The Instagram platform is not just a place to post photos and show your daily lifestyle. This application has made the lives of more than 9 million people in Iran dependent on it; Those who use it to advertise their business. Activists and enthusiasts in the field of travel and tourism are one of the most important customers of this platform, and we can see its example in ecotourism accommodations.
According to the report of jahane-gardesh, quoting from the economy world, the owners of these residences in different regions of Iran have tried to convince travelers who intend to travel to these regions to choose them for their stay by setting up a page and introducing their business. The advantage of Instagram compared to options such as the site and… is that accommodation owners do not need to pay an annual fee for it. They can easily post with their mobile phones and their customers often use this platform to find accommodation. In the few weeks that Instagram has been filtered, these accommodations have also faced a serious challenge in terms of attracting tourists. An example of this is the manager of a residence near Rasht and Saravan, who told “Economic World”: Instagram filtering has definitely affected our activity and we don’t know how to survive if it continues. Pointing out that until a few weeks ago, they used to regularly advertise through this platform, he says: Filtering has made our work difficult.
Before that, we used to do our work with WhatsApp and Instagram, but now we don’t have the possibility to use any of them. This tourism activist adds about what percentage of their bookings were through Instagram: At least 90% of our bookings were done this way, and this issue has seriously threatened our business. The owner of another residence in the vicinity of Rasht told “Economist World” about the percentage of reservations with Instagram to 70-80% and said: Currently, although we have requests for our residence, their number has decreased drastically, while we are in We are in the hot season of traveling to this region. The sluggish situation of tourism business due to Instagram filtering is not limited only to the north. In Hormozgan province and Hajiabad city, the situation is the same and even worse.
The manager of a residence in this area tells “Economian World“: almost 100% of our accommodation bookings and the sale of our products are related to Instagram, which we have faced a serious crisis due to its filtering. Among the products sold through this platform, he mentioned dates and its products, such as date juice, etc. and said: Our residence has a capacity of 40 people and we could attract many customers with Instagram. Currently, only those who have had the experience of staying in Hajiabad before and intend to travel to Hajiabad again contact us. Unfortunately, this issue has limited our customers and tourists to these people in recent weeks. The situation is the same in Khavaf, one of the easternmost regions of Iran. In this regard, the owner of a residence told “Duniya Ekhtsot“: Since we didn’t have a website, we used to make our reservations through Instagram.
As in the case of Haji Abad accommodation, the only travelers he has had these days are limited to people who had already introduced this accommodation to others because of the desire to travel or with their travel experience. The owner of this residence adds: 80% of the capacity of our residence was filled with Instagram, which unfortunately we have lost this possibility in recent weeks. The statements of these activists in the field of ecotourism are at a time when many economists and experts have warned about the risk of businesses based on platforms like Instagram in recent days. We have seen an example of it in the post company, which has reported a decrease of one third of its income. When the postal company suffers such a huge loss with a long and wide machine, ecotourism businesses that are classified as micro businesses will suffer more. In their statements, the tourism trustees mentioned cheap travel and the development of domestic tourism as their two goals.
The boom of ecotourism could and can fulfill these two priorities. Tourists who can’t afford a hotel or want to have more contact with the local community choose ecotourism. In addition, since ecotourism exists in all parts of the country and even the most remote villages, they allow tourists not to worry about accommodation during their trip to different parts of the country, and this issue leads to the development of domestic travel. These days, ecotourism business owners need the tourism authorities to think of a solution in this regard so that they can get through this crisis safely and continue their activities. Otherwise, we will face a wave of dissatisfaction among this group due to the loss of minimal income in this inflationary situation.
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