Hello everyone,
Hmmm, well first, your question is simple on the surface but there are a great many factors involved which means an answer isn't so simple.
First, creating an online 'community' is simple but just creating it doesn't mean it will be of any use to anyone or will be successful in any way. Existing travel forums are a prime example of that. There are a lot of them but few manage to attract and maintain any real number of users. So would you consider it a success if you created a site that sees 10 people a day accessing it?
I'd say it is near impossible to think of anything to do with travel for which you cannot find a site that already exists. Creating 'just another' doesn't strike me as a worthwhile use of time and energy. For example, I am always amazed to find yet another person who has spent 6 months travelling independently in a few countries starting a blog with a title like, 'The Ultimate Backpacker Guide.'
https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHZL_enCA704CA704&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=the+ultimate+backpacker+guide
A few have managed to create something that has been successful. A prime example of that would be "The Man In Seat 61". That came from one guy's interest in rail travel and continuously posting under that handle in travel forums to give advice on train travel. Eventually, he started his own blog and is generally considered to be the 'go to' site for train travel advice.
http://www.seat61.com/
So that might provide an initial basis for choosing an 'idea or mission'. What topic do YOU know a lot about and have a lot of interest in? Is there a 'niche market' where you could provide real value and most importantly, that does not ALREADY exist. There would be no point in anyone starting a new rail travel site when it already exists for example.
There is a saying in sales & marketing which says, 'first in, stays in.' No matter how good a rail travel site someone else started, at this point in time, attracting any real percentage of use given the dominance of seat61.com, would be very difficult to do.
Even assuming you can come up with a new niche topic that hasn't already got 100 others covering it, the niche has to be big enough to attract enough users if you want it to be successful in any conventional sense. If the idea is to provide a site that then generates advertising income for you (which is the point of most sites), there's no point in picking a niche only 10 people a day will access.
I spend a lot of time on travel sites and can't think of one topic or idea that hasn't already been covered multiple times. Sometimes successfully as per the above example and far more often unsuccessfully even after multiple attempts.
OldPro, I greatly appreciate your thorough reply!
I actually didn't expect someone to reply to it considering that this is my first time when I post something
in a community forum. You contribution means a lot to me!
I would be extremely thankful if you could give a short feedback on following community idea:
The idea is to create and foster an online community where travelers/tourists will be introduced
to authentic experiences of destinations around the world. By "authentic experiences" I mean
activities, events, special places with value to tourists, hidden secret sports and trails, food and
other local things that make a destination worth visiting and experiencing.
By analogy, Airnbnb created a community of property hosts and introduced them to a huge community of travelers who
are looking to authentic local experiences. Members of Airnbnb include only hosts of properties and exclude all other
tourism enthusiasts and local enthusiasts that can offer authentic experiences to tourists.
By tourism enthusiasts I mean: local photographers, local travel enthusiasts that know authentic spots and trails,
local culture and food enthusiasts and other tourism stakeholders that can offer unique local experiences.
Basically it will be "like Airnbnb" for local enthusiasts that are providing unique and authentic experiences to tourists.
This community will create value the same way as Airnbnb does it. Local enthusiasts will gain authority and reviews and then
will be able to sell those authentic local experiences.
Community mission "Introduce each tourist to local enthusiasts that provide unique travel experiences"
I hope I conveyed the vision and mission clear enough to see how it will be different from Airnbn and in the same tame with huge market opportunity.
What are your thoughts on this idea?
You would be the first person that validate or invalidate my idea! Thanks again for your contribution!
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