Technical • Travel & Tourism • October 23, 2017 • Rebecca
Tour operators have a challenging job as there are many factors they need to consider. If you are in the tour business you probably do it because you love it and you have a passion for providing guests with great experiences. How can you maximize your performance and streamline your job so that you can improve your profits for the long term? How can you optimize your efforts in order to do more for your guests?
There are many clever things that tour operators can do from introducing online tour booking engines to improving their tour website theme to make the most of their business. Here’s how you can do the same:
Make booking as simple and straightforward as possible with an online tour booking service designed for operators looking to manage an efficient tour package system. There are many different options out there, such as Vacation Labs that will allow you to automate your bookings and make things simple for your customers.
With an online tour booking engine integrated into your tour website theme, you can reduce the hassle of collecting cash payments at the end of the trip. It cuts back on no-shows from passengers who haven’t paid in the same manner. The service can also help you to automatically list on multiple marketplace websites and increase your reach and digital footprint.
There will always be someone who is able to undercut their prices and offer tours for cheaper. Competing by trying to have the lowest prices is not the best strategy, as you will end up having to cut corners, costs and maybe even maintain a tour package system of lower quality. Instead, it is better to differentiate your tours from the others. You should be offering unique and creative tour activities that no one else is able to offer. Focus on giving your customers the best tour packages at the best value price.This will make your job easier because you don’t have to stress about being the cheapest – you can simply focus on owning the best travel site, which offers optimal value tours.
It’s impossible to be everything to everyone. If you try to be a tour operator who offers a wide range of tours catered to a wide range of travellers, you might find yourself stretched too thin. You will make your job easier and you will provide better tours if you decide to focus on one type of tour. Perhaps you could focus on a tour package system that offers only family tours and activities, or active outdoor tours for adventurous types, or romantic experiences through couple’s tours, or group tours.
When you specialize you can learn more about your audience and you will be able to focus on providing tours and activities that are specifically suited to that particular type of travel. There are many different niches that you can offer, including historical tours, fishing tours, charters, four-wheel drive tours, street art tours, cultural tours, wine tours, group tours, guided walking tours, nature tours and much more.
Social media can be a very powerful tool for promoting your tour company online and can be very effective in helping you to boost your profits. Some of the best travel sites make it a point to promote their tour products on social platforms. However, many tour operators are very busy catering to their offline and online tour bookings. This limits their time to manage social media accounts. You might find that it is worth it to hire someone who specializes in social media so that they can take care of your social media accounts for you. They will be able to market you and your tour website so that you can enjoy the benefits of increased popularity.
These are just a few simple methods tour operators can use to make their jobs easier for less strain and improved results. You can make things even easier with the help of an optimised tour website theme from the VacationLabs collection. We can also help you integrate a complete online tour booking system into your existing website so you can do more. Click here to know how much more!