Posts by: Mark Frary

Mark Frary

Mark Frary is co-founder of Travel Perspective, a social and digital consultancy working with travel companies and tourism organisations to create successful marketing campaigns He is an author and writer specialising in travel, social media and technology. He writes regularly for The Times and has written for many other publications including the Evening Standard, the Independent on Sunday, the Daily Express, Food & Travel, ABTA magazine, the easyJet magazine and Teletext. Mark also gives expert advice to leisure and business travel companies on their social media and communications strategies and is the co-founder of Social Travel Market, an annual conference on the use of social media in travel at World Travel Market. He is the author of seven books including The Origins of the Universe for Dummies and is currently working on a biography of the ski pioneer Erna Low. Mark lives in Ampthill in Bedfordshire, UK with his wife and three children. www.travelperspective.co.uk

September 26, 2022September 26, 2022

Is the era of low-cost air travel over?

Aviation, Blog, Economy, Resilience and Recovery, Travel Industry, Trends, WTM Team

Anyone trying to book flights this summer will know that securing seats to popular destinations has been both difficult and expensive. With so many pressures on airline costs, does this ... Read more

September 7, 2022September 7, 2022

Japan reopens its borders…slowly

Blog, Resilience, Resilience and Recovery, Travel Industry, WTM Team

By Mark Frary, Co-Founder, Travel Perspective There are a lot of countries around the world where the Covid pandemic has largely been forgotten with life returning to (almost) normal. However, ... Read more

April 9, 2021April 9, 2021

The future of events is going to be hybrid

Blog, Events, Travel Industry

Many events that were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID, or happened only virtually, are now taking steps back to normality by offering a combination of in-person and virtual experiences.

March 12, 2021March 11, 2021

Tickets, money, passport, vaccine passport

Blog, Travel Industry

After the past year, many in Britain are fed up with three part phrases like “hands, face, space” so it is perhaps inevitable that old holiday mantra of “ticket, money, ... Read more

October 21, 2020October 21, 2020

The destinations spending money on marketing campaigns now

Blog, marketing

It is easy to assume that marketing spend now is wasted money. Many countries still have not opened their borders and, at the end of September, airline body IATA predicted ... Read more

September 22, 2020September 22, 2020

Gen Z can save the travel industry…if we learn what drives them

Blog, marketing

One survey found that 79% of travel decisions are influenced by Gen Z – the travel and tourism industry should ignore that statistic at its peril.

August 26, 2020August 25, 2020

What can we learn from Sicily as they invest in tourism?

Blog, Destinations, Travel Industry

COVID has been a ‘total disaster’ for tourism to Sicily, as it has been for many destinations. But now the Italian region is investing millions of euro to incentivise international ... Read more

July 27, 2020August 19, 2020

Will video be vital in getting people to trust in the cleanliness and hygiene provisions for booking a holiday?

Blog, Hospitality, Resilience and Recovery

A growing number of travel and tourism companies are turning to video to get their safety and hygiene messages across.

June 17, 2020August 17, 2020

What’s in the future for tour operators?

Blog, Travel Industry

Travel has gone from a position where it represented more than 10% of global GDP, employing or supporting more than 300 million people, to a virtual standstill with only limited ... Read more

March 21, 2019May 13, 2019

Will Instagram let us shop for travel?

Social Media

Instagram has taken another step forward in becoming a key marketplace for people to buy things. This week the company announcemenced the rollout of something called Instagram Checkout, which will ... Read more

March 7, 2019May 13, 2019

The rise of the influencer in residence

Social Media

“What is work, Mummy?” “Oh it was just something we used to do before AI and robots started doing everything for us, darling.” “And what did you do?” “Oh I ... Read more

February 8, 2019February 8, 2019

Facebook messaging integration: is dark social going to get brighter?

Social Media

Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are a shady place. Lots of stuff gets shared around in these private places. That’s kind of annoying if you work in ... Read more

January 10, 2019May 13, 2019

What’s hot in travel for 2019, according to everybody

Social Media

As a travel writer, I can tell the time of year just by looking at my email inbox. At Easter, the subject lines are usually filled with puns along the ... Read more

December 14, 2018December 14, 2018

Is YouTube’s hugely disliked Rewind 2018 round-up the most expensive tourism ad ever?

Social Media

In six days, a video has raced up YouTube’s trending charts thanks to, at the time of writing, some 113 million views. It is not the latest Bieber or BTS ... Read more

June 29, 2018August 18, 2020

Are we getting tired of social media?

Blog, marketing, Social Media

The scandal around the use of data harvested on Facebook has caused many people to reassess their use of the social networking site and saw the rise of the #DeleteFacebook ... Read more

September 7, 2017August 18, 2020

The rise of influencer marketing and why bloggers need to rebrand

Blog, marketing, Social Media

Brands are increasingly looking to use influencers, such as Instagram stars and bloggers, in their marketing but the chasm between what brands and their PR companies expect to pay for ... Read more

February 22, 2016January 23, 2017

Five ways to save time on social media

Social Media

One of the most annoying quirks of Instagram is finally being addressed, bringing an end to a nightmare suffered by social media managers who have to look after multiple accounts. ... Read more

December 9, 2015June 2, 2020

Jump into the stream: Facebook trials live video

Social Media

I can’t emphasise this enough – if you are not using video yet, you had better start soon. Video’s rise has been stratospheric this year. In its third quarter results ... Read more

July 27, 2015January 23, 2017

Google’s direct hotel booking strategy: keeping it all in the family

Technology

The internet has almost come full circle. It seems like a strange concept now but back when America Online ruled the internet superhighway (as it was inevitably called), it offer ... Read more

March 23, 2015January 23, 2017

Does #OreoEclipse mean we are hashtagged out?

Social Media

They were first spotted in 2007. They were given the official thumbs-up in 2009. Now they are everywhere. You cannot escape. By they, I mean hashtags. I was watching television ... Read more

March 4, 2015April 21, 2022

10 things at 10: YouTube celebrates its first decade

Technology

YouTube has just celebrated the big one-oh and look how far it has come in those intervening years. Here are our ten thoughts for brands on the video network as ... Read more

January 19, 2015May 2, 2022

Google Translate, a Babel Fish in your pocket

Technology

The future is here at last and science fiction aficionados will rejoice in the latest news to come out of Mountain View. The news from Google headquarters is that it ... Read more

December 3, 2014January 23, 2017

Get earned or get burned: the Oreo vlogger ruling

Social Media

A ruling by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority last week threatens to remove a key plank from the content marketing strategies of travel companies. The ruling rapped Mondelez, the parent company of ... Read more