During these tough times, do you wish you had some fellow tourism peers with many decades of experience to answer your questions and get solid tourism business strategies during Covid answers and advice on some of these core topics?

• Customer communications and marketing to keep guests engaged
• What to do and not do with your team to keep them productive
• How to be more agile and not to feel stuck
• Where should I optimize my systems to improve bookings & lower costs
• When to start selling and how to do it
• Insert your tourism business, marketing, sales, operations or planning topic here…

Then join award-winning, family owned tour operator Dan Austin founder of Austin Adventures and host “Tourism Tim” Warren, a fellow tour operator and founder of Travel Business Success Radio Podcast with almost 60 years combined experience in international and domestic tour operations and leadership in a candid tip-filled question and answer session with your tourism peers to help you survive and thrive in the these challenging times.

Tourism Business Strategies During COVID: Top Three Suggestions for Food Tour Operators Re-Opening Their Businesses

• Stay relevant. One way of staying relevant is to come up with creative and amazing to go package. A friend of Dan has a similar business and one of the things they did was to create gift boxes with barbeque sauces and recipes. Give them something physical to keep the anticipation and excitement going.
• Embrace the restaurants as your partners. Create a restaurant virtual visit and ask the Chef to come out and explain what he did and how he did it
• Make everything an experience to remember because it is all about the experience. Instead of eating in the restaurants, you go picnics.

Bottom-line is to continue to try and make it an experience. Come up with ways and gimmicks to make whatever for you to get started again make that part of the experience. This time is the opportunity to make things interesting.

How does the industry plan against over visitation & over saturation once things open up?

The physical world is taking a breather right there. There’s probably never going to be a time like this in our history, to visit places without the crowds. No tour buses this year. The international travel scene will be an all-time low, so overcrowding doesn’t seem to be a problem or worry. And it’s a great time to travel if you can. Long term, it would be great to learn from this.

• Evaluating on how to manage or control overcrowding.
• Maybe it is minimizing the size of tour buses, shuttles, and cruises. Having less of them.
• Just learning and seeing what works this year might actually motivate us to dig a little deeper and be better in the future.

Tourism Business Strategies During Covid: When do you see yourself starting to ramp international trips back up? How are you navigating the international situation?

Tourism Business Strategies During Covid

It’s really going to come down on the market. At this point, a lot of countries are still opening up and then closing back again. This makes implementing your

tourism business strategies during COVID difficult at times. Domestic trips are back about 70%. But internationally, we have guides or partners on the ground to find out what the consensus is. There are 4 different steps to situations like this. The first is fear. The next one in is understanding. The third step is planning. Then finally the action phase.

• There’s a great website out there that you can monitor different countries and see what is happening daily.
• It will help to monitor and talk to your partners in and out of the country. Dan has asked his marketing team to create an infographic of the top 10 international trips that they are able to anticipate to reopen.

What changes do you think tour operators will have to make? How do we help people feel comfortable about traveling again, especially older travelers who have time and money but may not be risk-takers?

•  Do your best to anticipate and just react accordingly. But don’t forget to have your plans ready and in place.
• On scheduled departures, Dan and his team are navigating towards and trying to use more properties with private access, cabins or leased outside access versus hotels with a common area.
• They also have created some programs for homestays like a mountain top executive style home. That market is growing exponentially.
• Next year, to go to a one guide six guests-model for selected trips. Just to really give that private exclusive kind of vibe.
• Limiting size of groups on trails. To lessen the group to 10 or less.

How do you see the markets in the Caribbean? Specifically; US territories?

 Consider these Corona Virus travel marketing tips: This is a huge opportunity for the Caribbean. The closer to home, the better. People are always going to travel. And we are already seeing the big increase and bounce back of domestic flights. For now, anything that could be done in one connection is going to be key. It is impressive how airlines are setting the bar high for how to get people traveling again. Without the airlines, tour agencies are out of business. We need airlines to get our guests.

Tourism Business Strategies During Covid: Any specific suggestions or ideas on liability release forms, ways to sanitize vans, tents, equipment, etc.?

• Creating pre-trip directive with suggestions: three weeks prior to your trip minimize your contacts to family and close associates only, and if you don’t feel well, don’t come. This policy protocols also includes what to expect before the trip, what they expect of guests before the trip, and what to expect during travels. Dan is also seeking a lawyer to review their liability release.
• Standard sanitizing the van every night
• Giving everybody personal hand sanitizer, masks, and anything they could possibly think of. It’s just being proactive and laying it all out.

What are your thoughts of payment plan instead of a pay in full fee for liability insurance?

Absolutely negotiate.

Insurance industry is actually pretty forgiving and kind. For Dan, their insurance is well over $100,000 a year. And as of now, they have vehicles that are just sitting. So they negotiated with their insurance provider and they were very kind to reduce their amounts based on current.

Their provider revised those and then backdated them to where they actually got some money back. And then they apply that towards next year. So don’t be afraid to ask and negotiate.

Be Sure to Listen to Part 1 of this 2-part series on: Tourism Business Strategies During Covid with Tourism Tim Warren and Dan Austin here.

Do you want more travel marketing and tourism business strategies during Covid 19 and tough economic times?

If you have more questions and want help to come out of these tough times stronger and better contact Tourism Tim Warren. Also check out Tourism Tim’s step by step “Double Your Tourism Bookings” online course to help you increase your leads, bookings and profits, especially in tough economic times.

