It’s been a difficult year for tourism. Travelling is one of the first things private households cut in years of financial hardship. In an ironic twist, marketing is what the travel industry cuts in response.

But that isn’t even an option for small hotels who mostly depend on tourists being sent their way. Or, to be more precise, used to be dependent on that. The relationship to various middle men, i.e. travel agents, was the most important driver in small tourism, but that role is moving to the social networks fast.

However, while World of Warcraft might have a horde of community managers on standby, who’s doing the work at the small hotels? That’s what I asked Geinier Guzmán, the General Manager of La Cusinga Lodge in Costa Rica during my recent stay there.

Not every small hotel is hitting the social web with the vigour of La Cusinga. But Guzmán’s strategies probably don’t veer far from the path of economic necessity: Not enough money for a full time social media professional turns it into a trial and error process.

Of course, when engaging with the socialweb, it really helps to have something to say. Guzmán is not only the manager of his own eco lodge, he is also a local politician and an environmental activist. The news he shares with La Cusinga’s network are an engaging mix of hotel factlets and news about environmental issues and sustainable tourism in Costa Rica.

La Cusinga’s strategy of combining advertising and information seems to sit well with the social media audience. More than 2500 fans have joined their Facebook group so far. And bookings for 2010 are looking pretty good, too.

As of November 17th 2009, The Garbage Patch has become a cover story in USA Today. It doesn’t get more mainstream than this. (Nov 17th US issue, Life Section). However, since the actual story of the Garbage Patch is a rather a long-winded one, it won’t give good headline for mainstream media. What do you need instead? A celebrity. Or semi-celebritiy. Or someone with a semi-celebrity name.

Enter David de Rothschild, “whose mission is to forever chance the way the world sees… plastic.” Sadly, it isn’t until the seventh paragraph that USA Today finally shifts attention from de Rothschild’s family, residence, air travel habits, height and wealth to the problem at hand: “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a borderless swath of floating debris that sprawls across much of the Pacific.”

Inspired by Kon-Tikis minimal approach to seatravel, De Rothschild has built his Katamaran Plastiki entirely out of recycled material -- mostly used plastic bottles.  His plan: to sail through the Garbage Patch, collect samples and then sail on to Sydney. The whole project tries to generate a maximum of buzz, while using a minimum of new resources. There are even workout-bikes on the Katamaran’s pontons that will be used to generate electricity.

What interests IWT first and foremost, however, is the combination of value-adding links that contributed to the news-worthyness of De Rothschild’ ideas. As there are: The Patch, linked to an eco-activist, linked to the Rothschild fame, linked to the original Kon-Tiki adventure, linked even to Thor Heyerdahls granddaughter. Josian Heyerdahl is a “consultant” on the project and will temporarily join them on the boat.

In olden times, this would have felt like a totally over-determined story. Single-mindedness was the way to go to get though in the mass media. Not anymore. Success in the social media often demands a variety of hooks for a barely aggregated readership.

That the Garbage Patch has found its place in such a multi-linked story is a good thing. Rethinking waste as material is an idea that travels better this way. But this strategy also comes with a dangerous tempation: to put more energy into crafting the story, and less into assessing the feasibility of the actual project. The Plastiki was supposed to set sail months ago, and at this moment, it still only cuts through digital waters is a lavish 3-D animation on the website. Glimpsing at the National Geopgraphic blog that is covering the preparations, it seems that using used and fragile water bottles to withstand the grind of a 10.000 mile-long ocean traversion might be a noble idea, but not a safe one.

We wish him luck.

The actual journey will be covered on its own website, and on facebook and twitter, but also at Nickelodeon. National Geographic Adentureare is even supposed to have a fulltime blogger standing by.

BTW: It’s always a good time to follow me on Twitter :-)

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Further links:

Self-Promo Video on YouTube:

Nice article in the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/11/sailing-plastiki-david-de-rothschild