Living in Southern Africa for 12 years, Thomas has 20 years of experience in the Hospitality and Tourism sector while working for brands like TUI and Thomas Cook in 8 countries and cultures. His focus on digital marketing and distribution, the turnaround of Hospitality and Tourism businesses, and the opening of Hotels has made him a Digital Native Hospitality and Tourism professional. Before that, he started his career with the largest commercial company, METRO, in Europe and IBM, where he evolved his career in IT, software development, and systems integration. It is this combined commercial, IT, Digital, and Hospitality and Tourism experience that created the holistic approach of Rainmaker Digital.

Destination on the Left is joined by Thomas Mueller, the founder and CEO of Rainmaker Digital. Rainmaker is a social enterprise with a clear target to keep more tourism spend in destinations through the democratization of technology. On our podcast, Thomas joins us to talk about how his company is helping clients keep more of the tourism spend in their destinations by disrupting the digital value chain. He shares his take on why Coronavirus is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime, and he also talks about sustainable tourism from an economic perspective.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

• Thomas’ journey into the travel and tourism industry
• Why there were such profound skills gaps in small and mid-sized hospitality businesses during the digital transformation of travel and tourism
• Thomas Mueller’s 5 Stages of Success, and how destinations are using it to transform their travel ecosystems in South Africa
• How Rainmaker is eliminating the complexities of the digital revolution in hospitality
• Why Coronavirus is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime in travel and tourism
• How the role of DNCs will change as a result of COVID
• How Thomas has seen creativity used throughout the pandemic
• Why economic sustainability is as critical as environmental and social sustainability in the travel and tourism industry

Rainmaker Digital

Thomas Mueller is the founder and CEO of Rainmaker Digital, a social enterprise with a clear target to keep more tourism spend in destinations through the democratization of technology. This technology enables destinations and their hospitality and tourism businesses to take back control of their visibility, digital presence, reputation, communication, and distribution. On our podcast, Thomas joins us to talk about how his company is helping clients keep more of the tourism spend in their destinations by disrupting the digital value chain. He shares his take on why Coronavirus is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime, and he also talks about sustainable tourism from an economic perspective.

Adapting to the Digital Market

Thomas brings so many different viewpoints to the table because he has worked with teams in almost every corner of the travel and tourism industry. He experienced the digital transformation in real-time, and he helped businesses thrive by staying in front of the rapid changes. But during this process, he discovered massive skills gaps in small and medium-sized businesses who were struggling to adapt to the digital market. All of the various roles were siloed and cut-off from the core business, so they failed to communicate with each other and couldn’t deliver what the customer wanted. Thomas used the 5-Stages of Success to guide these teams to a more holistic approach to destination marketing.

A Holistic Managed Service

The five stages are streaming, planning, booking, experiencing, and sharing, and Thomas Mueller made it available as a holistic managed service. All of the stages became integrated and interdependent on one another, which allowed them to perform at a much higher level. Then, because it is a managed service, hospitality businesses can easily overcome the skills gaps. With the responsibility in Rainmaker’s hands, the clients can focus on what they do best; making customers happy. Rainmaker makes sure there are customers coming through the doors without any complexity or technical challenges.

• Website: www.rainmaker.travel
• LinkedIn:
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/thmnam/
  • https://www.linkedin.com/company/rainmakerdigital/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rainmakerafrica
• Twitter: @RainmakerAfrika

Keep More Tourism Spend in Destinations for Sustainable Tourism Development | getenabled@rainmaker.travel

Episode Transcript

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