Covid Travel Marketing Training

Here’s How to Double Your Travel Leads, Bookings & Profits – Especially in Tough Economic Times

Live Recorded Training with Tourism Tim & Peers

Important Tourism Marketing Training During Covid

Do you wonder what are some best practices on customer and cash retention, marketing and promotions, optimizing your operational systems or your lead and sales conversion funnels? Then join multi-award winning, family owned tour operator founder Dan Austin with Austin Adventures and Travel Business Success Radio Podcast founder & host “Tourism Tim” Warren with almost 60 years combined experience in international and domestic tour operations and leadership in a candid tip-filled conversation on top tourism business tips during Covid to help you survive and thrive in the these challenging times.

Dan and Tim have known each other since 1995. They both have passion for travel, tourism and now they are both involved with tour companies. They used to connect every month on Saturday’s to talk about tourism business, marketing, operations, etc. and are now here to share their best tourism business tips during COVID.

Dan Austin is the founder and CEO of Austin Adventures. He ignited his passion for adventure travel in 1976. His travels soon took him to Alaska we’re he owned and operated a mid-sized construction company. He gained valuable experience working out difficult logistics and long distance problem solving.

“Tourism Tim” Warren is the founder of Adventure Business Consultants. For over 26 years, Tim has dedicated himself to helping current and future tourism stakeholders worldwide to start, grow, and prosper. He’s also the host of the Travel Business Success Radio Podcast and Tourism Marketing TV, and the author of Double Your Tourism Bookings Online Program.

Marketing & Communications (Corona Virus Tourism Marketing Tips)

When did you start communicating with existing guests as COVID 19 set in?

As the COVID 19 Pandemic started unfolding in most businesses, Dan Austin started to reach out to his guests. He and his team focused on a really aggressive campaign with a total from outgoing sales efforts to outgoing communication efforts. And they started making it more personal.

How did you communicate? 

They dropped the standard template emails. And started sending out personal emails to their guests and really became honest with them. 

What did you share? 

They also quickly changed their cancellation policies and deposit policies.

What were the impact on your cancellations and refunds for 2020?

A: Anticipate

They started reaching out to their guests on the first week of March. They communicated with them even before their trips were due. They asked questions like – “What are you looking for?” “What are you most comfortable with?” Consider Corona Virus Tourism Marketing Tips like these – reach out to guests early.

They also had guests that wanted to cancel their trips because they don’t know when they could travel again because of the pandemic. 60% of their guests said they would wait and see if they could travel, 12% rescheduled for later in 2020, and 12% rescheduled for 2021.

B: Be honest 

They implemented an open dialogue with their guests. They also quickly changed their cancellation policies and deposit policies.

C: Communicate 

Their guests appreciated the fact that they posted on their homepage – here’s what we’re doing, here’s what we’re willing to do now or what we can do to push back final payments. Their guests are also very easy to work with and willing to compromise to come across mutually beneficial arrangements.

How Communications look now with existing customers, alumni & prospects and into the future

Dan and Tim love trying out new corona virus travel marketing tips and ideas. They had this unique idea which is called virtual adventures. Instead of the virtual training webinars, they have created virtual adventures for kids. 

Guest Promotions (Tourism Business Tips During Covid)

Tell us more about your AA Kids & adult virtual tours? 

With the help of his Dan’s daughter, Casey, she hosts the Virtual Adventures every week and they’re getting 1000 plus 

kids at those webinars every week. They have parents and several staff members that have kids and they are really challenged with working from home and handling these kinds with the normal of virtual learning, and they needed a break. So Dan Austin and his daughter created this virtual adventure for kids. 

Staying relevant. Be a top perceived quality & safe brand 

They aren’t selling anything but they are educating the kids about how cool Yellowstone is. It allowed them to stay relevant and continue to reach out, provide services, and build a loyal base.

“Keeping the Dream Alive”

They are getting feedback from the parents and the kids are starting to talk about the virtual adventure webinars. It is kind of a soft sale. They aren’t selling anything but they educate the kids about Yellowstone.

Selling the Dream – Tourism Business Tips During COVID

Tell us more about When & How you are planning to start selling?

They have started their first outgoing consumer facing or sales email which is basically wasn’t a hard sell. They just listed their 2021 dates are up on the website. They wanted their guests to have something to look forward to.

They are letting the consumers dictate when they’re ready to start being sold. And in the interest of staying relevant, they’ve have created new product that fits the market a little bit better and focused more on promotion. PR and press is absolutely another way to stay relevant.

Operations: Tourism Business Leadership & Logistics 

Many of us are in shock and a bit froze, what are you and your team doing to keep forward momentum?

For them, it was literally just to keep moving. They cannot sit around. They got to keeping thinking of all the different aspects of the business – How are you going to market? What are we going to cancel? What are we going to run? How are we going to manage inventory? What are we going to do to actually run a tour?

Communicate with your guides. For Dan, they did virtual cocktail parties every Friday afternoon and getting their guides’ input – what are they seeing, feeling, and when it comes to actually executing trips, they empower their guides to help them figure out the new normal. It is kind of a focus group of tour guides that helps them to create their action plan. They also studied airlines, hotel industry, and other sectors that are affected with by it and put together a comprehensive plan.

Leadership and Staff self-care 

Dan motivates his time and gets on doing weekly team meetings via Zoom to bring them together and discuss a few corona virus travel marketing tips. And with the meeting proper, they talk about the things they need to get done. And if there are opportunities to address things that we have not done or been wanting to do. They’re using this time to actually accomplishing some of that now. 

