A New Look at Tour Sales Opportunities in 2010
January 19, 2010 By: George Dooley
If you are looking for ways to improve yields and profitability and need an ally to build consumer demand, take a new look at tour sales and the members of the U.S. Tour Operators Association (USTOA).
Offering an unprecedented diversity of tour options with minimal discounting and high yields, tours may prove to be the fastest growing segment of the industry in 2010. And one of the best received by value hungry consumers.
USTOA president Bob Whitley reports USTOA’s 47 tour operator members represent164 brands that fit virtually every travel destination, market segment and all price levels. This includes river cruises, escorted tours, FITs, groups and scores of special interest tours from art to zoology in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and all international destinations.
Tour sales are not only profitable, but a source of repeat business with high levels of tested consumer/customer satisfaction. This includes sales by independent home based agents who now account for at least 30 percent of tour sales including escorted tours and FITs.
Critically important, USTOA members know their markets. Many, including the giants such as Globus, Trafalgar, GoGo, Travel Impressions, Mark Travel and Tauck to name a few have decades of expertise and a global presence. Travel agents currently account for $8.4 billion in tour operator sales, ASTA reports.
Tour operators are often giants in their chosen markets - CIT in Ireland is an example - knowledgeable and well positioned with strong destination links and support. Like travel agents, tour operators are squeezed by online and direct sales trends and like agents must find ways to engage customers – online and offline – with flair and imagination.
Crucially, tour operators, like travel agents, are intermediaries and compete with online travel sellers. To prosper they must deliver value. (And a few started their corporate lives as agents.) Commissions are generally 10 percent but can reach 18 percent for productive agents. And there are lots more to selling tours than just seniors, as opportunities exist with boomers, students and young adults.
Most tour operators have also invested in online booking capabilities that reward agent’s productivity, ease booking complexity and aggressively promote their destinations to consumers. Travel Impressions, for example, offers incentives for online bookings while VAX Vacation Access is a powerhouse in tour sales.
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