Tourism is probably the most important industry in Spain. So naturally there are many brilliant Spanish bloggers. And … many innovative projects. One is the Tarjeta Bloggers, a special promotion card for bloggers, which was launched by the hotel group Magic Costa Blanca in spring. I first read about the card on Albert Barra’s excellent Spanish blog (he also blogs in English here.) The card gives bloggers a 20 percent discount in the low season, plus some extra goodies and special treatment (don’t we all love that).

I had been meaning to write about the card and have finally contacted David Vicent Gandía, marketing analyst at the Magic Costa Blanca. Here is my translation of his Spanish e-mail:

There are many bloggers in our company, so we started this project with quite some enthusiasm. We are happy with the buzz it has created in the blogosphere. The classic press also heard about it, publishing articles about the Card and our contribution to the Blogs & Beers project. We introduced the Card writing about it on our own blogs, contacting other bloggers and friends. It was also announced in our newsletters and on our website. We will add new Web 2.0 services to the website soon.

Since Magic Costablanca strives for innovation, we want to be the first to try out new strategies, which also applies to engaging in the social web and in online communities. The feedback we have received by our commitment has already resulted in fast improvement and adaption of newly launched services. This is partly due to the input of our fellow bloggers, many of whom are professional tourism industry bloggers.

The number of bloggers will increase. We believe that more and more consumers will become prosumers. So power is not in advertising anymore, but in personal opinions of real clients sharing their views about shared experiences. Clients have changed their behaviour. They have become very savvy, comparing offers, prices, and reading reviews of other travelers before deciding where to go on vacation.

Since there is no way to stop this trend, Magic Costa Blanca aims to "make the company strip" for radical transparency. We admit our mistakes and want to demonstrate – with real actions – what we are doing to make sure mistakes only happen once. This is not a marketing trick, but proof of our aim to improve constantly and communicate actively.

As a company we adher to strict quality guidelines and continuous improvement is one central element of the "learning organisation". This approach is not yet common in Spanish Tourism. But our goal is to work on ever improving services in order to create "magic" and thus living up to our brand name.

That said, a project like the Tarjeta Bloggers is a connection between our image and the Internet and at the same time a starting point for the booming sphere of travel 2.0 or tourism 2.0. We believe, that by 2011 90% of reservations will be placed online. 70% of these will be influenced by costumer reviews.

What is your opinion on the Tarjeta Bloggers? Would you apply for it? Would you consider such a card for your establishment?

This was my traditional weekly English post. If you liked it, please check out my recent English articles:

• The Social Web in Destination Marketing – Canada & New Zealand relaunch
• Updated T-List of Tourism & Travel Blogs
• When Travel 2.0 meets Print Advertising 1.0
• Travel 2.0 & User Generated Content in Destination Marketing – Interview with William Bakker from Tourism British Columbia
• Hotels & the Social Web – Some suggestions for Yotel
• Fake Travel Reviews are no Issue – Interview with Ian Rumgay from Tripadvisor continued
• About Hotel 2.0 & Travel 2.0 – Interview with Ian Rumgay from TripAdvisor
• Hotel 2.0 – Interview with Opus Hotel CEO Blogger Daniel Craig
• Marketing manifesto for the travel industry – Interpretation of Jeff Jarvis

More to come in my English category. Every Monday, I promise!