• Dan intentionally puts his emotions aside and be upbeat, optimistic, positive, and reassuring to build the team morale.
• Before they start the meeting, they go around the table and each one tells something good or any accomplishment they have lately.
• Each team member shares their experiences dealing with different customers where they also get to share those positive experiences.
• When someone is feeling down and lacks enthusiasm, Dan talks to each of his sales people, and tell them to not call the guest if they’re down. And if they encounter difficult customers/rejections/cancellations from customers, Dan encourages his staff to get away from the desk, go for a walk, and clear their mind until they are in a right state of mind. 

Optimizing Tourism Business Work flow 

Operations

Six months ago they decided to go paperless. They started utilizing Google Drive. And now that they are working remotely, people had to learn to use the cloud. 

Embrace the need of technology. They learned zoom meeting and literally just embracing the technology and staying organized. They communicate over email and they use slack for instant messaging

Dan believes this is the right opportunity to re-engineer their business and take this chance to step back and really take a real close look at the systems.

Staffing 

While travel companies are feeling the pain right now due to cancellation of trips or move to another schedule, the agent community is feeling even worse because literally they are not getting paid until that guest travels or in nobody travels, that means no paychecks. 

Dan came up with an idea of paying half of their commission at the time of booking. That allowed them to express that they really see their agent community as partners.

Tourism Marketing & Advertising – Tourism Business Tips During Covid

For the first time in 25 years, Dan is keen on not printing catalogues to use as their marketing and advertising material. They want to make sure where their money is going and making sure that there’s an ROI on every penny spent. 

Make sure to know exactly where your budget and expenses are, at all times. And make sure that the staff knows where you’re at.

Travel Marketing Training

Here’s How to Double Your Travel Leads, Bookings & Profits

Live Recorded Training with Tourism Tim & Peers

Social Proof Tourism Marketing© Free Mini-Training

Special 5-Part  A Proven Tourism Marketing System

Part-2

Hey, good day, folks, it’s Tourism Tim Warren here with a special mini-training dedicated to helping you double your tourism leads, double your bookings, double your profits, especially online and without being a tech wizard.  This is going to be a 4 or 5-part mini-training on something I’ve been using for many, many years and other tourism professionals that are highly successful worldwide use too. It is a special tourism marketing and strategy system I am packaging and going to give to you, called “Social Proof Tourism Marketing ©.”  

So, this top marketing strategy that has helped me and countless people all over the world radically increase their leads, their sales, their bookings, will also increase your profits. Once you understand this scientifically proven strategy and you start applying it to all your tourism marketing, what you’re going to see is that your leads and bookings are going to go up and your profits are going to go up too. And the coolest thing is that you don’t have to be a tech wizard. You don’t have to be a marketing master. And you don’t have to spend more money buying traffic or being worried about SEO. 

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  Social Proof Tourism Marketing©: How to Double Your Tourism Leads, Bookings & Profits - Part 2 of 5

This is about getting more bookings from your existing traffic. 

So, let’s do a quick review of what I covered in Episode 1.  I talked about the common issue we all face. I don’t care if you’re in Timbuktu or Toledo, China or South Africa, if you’re in the tourism, travel, hospitality or attraction trade, or even if you’re a travel agent, we all face the same thing.  

How do you get more people to make an inquiry, and more importantly, make a booking with us? And how do you do this online since it’s your doorway to the world?  

Your website is your brochure and doorway to the world.  So the really big question is, how can you get more leads and bookings – without traffic and being a technology master.  

Let me just give you a quick review of my background.  I’ve been in the tourism business for over thirty years helping my brother start grow a fly-in adventure travel ecotourism tour company in Baja, Mexico. We’ve done very well.  Over the last twenty years, we got involved with ecotours and lodges. I’m really proud to say that Las Animas Ecolodge is the #1 specialty lodging in TripAdvisor for Baja, California out of about 280 properties. And all of this knowledge that I’ve gained, I’ve been helping  global tourism industry professionals succeed, with a focus on business, marketing, sales, management, operations, and now, exit planning and mergers and acquisitions. I am dedicated to helping people just like you start, plan, scale and now, exit their business successfully and have a fun profitable journey along the way. 🙂 

So my tourism marketing system I’m going to share with you, has been proven around the world. It is used by big and small operations with lots of experience, as well as with no experience in tourism marketing.  And when they successfully applied my “Social Proof Tourism Marketing” © system, they had great results.  

So, here’s the core question that you should always be asking yourself,  ihw do people make purchase decisions? How do they choose you?  

But before we go there, I want you to take a look at your own purchase decisions.  How do you make a purchase decision? What’s the number one thing that helps you decide what to buy, where to purchase, what to eat, what movie to watch, what car to buy, what trip to take, where to go, what hotel to stay in?  

The same exact research, choices and decisions that you’re making, are exactly what your travel prospects are having to do, too.  

Are you sometimes overwhelmed with choices?  Heck, yes, there’s a ton of places. Are you sometimes confused?  Absolutely. Well, guess what, so are your prospects. Many of the same issues and decisions that we face, our travel consumers are doing the same thing thought and psychological decision process.  

So, it’s really important to tap into their decision-making process, to learn how to tap into the proven the “psychological triggers” that help create trust. You want to help create a sense for travel shoppers that, “Wow, I’m making a good choice booking with you.” 

This is the basis of my system; Social Proof Tourism Marketing©.  It’s a proven concept. It is a form of marketing communication that taps into this proven psychology that all consumers and all travel shoppers are making no matter where you are in the world and no matter what kind of tour or travel or attraction you’re up to. This all applies. It all comes down to establishing and improving trust so that a potential consumer wants to know more about who you are and decide to choose you and give you money.  We have to establish trust on who we are and we have to help that consumer feel good about their purchase.  

