Tap into the Potential Offered by Travel

The travel sector has had its ups and downs but is still a very exciting sector with huge potential. Andrew Cook highlights how the industry is continually evolving as consumers aspire to experience their dreams and offers some tips on creating successful travel incentives.

Despite a few turbulent years holidays and travel are still considered to be one of the most effective and desirable incentives with consumers. In today’s society travel is the ultimate escape from our hectic and stressed lifestyles and it is highly emotive, sparking positive images and life-long memories.

Experiential tourism is growing rapidly and subsequently our expectation of holidays has changed beyond recognition. ‘Once in a lifetime’ events such as swimming with dolphins or staying in an ice hotel, have quickly become passé.

Today’s consumers want ‘Experiences’ and nothing motivates more than the chance to fulfill their lifetime dream. As a result travel promotion companies have to be ever more creative in their solutions, which is good news for the industry as the best providers are becoming more specialist.

Getting It Right

When putting a travel promotion together, be it for a brand promotion or a motivational programme there are a few essential ground rules. So here are my top 10 ‘practical pointers’:

1. Know your target market. Only when you understand your audience can you develop imaginative, tailor-made ideas that can become their own personal dream of a lifetime.
   
   For example: Young males are usually looking for the ultimate in boy’s toys, so something like exclusive use of Eddie Irvine’s boat for a days sailing off Monte Carlo or an expenses paid weekend star spotting whilst playing the casinos in Las Vegas’s famous Bellagio Hotel would fit the bill. Whereas female fans of Sex and the City are more likely to go for a shopping trip in New York, complete with a personal shopper to help find those individual boutiques before stopping off at Soho House (made famous by the TV show). Both these tap into the individual consumer dreams and aspirations but swap them around and they just wouldn’t work.
   
   
2. Ensure the travel experience reflects your brand personality and underlines core brand credentials. Experiences offer brands huge scope in which to bring to life an image. For example, portraying a luxurious brand with a trip to a 5 star resort in the Maldives or an active/sporty brand with an adrenaline junkie trip white water rafting down the Zambezi goes a long way to communicating key marketing messages.
   
   
3. Know what competitors have done recently – you don’t want to do the same.
   
   
4. Check off limit destinations with the foreign office.
   
   
5. Use an experienced travel promotions specialist because with heightened security airlines are becoming increasingly strict on name changes, or knowing the names of travellers just prior to the travel dates.
   
   
6. Don’t forget the small details they really do count, like convenient travel dates and setting up the logistics to ensure the smooth running.
   
   
7. For the prize winners it is a ‘brand experience’ from the moment they win the trip to the time they arrive home and as such they must be given the VIP treatment throughout.
   
   
8. Ensure that you are covered for last minute changes of plan, although a specialist travel promotions agency will cover all this.
   
   
9. Never underestimate the power of dreams when motivating consumers or staff.
   
   
10. Never limit your imagination on what can be achieved.
    
    

How the market will develop and grow

The suppliers of the future will increasingly need to offer a solution for their clients, which can’t be found ordinarily on the high street such as holidaying on your own private island.

We will also see further growth in promotions that link into movies and sport. Trips to the most famous film festivals with VIP party tickets, walk-on parts in Hollywood blockbusters, re-enacting a game of Quidditch with the films stunt co-ordinator, staying in celebrity homes, training with world class sportsman such as the New Zealand rugby team, will all grow in popularity.

Overall travel promotions will remain one of the most emotive and effective promotional tools, simply because consumer demand, and, most importantly, consumer dreams, will continue to fuel it’s growth.

Career

Andrew Cook, Director of Sales at Unmissable, graduated from the University of Gloucestershire with a BA Honours in Business Studies & Tourism Management in 1996. He went on to gain a CIM Diploma whilst embarking on a career in the sports travel industry with Sports Abroad and Rugby International Travel, finally joining Unmissable when it launched in 1999. Unmissable works with some of the leading sales promotion and PR agencies throughout the UK and Ireland and is retained by major clients including Chrysalis Radio and TalkSport amongst others.