Tourism business owners have not had an easy (professional) life lately. Many had to quickly learn about modern forms of marketing and rise to the heights of creativity in order to earn a stable income. What should the sale of tourist services look like in such times?
Sales of tourist services - business not only seasonal
The first thing to do to secure the sale of travel services in difficult times is to expand your customer base and extend the season. Many companies have operated according to a convenient pattern over the years. It consisted in the fact that in a particular month, the sale of holiday packages for one or two months a year began. We now know that this is a very risky approach. An airline strike at this moment or an unannounced lockdown is enough to deprive the company of all annual profit. Crisis management in a tourism enterprise these are inevitable actions as customers massively return tickets and resign from services.
How to defend against it? It is necessary to go beyond such a scheme. The first way is to extend the offer for the remaining months of the year. For example, a company that sells tourist services for schools may also organize summer camps for other groups of children this year. The second idea is to combine products and services creatively, which you can read more about below.
Atypical sale of tourist services
Chateau Marmont is the beloved hotel of Johnny Depp and Lindsay Lohan. Ordinary mortals are unlikely to stop there. Another problem arose in the pandemic. Celebrity promotional tours were canceled, so the hotel tour target group she stayed at home for months. Fortunately, the owners had invested in a hotel shop before the pandemic.
Selling tourism services in the form of goods seems absurd. Today, however, what is virtual and material is more and more permeating the social consciousness. Some people ask philosophically, did the beach meditation take place if the woman doing it did not capture it on Instagram? This is a joke, but there is a grain of truth in it. This is proved by, for example, organized ones trips to the most 'instagrammable' places. They are only intended to put the participants in the right background and enable them to create an interesting relationship on Instagram or Tik-Tok.
Similarly, it is worth investing in gadgets, souvenirs or albumswhich, in a way, replace genuine experience. For many people a candle from a luxury hotel or a bottle of wine with a video-tour of the vineyard it will be almost the same as a "living" experience. By the way, it is worth mentioning ... virtual holidays. Until now, it might have seemed ridiculous, but we've already got concerts, conferences and museum tours on-line behind us, so online holidays sound less and less abstract. For starters, you can encapsulate your travel sales into a rich online-like experience Own group on Facebook for participants or workshops on Skype for those willing.
Over time, it is possible that an increasing number of customers will prefer a virtual walk around the vineyard or on-line pottery workshops, instead of a tiring journey to a selected place. We have already written about it in the text entitled: Running a hotel - marketing as important as location?
How to get out of the catastrophe?
A very inspiring example is the ongoing, award-winning advertising campaign of Iceland. A few years ago, many tourists lost money when flights and tours were canceled due to a volcanic eruption. It seems impossible to restore a good name to a country that is associated with danger and scorched earth. The Icelandic government has joined forces with the city of Reykyavik, Icelandic airlines and dozens of other organizations. It is also worth considering in the so-called difficult times. Sometimes it makes sense to use the "hands on board" principle when selling travel services, even if it means a temporary alliance with competitors.
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As close to the client as possible
In the past, the sale of tourist services was governed by more predictable cycles. It was possible to take what kind of vacation the typical inhabitants of a certain area would like to go on and create a service that was likely to satisfy them. Today it is not that simple anymore. Something as popular as a vacation in Egypt or Greece may suddenly lose interest to customers. The reasons may be completely beyond the control of the company offering the sale of tourist services (e.g. refugee crisis, epidemic, weather).
It is worth listening constantly to customer opinions and needs, for example by conducting market research and customer satisfaction research. This helps to define the problem and find a solution. For example, in 2020, those who kept their finger on the pulse the fastest learned that customers are afraid of holidays abroad and prefer to spend time near home. In the course of such research, the clients themselves can provide ready-made proposals. They are, for example, shortening trips, extending the possibility of resignation, moving holidays to a closer place, etc.
Modern forms of marketing
As in other fields, also in the sale of tourist services - creative on-line marketing it can significantly increase customer interest in services and even induce them to buy impulsively. Note that Today, there is rarely a cold calculation behind purchasing decisions, and more often - desires and dreams. These crystallize when browsing social profiles or watching videos on YouTube. Customers pay less and less attention to traditional forms of advertising, even in social media. They are, however, interested in personal, thrilling stories.
Below are examples of hit ideas for online sales campaigns for tourist services:
- house for rent in the mountains - the story of a family that moved to the mountains, built a house on their own, and now puts all their heart into serving guests, will sell better than ordinary advertising.
- Weekend at the vineyard - instead of telling about the strains and history of the region, you can refer to cult films such as "Bezdroża" or "Bitter Wine". Recreate the same atmosphere of detachment from everyday life and confession after a few glasses of wine in promotional videos.
- Holidays in Egypt - instead of an uninspiring company website, put on the sale of tourist services through an extensive blog and video channel full of inspiration and advice. Examples of niches that can attract customers include single female travel and travel advice for large families.
- Integration trips for companies - go to the site of the facility Dwór Korona Karkonoszy, full of advice, information and inspiration for everyone who is considering organizing a company trip.
In the above examples, the sale of tourist services is done somewhat by the way. You don't have to persuade the client with clever ads or banners. Instead of this he wants to use your content himselfand then - perhaps - will book a trip or a room with you. You can find more similar ideas for selling travel services in today's difficult market on our blog and on Commplace experts.