When you know how to help travel shoppers have confidence 

that they’re making the right decision, they will book with you.

Here’s an interesting part about this whole process, establishing trust and tapping into this proven psychology and communicating, has to happen really quick.  

When was the last time you looked at your Google Analytics on your website?  

Do you see how quickly people come and go to your website on average?  How about your bounce rate? That’s what Google determines when people are spending ten seconds or less at your website.  Most of us have higher bounce rates that we’d like to have. But how can you possibly establish trust if people are only at your website in a minute or two? 

There is a way, and that’s what I’m going to give you in this series. You have to know how to establish trust, and communicate this, literally in seven to ten seconds, so that travel shoppers get it.  That of all the choices out there, you’re a good potential choice. They want to learn more and go deeper into your marketing messaging.  

How about when someone does a search for perhaps a tour that’s in your area or attraction or lodging, do they have choices?  Do you have some competition? Heck, yes, every business has got competition. It doesn’t matter whether they’re down the street or in the same space.  My brother Kevin and I know, we are not the only cool ecotourism lodge in the world. Hell no. There are tons of them. And so consumers are overwhelmed.

So, Here is One of the Success Keys to Social Proof Tourism Marketing©.  

It’s about establishing experience, quality and safety, and it has to happen in seven to ten seconds.  How many of you have heard me talk about the Big 3?  The Big 3 as I define it, and I have been teaching on this for well over twenty years. It is something that all travel shoppers and all travel consumers want to know in seven to ten seconds, to help them move from being a “stranger to a friend and a friend, into customer over time”. And it all starts with these Big 3.  

What are the “Big 3 of Tourism Marketing©”?  

They want to know:

1. Someone traveled before them; meaning you have some experience, you just didn’t start last week and you’re hoping for your first client.
2. Those people had a good time; meaning you run great trips, your lodging is good, your travel services are great or your destination is awesome.
3. They want to know nobody died; and what I mean by that is that safety is a number one concern and focus of your operation; your tour, your lodging, your destination.  They want to know they are going to be safe. Is that reasonable?

Communicating experience, quality and safety, fast and effectively in all your tourism marketing is the “Big 3” for tourism shoppers.  It is the essence of my tourism marketing system called Social Proof Tourism Marketing©.  

So, in the next couple of parts of this series, we’re going to get into this. I’m going to specifically talk about:

• What’s in it for you when you learn about this tourism marketing system
• How it can radically increase your leads and your profits 
• How you will spend less time selling
• How this will increase your value per sale.
• How you will get more referrals and repeat business.  

We’re going to talk about why this tourism marketing system is important, and why this is a really good investment of your time and energy to learn this and to understand this concept., I am going to show you how to apply this way beyond your website, but you need to start with your website because that’s your doorway to the world.

I’m also going to prove this to you.  Don’t just believe me. I want to share the science behind this.  What’s the psychology behind this? Where did this all come from, and how have I crafted it to apply to tourism. I want to show you some specific global research that proves and backs up what I’m talking about.  And then we’re going to talk about how to apply that.  

So, this is Tourism Tim signing off.  I really appreciate you watching and listening.  If you have a question or comments or you’re confused about my tourism marketing system, I want you to wherever you’re watching this, write your comments down below. Whether it’s on YouTube or on Travel Business Success or maybe you saw this on a Facebook group, please write your questions and comments down below.  

Again, I really appreciate your time.  I really look forward to sharing some of these insights that have helped me and countless other tourism professionals be really successful. I really appreciate you sharing this because we’re all in this together. The more we can all learn, grow and succeed together, the better off we all are.  Tourism Tim signing off. Thank you so much.

How to Double Your Tourism Bookings

Special 5-Part  Free Tourism Marketing Training Series 

Part-1

Hey, folks, it’s Tourism Tim Warren here with a special 5-part free tourism marketing training series (audio, video below and blog posts) dedicated to helping tourism leaders, attractions, lodging, travel agencies and destinations deal with something that we all face as tourism professionals – how the heck can we get more people to  visit our website, decide that we’re a good choice, make an inquiry – or better yet, make a booking, buy your service, visit or stay in our lodge, or even visit our destination, no matter where you are in the world?  

How can you get more people to make an inquiry or booking, especially from your website?

No matter how big or how small, this is a common question we all face.  For those of you who don’t know me, my brother and I have been in the tourism business now for thirty years – both as a tour operator in the soft adventure, ecotourism space in Baja, Mexico, as well as an ecolodge owner and manager.  I’m proud to say that we are the #1 TripAdvisor “Specialty Lodging” in Baja, California. It is called Las Animas Ecolodge.

So, the things that I want to share with you, not only today, but really in the start of this special series are really some of the biggest “aha moments”, and the biggest takeaways that I’ve learned that really helped us not only to become one of the top lodges, but more importantly, a profitable growing company.

So here’s a big problem that limits your bookings and profits.  

Even if you have all the web traffic in the world,  the greatest product, service or greatest lodge, if you’re not converting inquiries into bookings from your websites – because that is your storefront to the world – you’re not going to grow.  You may not even be able to stay in business. 

You will struggle.   That sucks!

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  How to Double Your Tourism Leads, Bookings, and Profits (Special Series) - Part 1 of 5

What is “Social Proof Tourism Marketing”© and How Can it Double Your Tourism Bookings?

So, what I want to share in this free training series is a special system that I developed called “Social Proof Tourism Marketing”©. It’s been the very basis of what has helped myself and many, many people just like you around the world increase their leads, and more importantly, increase their bookings from the existing web traffic they’ve got.  

