These quick tips are designed to help you get through these hard times. If you have any tips that you want to share, send them to marketing@tourismtiger.com(opens in a new tab)
Two studies(opens in a new tab) were released last Thursday that examine peoples’ sentiments towards travel in the coming six months. One was conducted by MMGY Travel Intelligence for the U.S. Travel Association. This study focused on the US market. The second was by Phocuswright of travelers in the U.S., surveying travelers from the U.K., France, and Germany. All around, the survey results are encouraging.
According to the Phocuswright study, 61% of travelers who have had to cancel or postpone trips are hoping to reschedule in the next six months. Also, 41% of travelers under the age of 34 indicated that they plan to take advantage of COVID-19-related discounts. These numbers show that people still have the desire and drive to travel. People will be paying attention to the number of cases in their homes as well as their destinations as well as government restrictions. But, despite the hassles, people want to get back out there.
Finally, 64% of people who had to cancel or postpone travel plans indicated that they were satisfied with how this was handled by the travel company. This, they noted, was especially impressive in these difficult times. This is a number that all members of the tourism industry should feel proud of!
Soon it will be the job of all members of the tourism sector to work on building trust in the safety of travel. You are no longer marketing your individual company or location but tourism in general. Building faith in the industry and its ability to operate and keep people safe. People want to take the vacations they had planned, people want to travel. Perhaps they won’t go as far as they had thought to but they still want to go. It is important that they feel safe. No one wants to risk getting sick or getting stuck somewhere without the option to return home. It’s the tourism industry’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen. More importantly, it’s the tourism industry’s job to make people feel confident that that won’t happen.
Right now your job is to market travel, not your business. People can’t make decisions about who to travel with until they make the decision to travel. Share stories about tourism returning. Post images that show tourists getting back out of their homes. Of course, you should include photos from your tours to convince people to go to you when they go back out. Just don’t make it the only thing that you post. People will remember that you made them feel safe.
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