[BizTrends 2016] New frontiers in travel and tourism

Candice Winterboer

Offer customised options

The trend is towards customised trips, where the person can pick and choose from a few different things, not just to suit their budget (because this isn't a new thing), but more along the lines of creating a trip in line with what they want to achieve from it - be it a quick taster, cultural immersion, scenic extravaganza, culinary explosion or ocean adventure.

Get online and be active

It's just not enough to have a website anymore, you also have to have a Facebook page where people can see more than just your marketing messages. They want to see real-time updates and images. Also, begin a blog that gets updated with useful, interesting information in order to add real value to your potential visitor.

Reviews

Getting reviews is great, but you need to start leveraging the review sites like TripAdvisor. People rely on reviews to make decisions on where to go, where to stay and what to do, so make sure that you appear in the results. Facebook also acts as a live review site, because guests comment and share their holiday photos by tagging your business, which acts as free word-of-mouth marketing.

Customised messaging

Online marketing offers you the opportunity to target different groups within your niche, with messages and types of communication that are specific to them. Just be sure to pinpoint these markets, and craft messages that resonate with them directly.

Customer service

This may come as a surprise, but Europeans are not known for their customer service, so an easy win is to make sure you deliver on this. South Africans also have a reputation for being friendly, so teach your staff basic customer-service rules and then make sure that they put them into practise. This, coupled with better efficiency, will go a long way in making your visitor/guest/client experience one to remember - for all the right reasons!

©Dmitry Kalinovsky via 123RF

Work on your efficiency

Efficiency is the expectation of our international visitors, the majority of whom travel to South Africa from Europe. So, above all, work on your processes - from booking, to checking in and billing. Often these can be simplified, and with the myriad online tools and apps available today, there is surely an electronic solution to every problem.