We’re not talking about technology here.  We’re not talking about SEO or how to get your website working to get more traffic.  That’s important but we’re talking about psychology.  

We’re talking about the choices that travel shoppers make, often in seconds, about what tour company they may travel with, what lodge they’re going to stay with, what activity they are going to book, etc.

Even with the travel agents or destinations, it really doesn’t matter.  Do you have a lot of competition? Other people offering similar things to you, maybe in your area or even in that niche or space?  I can assure you, we are not the only cool ecotourism lodge in the world. There are many cool places that people can travel to.  

How Do Travel Shoppers Make Purchase Decisions?

Tourism Tim Warren with Sir Richard Branson on a business retreat in the BVI’s

So a core question you should be asking yourself is, is when you’re doing research or considering a purchase of a product, maybe a tour, even a

destination, or it might even be a movie or restaurant, what influences you on which one to choose?  How do you know you’re making a good choice of your time and your money when you do it? Let’s say you go online and you do a search for “food tours in Florida”? Are you overwhelmed with a lot of choices? Of course, you are. And so are your consumers. So now, how do they know which one to go to?  How do they know which tourism, travel or destination is going to be a good choice for them? Is it by default the one that’s got the highest ranking? Not necessarily.  

Many of you who have got great tours, great offerings, great lodges, and even maybe better pricing or better service, been in the business longer, but you may not have as high ranking as your competitor.  

Does that make them better than you?  I say no, absolutely not.  

I think it’s really more about what’s in this concept and proven tourism marketing system I developed over 30 years I’m going to introduce to you in this called: “Social Proof Tourism Marketing” ©.  

How Do Travel Shoppers Make Purchase Decisions? 

The  Psychology of Tourism Marketing

Travel shoppers are really assessing their potential purchase choices on; who’s more of a quality operator, who’s more seasoned, who has what’s called the “social proof”.

When you’re looking at a choice of a purchase, who do you go to help make a decision?  Do you ask friends, family? Do you read social media reviews? How about articles? Consumer Reports magazine?  We are subscribers and we’re always looking at that for the service that has the highest rating, what has the greatest utility, which has the lowest repair rate.  Consumer Reports are an awesome resource to help make the decision in a very crowded market.  

But how different is that from people who are choosing your tours or your lodge or your travel agency?  

I mean, let’s look at a daily decision.  How about a new restaurant? Let’s say, you are  going to a new restaurant, in your town or your area.  How do you know which one to go to? What do you look at to make your decision?  Because there’s a ton of choices right?

What if you’re just driving down the street and trying to find a place to eat?  Are you going to the one where you see lots of cars in the parking lot and lots of people in the restaurant?  Or are you going to the one that has no cars and hardly any people? I’m willing to bet you’ll go to the one that has people in it as long as you can get a seat. Because even if you didn’t know that restaurant, you are curious. Why are all those people there and the other one doesn’t have any?

These are the same sort of decisions, the same sort of thought processes that your prospective travel consumers are considering.  

So, in this “Double Your Tourism Bookings” free training series, we’re going to take a little deeper dive into:

• What is “social proof tourism marketing”© ?
• What’s in it for you?
• How is this going to improve your bookings and your bottom line?
• How is this going to help grow your business profitably?

So, we’re going to look at what is it, what’s in it for you, why is this important, and what’s the science behind this.

We’re going to take it out of guesswork.  We’re going to look at science. We’re going to look at some actual numbers.  We’re going to look at how it works, and I’m going to share with you some of the top tactics and strategies that make up my “Social Proof Tourism Marketing” © system.

I’m going to share examples of actual clients and actual people who have been through my program who are just like you who are applying “Social Proof Tourism Marketing”©  to their marketing. They could be tour operators. They could be lodge owners. Let’s face it, most of us are small – to medium-sized businesses. I don’t care if you’re in Timbuktu or Toledo,  if you’re in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia or La Paz, Bolivia. The issues that you face as a small business in the tourism, travel or hospitality sector or attractions, are all the same issues. How do we get more people to choose you and not your competitor and give you money? And how can you make your tourism marketing easier, how can you make it flow?  

I mean, I get it.  As a small business, do you have to wear a lot of hats?  Hell yes! 

So I’m really interested about giving you actual, proven principles that you can apply to your tourism marketing easily and that will have quantifiable and profitable results for you over time. Not only in the short run, but that are also scalable into the future.  

So, this is Tourism Tim Warren with Travel Business Success Radio Podcast and Tourism Marketing TV signing off on this special free tourism marketing training series. I look forward to more short episodes where we get a little deeper dive into this.  I am going to give you more specific information so that you can start having your own “aha moments” and apply this to your marketing and have more success too. Thanks for listening. Thanks for sharing this. If you have questions, if you have comments, wherever you’re seeing this video or reading this, if it’s on YouTube or it’s on Travel Business Success or maybe you see it on social media group, on Facebook, please ask me questions.  Please share it.  

We’re all in this together. I promise you I will address your questions and I hope to be your guide on this journey together or one of your guides.  Thank you so much.  

Do You often feel lost sometimes? Need help with your tourism business growth strategies? 

Are you unsure of what exact steps you can take to grow your travel business? 

Do you wish you had seasoned and experienced role models in the tourism business that could show you the way? 

Well, You’re in luck! Listen in as my guests and I share insightful and ground-breaking tips on how you can grow your tourism business over time.  

