as the hiking routes and, in general, any of our suggestions for outdoor activities, always in accordance with thecurrent health recommendations.
Due to COVID-19, national and local tourism and short trips were the most common among visitors. This explains why 94% of the people who visited the website of Turismo Rías Baixas in the last year were from Spain; being the largest number of visitors from Madrid, A Coruña, Valladolid and Barcelona.
The number of followers to our social networks increased by 13%
Not only the institutional website recorded an increasing number of visitors, but also our tourism social media sites. In the last two years, the Twitter account grew by 13%, with 3,183 new followers, and the impact of our posts increased by 15% in 2020. Currently, the tweets of the Rías Baixas-province of Pontevedra destination is reaching about 27,100 users.
Our Facebook account also recorded very good results las year, in spite of the major changes in our approach and the mobility restrictions due to the pandemic. Since 2018, the site has gained 2,926 followers, which means an increase of 13% in the number of visitors. However, our good results are not only quantitative. Our target audience is still growing, but the important thing is that the number of visits to the posts made on this social media has increased by 28% in the last year. This means a higher number of visits to the publications, photo galleries and information campaigns.
Data clearly shows that, in spite of how unusual 2020 was in terms of tourism, the social media accounts of Turismo Rías Baixas have managed to keep, and even increase, the audience's interest in the province of Pontevedra's tourism offer, which in the medium term could result in an increase in the number of on-site visists to the Rías Baixas destination.
