The travel and tour industry, as we know, is a very competitive one that is still rapidly growing, even after the global pandemic.
So, while starting a travel business is certainly a lucrative opportunity, a proper marketing strategy is crucial so you can win over your competitors.
Here, we will share some powerful tips and ideas to improve your travel marketing strategy in 2021.
- Follow The Trends
The travel and tourism industry is among the fastest-changing industries and is always heavily affected by trends.
Fortunately for travel businesses, now we have a fairly easy and accessible way to research the current trends by monitoring social media. Instagram is especially full of people sharing their travel photos, so you can browse the platform to find out about your target audience’s favorite destinations.
This means you should also use the platform to actively promote your travel business and destinations.
As more people around the world are COVID-19 vaccinated, many experts predicted that there’ll be a significant increase in travel demands in relation to how many people have saved their 2020 travel budget due to the travel restrictions. According to the U.S. Travel Association, 50% of American consumers have put away money for travel this year, which may lead to an increase in domestic and international travel.
- Incorporate Health and Safety Information
This is a reality we must face in the post-COVID world, especially in the travel industry. Potential travelers will always be wary about the health and safety information of their destinations, especially the local measures against COVID-19.
Make this information readily available for your potential travelers when promoting any trips, and keep yourself and your company up-to-date about information from your government, as well as from local government and relevant associations in the destination countries.
Also, many countries around the world are now asking for some type of “proof of vaccine” as a travel requirement. Forgery could be a widespread issue, and we should also expect a wide variation of healthcare privacy laws in different destination countries.
- Define and Understand Your Target Audience
A key consideration in travel marketing is understanding who you want to reach.
Why? Because people in different demographics travel differently. Millennials may travel the most, but targeting older age groups can be very lucrative since they tend to travel together with their family. Baby boomers, contrary to common belief, typically take the longest trip, while younger generations may prefer all-inclusive bookings as they primarily value comfort above anything else.
Different age groups may also have different travel destinations: older people tend to prefer shorter international trips or even domestic trips.
Also, if you want to target family travel, women are more likely to plan family travels, so your best bet is to target women above 35 with children.
While you can certainly aim wider and target all the different demographics, it’s best to focus on a specific target audience so you can custom-tailor your marketing efforts for this target. You can, for example, create a personalized ad targeted to young millennials to get more clicks and conversions.
- Have a Professional Website
Having a professional, well-designed, and functional website is crucial for any travel-related business: people will visit your website and may directly book their travel from it, and they will weigh whether your business is credible and/or trustworthy.
Make sure your website loads fast, is mobile-responsive and provides an overall excellent user experience. Also regularly update your website: outdated content and/or design is a major dealbreaker. Optimize your website for SEO by targeting valuable keywords and getting backlinks from travel blogs and other relevant websites.
In fact, before attempting any other marketing efforts, it’s very important to first optimize your website and ensure:
- It has optimal performance and design to ensure a positive user experience
- The website and its content is tailored for your target audience based on the demographics research above
- The website is optimized to maximize conversion, more on this on the next point.
Treat your website as your digital storefront, and it should be treated as the starting point of your whole marketing strategy.
- Optimize The Booking Process
It’s already very difficult to attract your target audience and pique their interest, so when they finally visit your website and decide to book a trip, make sure it’s as easy and streamlined as possible to book a trip right away.
It’s very important to integrate a reliable and functional booking system into your website, and you should choose a tour booking software that is specifically designed for travel and tour businesses to maximize conversions.
Your booking solutions should offer:
- Reliable online payment processing with good payment options (mainly credit card, PayPal, and debit/cash)
- Inventory database
- Real-time, seamless booking process 24/7
- No extra and hidden fees
- Tracking and booking management to eliminate no shows, double bookings, and other issues
6. Leverage Email Marketing
Even with all the newer marketing channels and tactics, email marketing remains a very effective marketing channel with one of the highest ROIs.
For a travel business, email marketing can be very effective both in attracting new travelers and retaining existing customers for repeat trips.
As discussed, travel businesses should definitely focus on Instagram as a visual social media platform where most travelers are. If you can optimize your presence on Instagram, you can effectively amplify your reach to more potential consumers.
75% of Instagram users will take action after interacting with a post from a business, so you should actively post your content
at the right time while maintaining a consistent brand image.
Also, consider investing in paid social media ads not only on Instagram but also on other social media platforms where your audience is. Partnering with travel bloggers and influencers is also effective so they can promote your business to their audience.