Tourism Business Growth Strategies: How to Grow & Scale Your Tourism Business in a Competitive Environment

The tour operator business is riddled with growing competition every day. Because of this, professionals must always be active in their tourism business growth strategies. These strategies will have to seep into their tourism business management, on and off-line marketing, sales, customer service, and every other aspect to ensure continuous profitable growth.

Although sometimes, regardless of the efforts you put in, does it sometimes still feel like your tourism business isn’t growing the way you expect?

This is why you need the advice of professionals who have succeeded and have helped many others succeed in the tourism industry. Their experience, successes, failures, and insight will surely give you a clearer perspective of your goals and present situation. This new information will help you map out a clear plan for your tourism business growth. This Travel Business Success Radio podcast features two highly professional tour operator stakeholders and is a sure way to get you started on the right track to tourism business growth.  

Let’s Get to Know Our Guests 

Josh Oakes – The Sunshine Tribe

Josh Oakes

 Josh Oakes with his wife started their tour operator business company back in 2002 with no experience, knowledge and no help. They struggled to navigate the industry waters for a couple of years and were taking in as little as $20,000 in revenue yearly. However, they didn’t let the small numbers influence their work ethic. Instead, they kept improving their strategies, lived their lives to the fullest and hired a consultant to learn as much as they could about the industry they were in. Seven years later, their business was raking in about $2million yearly before they decided to sell it off in 2017 for 7 figures. Josh is seasoned, experienced, highly intelligent and a force to reckon with in the travel business industry.  

Kelsey Tonner

Kelsey Tonner – Be a Better Guide Academy

Kelsey is a highly experienced and talented tour guide who is passionate about creating a network of tour operators to come together, liaise and help each other grow. Regardless of where an operator is located in the world, Kelsey believes that we can help ourselves offer memorable experiences to travelers with something as simple as sharing tips and pointers with each other. With over a decade worth of experience in the industry, Kelsey has guided various trips in different countries and continents. He is highly adventurous and always gives great insight into the true state of the travel industry.  

Travel Business Success Podcast  #78 Highlights

• Learn about the Different Challenges that Tour Business Owners Often Face in the Start-up Phase (7-20-13:25) 

There are various challenges that tourism business owners face in the early stages of their business. One of the most common ones being the failure or inability to overcome fear. Young operators tend to spend a lot of time worrying about whether they will be successful or not and this affects their output. Also, a lack of networks and connections is a huge challenge that new tour operators face. This is because they tend to be a tad clueless as to the running and workings of the industry and this can reflect as poor tourism business & marketing management.  The lack of diversity and different revenue streams also puts a major strain on the tour business in this baby stage. This is due to the fact that owners in this situation find themselves taking so much from the business without plans to replenish these resources. This definitely stunts their tourism business growth success. 

• Get Direct Insight on the Major Challenges that Mature Tour Operator Businesses Usually Face (15:30-22:40) 

Tour business owners definitely go through certain challenges when their business becomes more mature. This could be due to a higher demand for great tourism business management procedures. Maintaining the quality of your tour and experience is a major challenge for tour businesses in this stage as they are dealing with more people and on a larger scale. There is also a need for business owners to always have great back up plans as regarding staff and service quality. Also, taking time to clearly map out the responsibilities of each employee and ensuring they fully understand their various job descriptions will definitely help deal with some of the setbacks you might experience in this stage of your tour operator business. These challenges have to be well overcome for your tourism growth strategies to be effective at all.  

• Learn About Seven Specific Steps/Factors That Are Critical to Tourism Business Growth (23:30-46:00) 

Factors ranging from vision, customer service, quality, etc., to a great knowledge of your audience and customer base are great steps to master to build a concrete tourism business growth. These factors will determine how well your business will thrive regardless of what season or time of the year it is. Also, these factors are what keeps your tour operator business appealing to your audience. Not only do they reflect how professional and capable your team is, but they also build a deep trust for your brand in the minds of your audience and keeps them locked onto your services. These steps devised by Josh and Kelsey and that Tourism Tim helps clients with too have been tested and trusted by many professionals in the industry and they always yield incredible results.  

Consistent tourism business growth is definitely not a feat that is achieved in one day or month. It is one that requires a series of conscious and deliberate efforts on your part and that of your team with a clear vision of your vision and where you’re headed. However, with great pointers from Josh, Kelsey and Tourism Tim, you are definitely on your way to great tourism business management which will immediately translate into exponential growth. To achieve this goal and more, listen in today! 

Free 7-Figure Tour Business Training Webinar & Opportunity to Get “How to Double Your Leads, Bookings and Profits – On & Off-Line for FREE (a US$395 value)

If you like the guidance that Kelsey and Josh are providing, and you decide to get their course, I will sweeten the deal by giving you free access to my “Double Your Leads, Bookings & Profits live training with me which is the perfect compliment course. (a US$395 value)

This live training with me starts at the end of July.  Just send me your verification. It’s the perfect complement to their program. [/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Do you want travel marketing training to improve your skills?

Are you getting a lot of website traffic without enough leads and bookings?

Are you wondering why you are not getting as many bookings as your competitors?

Want to learn more about travel website marketing to increase bookings?

Travel Business Success Radio Podcast episode #77. “HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR TOURISM LEADS, BOOKING AND PROFITS”. This is the second and last part of a two-part webinar training series focused on helping you increase and convert all your leads to actual bookings in no time. Also, listen at the end of the show for a special announcement for a live training course with Tourism Tim Warren which is slated to start July 25th, 2019 called “How to Double Your Leads, Bookings & Profits”.

Do You Have Competition? Need to Increase Your Bookings?

