Highlighting a diverse set of tourism activities, the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, in the UAE, has launched a new promotional campaign, featuring short videos about the Emirate’s key attractions.

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), the tourism promotional body of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, has joined hands with creative agency, Beautiful Destinations, to launch a new promotional campaign that utilizes short-form video in a new landmark creative video campaign.

According to a press statement, RAKTDA’s new campaign 30 pieces of vertical short-form videos have been created in engaging cinematic style, highlighting Ras Al Khaimah’s diverse experiences, to reach travel audiences through ‘real’, snackable content, inspiring travellers as they begin their research on the social media, which is increasingly a powerful platform for the tourism industry worldwide.

“We try to stay on the cusp of the traveller journey and tap into the visceral nature of tourism. By harnessing the power of short form video with Beautiful Destinations, we effectively trigger inspiration and emotion far quicker and more impactfully than other, more traditional, marketing tools. We welcomed a record-breaking number of visitors in first six months in 2023, a 14.8 pc increase from the same time last year, so now is the perfect time to accelerate our destination marketing offering with the global trailblazers in travel content creation,” says Raki Phillips, CEO of RAKTDA.

“Ras Al Khaimah is a case study on why visual storytelling is so impactful for destination marketing. Through this partnership with RAKTDA, we succinctly captured the sheer breadth of the emirate, through stunning landscapes, nature and experiences creating the kind of content that consumers today want to see. Beautiful Destinations is thrilled to be the partner for this campaign, and I am looking forward to seeing the results of the powerful short-form content we have created together,” says Jeremy Jauncey, Founder and CEO of Beautiful Destinations.

The statement adds that short-form video is increasingly becoming the most influential form of travel media, not only for Gen Z but also older generations with as much as 40 pc of over 30s looking to TikTok first for travel inspiration. According to research, 87 pc of millennials are inspired by social media when booking travel and 97 pc post about trips daily, making it a key tool for travel research and influencing decision-making.

Short form video has more virality, with entertaining and participatory content performing the best, and, vitally, delivering the highest return on investment. Due to this seismic shift in how consumers are conducting research online, some of the world’s biggest brands, including Google, are moving to adapt to this growing trend making online search a more visual and engaging experience with vertical video platforms.

The statement adds that the new campaign is already live across RAKTDA’s leading markets across three phases with different themes, ‘Mountain Adventures’, ‘What to do in RAK’ and ‘Desert Beyond the Dunes’, with the last one to be launched in November.