TTG's Travel Heroes helping out two touring and adventure agencies
Key Holidays and Destina Travel are ready to ramp up their touring and adventure knowledge with the help of TTG Travel Hero Sarah Weetman. TTG reports
KEY HOLIDAYS
Romiley, Greater Manchester
While coronavirus is currently impacting all travel, including the touring and adventure sector, Key Holidays’ director Jonathan Cunningham hopes that next year the touring sector will make a great comeback. “The touring market is a very exciting market for us and it’s something that [makes up] probably about 10-15% of what we do, but we’re looking at increasing this because obviously with an escorted tour, clients have got the security and so much choice,” he says.
The agency was recently visited by TTG Travel Hero Sarah Weetman, head of sales at Travelsphere, who came armed with advice for how to improve sales and market touring and adventure effectively.
Weetman also highlighted the pre-planned nature of an escorted tour, making it an appealing, fuss-free holiday option for Key Holidays’ many busy clients, many of whom don’t have much time to come in to the agency themselves.
“You used to have time to sit down with a husband and wife, or a wife and friend, and plan a trip around Australia but now it’s so difficult to arrange a time to get them together; you can’t get them face-to-face as an independent agent.” With this is mind he has been pleased to learn the level of detail and experiences covered in some escorted tours and that the groups (capped at 35) are smaller than he thought.
SOLOS, NOT SINGLES
One line of advice particularly sticks in Cunningham’s mind from Weetman’s visit. “She told us, ‘Never say singles, say solos, as singles takes on a different meaning’.”
Weetman pointed out that if something has a “singles” label, clients worry they’re signing up for enforced matchmaking.
Key Holidays has learnt first-hand that not all solo travellers are single anyway. “A prime example is a lady we book who goes away with her husband, but as he’s a big sports fan, every other year when there’s the World Cup or the Euros he sits and watches all the football and she goes away. We have done a Just You holiday or two for her. She’s done Madeira and a cruise.”
GROUP MENTALITY
An afternoon tea for singles at a local deli is one of the marketing possibilities under consideration for targeting solos. “It’s about defining the database to invite the right folk,” says Cunningham.
Weetman is also helping with the agency’s plans to launch its own group tours next year, with the first for about 40 people due to be escorted by Cunningham and his wife. Key Holidays will now be overbranding a Travelsphere tour for this.
“It’s something that’s been in the back of my mind, but having had really good meetings with the heroes, it came to the front of my mind,” says Cunningham.
“We have a plan in motion for an escorted tour to Europe in 2021. Travelsphere can also really help us with getting it out to clients.”
Speaking to local groups is another area that the agency can ramp up. It already has 49 people from a club going on a Travelsphere trip next year and has identified others it can target, including from a local golf club it sponsors. Other advice from Weetman has covered leaflet and social media marketing and identifying best-selling touring destinations.
SPECIALIST HOPES
With the help of its mentors, the agency wants to be able to call itself a touring specialist. “When we [applied for help from the heroes] and I saw who the five heroes were, that’s what made me very excited,” says Cunningham.
“In the application when it asked what we thought our biggest threat was, I put ourselves because we haven’t got the time to work on marketing and putting things out to clients.”
Now, with the help of the travel heroes, the agency is building a plan. Cunningham says: “This is a very exciting thing that we’ve [earned] – this support. It’s just getting things in place in a schedule. It’s not all rocket science, it’s just good ideas. It’s a different level for us.”
DESTINA TRAVEL
Hagley, West Midlands
The talk turned to tea and scones when Weetman visited Destina Travel – but it was all in the line of duty.
Last year about 20% of the shop’s business came from touring holidays and 30% was from solo travellers. Sam Tyers, head of leisure sales at Destina Travel, now has a loose target for touring. “In 2021, once things return to normal, I would like to at least double what we did last year,” she says.
The sector has not been a focus for the agency in the past. “That’s what’s come out from all of the TTG Travel Heroes [so far] – that we don’t proactively sell river cruise, we don’t proactively sell coach... I think it’s about lack of knowledge. People say they don’t want to be stuck on a coach and it’s knowing what to say back,” says Tyers.
She admits she and her colleagues also need to challenge their own views of the touring sector. “I think generally it’s been the older clientele [we’ve booked] so probably we’ve got that perception, but we have that sector through running our own bridge and bowling holidays for the over-70s.”
TIME FOR TEA
Two of the Destina team are attending the TTG New to Touring and Adventure festival in Birmingham later this year, which will help boost knowledge further.
The agency hasn’t booked much with Travelsphere or sister brand Just You before, but all that is set to change. The team will receive training from Phil Shipman, a key account manager from Just You. A couple of events are also in the pipeline as a result of Weetman’s visit, although dates are still to be announced due to the coronavirus.
Once the pandemic is over the agency hopes to run an afternoon tea for 25 people with Just You. “Depending on price, we may go on into the evening for a canape event with Travelsphere on the same day, but with a different set of people who can mingle. The afternoon tea is for the solos because [they] won’t like walking into a room full of couples,” explains Tyers.
“We’ve never really done events as a shop but we’ve wanted to do them and Just You suggested the afternoon tea worked for them with other agents before,” she adds.
Weetman pointed out that solos are a boom area in travel and a great market for escorted touring.
Destina Travel has a good database of solo travellers from its operator arm, Mercian Travel Bridge & Bowling, so is planning to target these clients along with others who usually book solely for fly-and-flop holidays.
SWITCHING IT UP
“We have some [clients] who go on holiday to Greece, for example. We have a few who travel together from a Women’s Institute group, but are solos and want single rooms,” says Tyers.
Weetman also suggested further switch-selling ideas to the Destina team. “We’ll have a self-drive [enquiry] and never think to show them touring,” Tyers admits.
While the Travel Heroes activity has now been put on hold due to coronavirus, the team are looking to putting their newfound selling knowledge into practice and booking more touring and adventure holidays in 2021.
First impressions
TTG Travel Hero Sarah Weetman on meeting the two agencies
It’s been fantastic to work with both Key Holidays and Destina Travel, as it’s clear that they are willing to try new things to thrive in the current market.
Their enthusiasm and hunger to grow their touring sales is phenomenal. Together we’ve already put new ideas in place and have started a plan to help achieve this growth.
On my visit, I gave them both plenty of advice on how to drive more touring and solo customers into their stores. The solo market is rapidly growing, and Just You gives them the opportunity to sell with an award-winning brand.
We also talked about how Travelsphere and Just You tours suit a range of interests, which give them a massive opportunity for switch-selling. For example, if customers show an interest in lakes, agents can sell the benefits of escorted touring and offer them the Travelsphere Italian Lakes and Mountains tour.
Another important element is group size. Travelsphere provides bigger experiences for smaller groups of 15 to 35. This puts the customers at the heart of the adventure. We also have guaranteed departure dates.
We’ve already been back to Key Holidays for a full day’s touring training and we have one planned with Destina Travel.
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