It is no news that the travel, tour and attraction business industry is quite competitive. Many new businesses being started in various locations. This creates quite a strain on any existing business. This struggle should push owners to seek new travel marketing training skills that will give them a clear edge over the competition. A great way to learn new travel marketing tips is to listen to experts in the industry and gain new knowledge from their vast experiences.

Who Is Tourism Tim Warren?

Tourism Business Startup, Growth & Exit Expert

“Tourism Tim” – Tourism Marketing & Customer Service Expert

“Tourism Tim” Warren has been in the travel business industry for over 25 years. As a tour operator and ecolodge stakeholder and by helping 1000’s of global tourism, travel and hospitality stakeholders like you, he has garnered great experience in travel business startup, growth and exit strategies, mostly focused on marketing, sales, operations, management, customer service, leadership and business value building. He offers key travel marketing training tips to various businesses in the industry through his book, podcast, live and online trainings and web series. He is passionate about travel marketing training and dedicate his time and resources to help travel businesses maximize their potential.

HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR TOURISM LEADS, BOOKING AND PROFITS PART II –  TRAVEL MARKETING TRAINING – WEBINAR HIGHLIGHTS

1. Get an In-depth Insight on How Different Factors Can Affect Buying Decisions (02:00 – 6:00)

A clear knowledge of the various factors that affect buying decisions and how they truly come into play will help redefine and shape your travel website marketing strategies for better results. Targeting your travel advertising strategies through knowledge of these three factors will definitely increase your leads and bookings at an exponential level in no time.

1. Find Out How Trust is a Key Factor that Affects Your Travel Website Marketing Strategies (06:00-10:20)

The layout of your website, editorial content, social media reviews and other important factors go a long way to determine how much your audience will trust you. The right content on your website tells your audience that you are an authority in your field and will definitely keep them on your website a lot longer.

1. Learn about a Simple Formula Using the Three Deciding Factors that will Help You Determine Your Credibility and Increase Your Bookings (11:00-15:40)
   

This two-part formula focuses on how long you have been in business, and how many guests you have had. Putting these numbers together will give you an idea of how credible your brand appears to your audience.

1. Get Access to Great Travel Marketing Training Tips and Tools on How You Can Put Your Best Foot Forward to Clients at All Times (18:00-20:06)
   

You have to learn to integrate all your unique selling points into all your marketing strategies to keep your audience abreast of all the things you offer. These eye-opening tips will show you the parts of your business that your audience finds appealing and how you can leverage that for an increase in sales.
The information discussed in this second part of the webinar goes deeper to explain all the intricacies of travel marketing training and how they can take your travel business to the next level. To get all the interesting tips and formulas shared in this webinar, Join in Now!

Travel Marketing Training

Here’s How to Double Your Travel Leads, Bookings & Profits

Live Training with Tourism Tim

Thanks a lot for taking the time to listen in today. I hope that you learned a lot from this series and are ready to employ all the new and exciting information you have received. If you are dealing with travel website marketing, lead conversions, bookings and profit setbacks, then you will definitely benefit from my course which addresses all these issues to the T! This new course will be available for half the price and can be accessed at www.travelbusinesssuccess.com/double-your-tourism-bookings

Do You need easy tourism marketing training advice from the experts with proven results? 

Have you been thinking of the best way to increase your leads and bookings?

Do you want to convert more of your web traffic to real bookings?

Are your competitors getting more bookings than you, even though you have better service and prices?

Want to increase your effectiveness in Tourism marketing?

Want to take your tour operator marketing strategies to the next level?

Take some time to listen in to part I of this free online tourism marketing training webinar by tour operator expert, Tourism Tim Warren. Tourism Tim shares great insight on tourism advertising with key pointers on what converts travel shoppers into buyers that will take your tour operator business to the next level.

How Can You Stand Out From Competition and Increase Your Tourism Bookings

The tour operator business niche is quite saturated with a lot of businesses springing up in different parts of the world. Focus is, therefore, being placed on what sets a particular tour operator business apart from the rest. Most times, this is hinged on the strength of the company’s tourism advertising and marketing. All these being said, it is crucial to the success of your tourism business that you place a large emphasis on really understanding the psychology of travel shoppers and what motivates them to make a purchase with one operator over another. It comes down to trust. Listen and learn from this important tourism marketing training to get the necessary knowledge that will put you ahead of the ever-growing competition, and increase your leads and booking guaranteed!

Who Is Tourism Tim Warren and Why Should I listen to Him?

“Tourism Tim” – Tourism Marketing & Customer Service Expert

Tim Warren, commonly known as “Tourism Tim” is a tour operator business and marketing expert with over 35 years of experience in various industries with a common focus on sales, business development, marketing, and entrepreneurial management. He has helped thousands of global tourism companies to increase their leads and promote their tourism business globally through consultations, podcasts, and insightful live and online tourism marketing trainings. He is also an author, adventure traveler and social entrepreneur.

Listen or Download Podcast Here

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How to Double Your Tourism Leads, Booking & Profits, Travel Business Success Webinar Highlights: TBS77

1. Learn How to Effectively convert Leads and Website Traffic into Real Bookings with Tourism Team’s 3-part tourism marketing training tips. (20:40-31:35)

One of the key points of every tourism marketing training list is that your website has to be your biggest marketing tool regardless of whatever ads or promos you are running. Without a consistent generation of leads and sales on your website, you stand a risk of being out of a business regardless of how great your services or prices are. With a “Travel Website that Sells©”, your marketing and advertising costs are reduced drastically and you will generate more leads that translate into bookings with ease.

