How to Prepare Your Travel & Attraction Business for the Holiday Season
As we’re approaching the holiday season, many tour operators began to wonder what to do with their attractions or tours to add some celebratory vibes… Well, look no further, as we’ll cover all the tips and tricks you’ll need to make your company ready for the holiday surge.
Table of Contents
- What American Travelers Are Looking For this Holiday Season
- Best Holiday Season Practices by Big Attraction Companies
- How TripShock Partners Prep for the Holiday Season
- Join TripShock Partners Family and Share Your Ideas on Holiday Season Preparations!
What American Travelers Are Looking For this Holiday Season
While Americans are looking forward to holiday traveling this winter, which is expected to be many more than in 2020, there are still a few things to keep in mind…
Purchasing Ability
Based on the experience shared by TripShock Partners, many vacationers have slowed down with their travel spending since stimulus checks ended, and many Americans lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 downturn. One thing our partners found helpful to take advantage of highs and lows is dynamic pricing, which we highly advocate for. Dynamic pricing takes into consideration demand when determining price so that you are charging the highest prices at times when you have the highest demand, reserving base or discounted prices for times when demand is the lower.
Health Concerns
COVID cases are expected to surge throughout the country yet again, with preliminary evidence already taking place in some states, which can potentially make tourists hesitant to resume traveling, like when we saw many trip cancellations due to rising Delta variant COVID cases. If you offer an outdoor activity, such as watersports and walking tours – use your ability to keep guests outdoors, allowing them to more easily social distance, as a selling point.
Make Your Experience More Fun
As we claimed before, taking your SUP rentals and tours to the next level, as well as following general tour company branding & identity guidelines, should help you figure out what exactly vacationers are hoping to experience when booking with you. The more you invest your time, money, and efforts in researching your customer profile, the greater returns you’ll see.
To see how the aforementioned travelers’ wants and needs can be addressed, let’s take a look at how big attraction companies have already started addressing that.
Best Holiday Season Practices by Big Attraction Companies
Big attraction companies consistently add holiday vibes to their offerings each year, which makes it safe to assume that their efforts pay off; here’re some strategies giant brands follow to celebrate the holiday season with their customers.
Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida
The definition of magic tops our list with their preps for both the holiday season and 50th anniversary, where the latter is planned to be celebrated for 18 months. Walt Disney World has been known for bringing magic throughout generations to people around the world of different ages. Does your attraction business anniversary coincide with the holiday season? It might be a great opportunity to celebrate both as Disney does!
Right before the holiday season started approaching, Walt Disney World started mailing promotions for their refreshed FL resident annual passes; take a look at an example received by one of our Staff Members:
Direct Mail Marketing works great for the travel industry and should definitely not be overlooked by tour operators; just keep in mind that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays in mail delivery.
Six Flags
It turns out that Six Flags owns more waterparks and theme parks combined than any other amusement park company in the world, in addition to having the seventh-highest attendance in the world. Seemingly, Six Flags is well aware of how to nail travel industry email marketing to win more customers. This can be proved by the recent case study that showed Six Flags’ email delivery climbs to the top, which is great news considering that Six Flags was able to emerge from bankruptcy in 2010. With that in mind, take a look at examples of some of their holiday email marketing campaigns:
Notice how Six Flags makes sure their attraction company branding & identity are both followed, which is especially apparent via company merchandise.
Using email marketing to promote your travel & tourism business isn’t too difficult; in fact, email marketing can supercharge your watersport business. However, one of the things that TripShock Partners noted during the Watersport Forum was that tour operators need to do a better job making the most of the customer emails they collect – it looks like a huge missed opportunity. Speaking of TripShock Partners, let’s take a look at how our family members prep for this holiday season.
How TripShock Partners Prep for the Holiday Season
Our TripShock Partners are known to be very creative when it comes to the holidays season, and this year is no exception, take a look and see if any of these approaches can be used by your attraction company.
Special Holiday Offer for Kids Teaser by Tailfins Island Adventure
If you have something special to offer these holidays, as Tailfins Island Adventure has, prepare your audience for this offering in advance so your customers can get excited about, and, therefore, stimulate them to book with you. What Tailfins Island Adventure did was they’ve Christmas-decorated their boat rentals, but the exact details of the special promo weren’t revealed until the Holiday season had come. Take a look at how Tailfins Island Adventure teased their special holiday offering on their social media:
Night Glow Party Tours by Sea View Tours
Many tour providers call it a day when the sun comes down, but for Sea View Tours, the party is just starting! Company’s Night Glow Party Tours especially fit the holiday theme with their nicely decorated glass kayaks with lights; just take a look at their picture:
Black Friday Giveaway by WET Paddleboard
If you run a watersport business and shop where you sell equipment, this time of the year can be a perfect opportunity to stimulate travelers’ purchasing ability. To engage even more customers’ interest in their brand, WET Paddleboards has announced the prize value prior to Black Friday and mentioned that they typically don’t do this. All happened on their social media channels; take a look at their post announcement:
Join TripShock Partners Family and Share Your Ideas on Holiday Season Preparations!
Holiday season is a great time of the year when many vacationers travel and spend time with their loved ones, and, therefore, a great opportunity for tour operators to offer something special. Bearing in mind what American travelers are looking for this holiday season, as well as relying on big attraction companies’ best practices and TripShock Partners’ prep for the holiday season, should take your travel company to the next level. Be sure to reach out to us if you need help with your marketing efforts, and we’ll be glad to help. 🙂