Planning a trip? If you’re a tech-savvy consumer, chances are you’ll tap into your smartphone, download apps and QR codes, watch video clips, scan Google maps and see what’s on Twitter.

New and emerging Internet technologies are changing the way we do business – and the tourism industry is no different. 

Imagine this – deep in the blizzards of winter, commuters on trains in Chicago saw ads with breathtaking outdoor images of Southern Arizona and used their smartphones to click to a video and enter to win a free trip to Tucson. That’s new technology at work.

Responding to dramatic shifts in online engagement, the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau has accelerated digital marketing efforts and introduced a variety of innovations to engage potential travelers anytime, anywhere.

Building platforms to connect, interact and influence potential travelers with a compelling message across multiple channels is paramount, according to   Allison Cooper, director of marketing at MTCVB. 

Those channels, in both owned and earned media, encompass the bureau’s main visitor website, mobile-optimized website and apps, and a number of social networking platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and You Tube accounts, as well as blogs. 

Cooper’s department has overseen the successful launch of VisitTucson.org’s mobile website (which earned its developer Madden Media a Gold Addy award), an alternate version for Spanish-speaking visitors and specific apps for both iPhone and Android users, whose combined share of the smartphone market is 78 percent. 

“Content for our mobile site is constantly evolving,” Cooper said, in order to increase customer engagement and interaction.