Are you reading your market? | Travel Research Online

Image
Image

Are you reading your market?

We all know that the publicity surrounding the recent attacks throughout Europe and the Middle East are spooking travelers who are either cancelling their planned holidays and/or putting vacation plans on hold.

Cruise lines, hotels, tour operators, and others combat this with new pricing deals and incentives in hopes of luring travelers back to their destinations. That’s always good for us travel agents. But the smarter travel agents do something more. They re-direct their marketing efforts.

Now I am not saying you should ignore European destinations, however, you need to do what the markets demand.

Dig into the regions of the world where tourism has not been dramatically impacted by these senseless and violent acts. I am talking about the good ole USA!

Alaskan cruises and cruise-tours, Canada, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Mexico, Central and South America, Australia and Asia.

Get yourself up to date and informed on what the latest offerings to these destinations are.

Now start your late summer into fall marketing campaigns. Direct Mail… E-Mail… Live Seminars. They all work and do produce results.

Markets generally have a way of correcting themselves. Europe will come back; and it may be stronger than ever with pent-up demand for those who postponed their dream vacations.

Good travel agents should also be good business operators. You don’t push the sale of sweaters in the summer or bathing suits in the winter. You must always be reading the markets you serve and then focus your efforts to what the markets demand.

Scott Grody is the owner of Scott Grody Travel and an industry veteran with over 50 years in the travel business and expertise in the Leisure, Group, and Corporate Travel Management arenas.

 

Share your thoughts on “Are you reading your market?”

You must be a registered user and be logged in to post a comment.