During the COVID-19 pandemic, many travel companies tanked and went under. Now, as country borders are opening back up, the travel industry is on the rise with market size growing 41% in 2022 and an expected value of $2.29 trillion in 2023.
For tour directors, online travel agencies, and travel agency directors, this new wave of travel is a chance to put the company back on its feet after the pandemic and ride the wave to success. But how exactly can you attract travellers and increase sales in the modern travel economy? To answer that question, we’ve assembled five useful tips and tricks for you to improve the sales of your travel arrangements.
- Offer Unique Experiences
Even before the pandemic, it was well-known that travellers weren’t satisfied with standard tourist-y vacations anymore with fancy hotels and catered meals. Instead, customer sentiment shifted towards the “experience economy,” where they preferred to pay for unique, memorable, immersive, and authentic experiences. This sentiment grew even stronger over the pandemic, as people were stuck in the same lifestyle and society.
When developing your travel packages and arrangements, then, it’s important to research and cater directly to the unique experiences that your target audience wants. Rather than offering them luxury comfort, research cultural differences and special features of each destination, and offer travel packages that highlight those experiences.
In other words, your travel package should encourage vacationers to live like a local. For example, rather than chartering a tour bus to tourist destinations around town, instead offer a local walking tour or make local public transportation an experience on your itinerary.
- Focus on Low Costs
In a May survey by Deloitte, Americans who weren’t planning to travel listed personal affordability as the top reason for not travelling, with second place being the sentiment that travel in general is too expensive.
In other words, to change consumers’ minds and capture their vacation sale, travel agencies should focus on reducing the overall cost of their travel packages, such as by choosing less expensive hotels, utilizing public transportation or ground travel, and reducing overhead costs in the business itself. Once you’ve lowered your travel prices, all that’s left to do is advertise and promote your affordable rates to tell the whole world and draw in more customers.
- Advertise Online
In the old days, travel agencies either went door-to-door or set up a physical storefront and waited for walk-ins. Now, with digital native Gen Zers dominating the travel industry, it becomes crucial for travel agencies to invest more into digital marketing to attract customers. To do so, we’d recommend video-based ads showing off destinations and leveraging social media marketing to promote user-generated content of customers on their vacations.
But a common issue we see with online advertising is that ads often fail to include a call to action. Rather than simply displaying beautiful images and panoramic shots and hoping viewers will be drawn in, travel agencies should be sure to ask for the sale by explicitly requesting the viewer to “Talk to an agent now!” or mentioning that “This limited-time deal ends in 5 hours!”
- Appeal to Sustainability
From online travel agency Trip’s sustainable travel consumer report, 79% of travellers said that sustainable travel was vital, and 70% demanded more sustainable travel options. That means that to increase sales, travel agencies should appeal to sustainability
However, potential customers don’t want to simply hear travel agencies toot their own horn with claims of sustainability. Instead, travellers want to see travel agencies implement sustainability in their day-to-day travel itineraries and operations, such as by reducing airline or automobile travel, supporting smaller local businesses, and cutting down on single-use plastics. Actions speak louder than words, so it’s best to put these sustainability efforts on front display when advertising to appeal to socially-conscious consumers.
- Monitor Reviews
According to the social proof principle, when in doubt on what to do, consumers will trust the opinions and actions of other people and do as they suggest. In practical terms, this means that almost all (95%) of consumers read online reviews before they shop, according to GlobeNewswire.
In other words, to turn prospective customers into done deals, travel agencies should carefully monitor reviews left by previous customers and control its reputation online. We’re not saying to delete bad reviews: consumers will quickly clock that as false representation.
Instead, publicly respond to all reviews and mentions of your company online, reaching out to dissatisfied customers to resolve the situation and working to improve the experience for the next time. With this, you’ll present a much warmer brand image, improve your customer experience, and attract customers swayed by your care.
Conclusion
After the COVID-19 pandemic, survivors and new entrants in the travel industry are poised to capture the vacation dollars of consumers eager to leave their homes. But the landscape of the market has changed. To capitalize on new opportunities to their fullest extent, your travel agency should offer unique experiences, focus on low costs, advertise online, appeal to sustainability, and monitor reviews to attract new travellers and make more sales than ever before.