1. Get Great Insight on What Could Be Causing High Website Bounce Rates and Low Conversion Rates (31:40- 34:50)

This is largely hinged on how much your audience know and trust your business. If your services and unique selling point isn’t crystal clear on your website, it belittles all your tour operator marketing strategies and makes your audience uncomfortable with your brand. This could lead to an increase in bounce rates.

1. Find out How a Mobile-Friendly Website can help Reduce Bounce Rates and Increase Leads (35:00- 36:40)

The mobile version of your website should definitely reflect the best things about your business. A lot of potential consumers are on the internet all the time and they usually check out a brand on their phones before using a PC. A mobile-friendly website makes your brand easily accessible by your audience and definitely gives you an edge over your competition when it comes to tourism website marketing.

1. Learn About the Key things that Influence the Purchasing Decisions of Consumers (37:00- 41-08)

A lot of purchasing decisions are based on several factors like recommendations from past customers, social media reviews, editorial content, and website quality. The focus of any tourism marketing training for tour operator companies should be focused on these factors for best results.

The information and strategies discussed in this free travel marketing webinar are incredibly important aspects of tourism marketing training and is a great way to take your tourism advertising strategies to the next level. To get in-depth explanations and information on how to make all your tourism website marketing and tour operator marketing steps work in your favor, Join in Now!

How to Double Your leads, Bookings and Profits – New Live Training and Course with Tourism Tim Warren

Are you struggling with your getting bookings and sales? Is your website not generating as many leads as you would like? I am passionate about ensuring that all tourism businesses are living up to their potential and that’s why I am starting a live training on June,27th which would feature a lot of amazing resources that will help you increase your sales drastically in no time.

This “Double Your Bookings” course will be sold at half the price and will definitely help with fine tuning your website marketing and tourism marketing strategies to set your business on the right path.

Watch the Tourism Marketing Training Webinar Replay:  Double Your Tourism Leads, Bookings and Profits

Thanks a lot for listening and I am certain you learned a lot from this webinar to help you double your leads, bookings, and website. If you want to see the webinar and get a deeper understanding of the psychology behind travel shopping, visit travelbusinesssuccess.com/double-your-tourism-bookings-free-webinar.

I would also like to prepare you for the second part of this amazing webinar which digs into the motivation of travel shoppers and shows you how to leverage this into your marketing strategies. This part will also show you how to build and maintain trust amongst your audience in no time using a simple and proven system.

Are you curious about how Facebook tourism advertising can play a role on your tourism marketing to increase bookings?

Do you want to know the right ways to harness the true potentials of Facebook advertising and social media marketing for the tourism stakeholders?

Do you have unanswered questions on Facebook travel advertising?

Then take some time to listen in as Chris Torres, a tourism and digital marketing expert and Tourism Tim Warren discuss the impact of Facebook on the tourism business. Chris and Tourism Tim answer top frequently asked questions on how tourism, travel and hospitality professionals can use this amazing tool to generate more quality leads and bookings.

• 

  Facebook Tourism Advertising Tips to Market Your Tours, Lodging & Activities. Part I

• 

  Does Facebook Advertising for Tour Operators Suck? Top Tips to Increase Bookings and ROI: Part II

• 

  Best Facebook Ads Tour Operators Use to Increase Customer Awareness & Trust, Part 3 of 5

• 

  4 Steps to the Perfect Facebook Video Ad Sequence for Tourism Marketing: Part 4

Why is this Facebook Important for Travel Marketing?

It is no news that the tourism business is highly competitive. Different tour operator, lodges, attractions and travel vendors like you should always be looking for ways to stand out from your competition and attract more clients. This should make you highly focused on re-strategizing and improving your marketing strategies to appeal to their various audience demographics. Digital marketing must play a major role in tour operator businesses. Social media tourism marketing is the direct link between you and your clients. Facebook is one of the major and most popular digital marketing tools tour operators employ in their marketing strategies when done right…

Facebook has over 2 billion active followers and has proven to be a highly effective digital marketing tool. Facebook’s algorithm knows its users to a large extent and this factor allows users to advertise their businesses in a highly targeted way. All these being said, it is imperative that tourism, travel and hospitality business operators take advantage of the marketing goldmine that is Facebook. If you want to learn how to leverage this amazing marketing platform to your advantage, you have come to the right place.

This Travel Business Success podcast episode #75 takes you right into the intricacies of Facebook travel advertising and how you can tap into its seemingly unending resources for the growth of your travel business.

FACEBOOK TOURISM ADVERTISING – TRAVEL BUSINESS SUCCESS 75 SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

1. Are you a tour operator, lodge, hotel, attraction or travel agent and you tried out Facebook advertising and didn’t get any returns? Learn how to get the fundamentals right to get the best result (8:20-9:57)

A lot of people get put off Facebook travel advertising after a few trials because they target the wrong audience and get the fundamentals totally wrong. The targeting accuracy on Facebook is pretty high and with the right tweaks, users will definitely get the best results.

1. Is Facebook really a good platform for increasing my leads and bookings? (11:29-12:40)

This largely depends on how users utilize the platform. Facebook tourism advertising can yield incredible results when utilized properly. It can also yield little or no results when users are more focused on immediate sales than creating appealing and consistent content to attract their desired audience.

1. What are the best Facebook ads tourism operators can run to increase customer awareness and build trust? (17:09-21:50)

The best ads usually start with a downloadable guide, Facebook pixel to keep track of traffic, the actual ad and of course, an ad that clicks back to the user’s email or website. Facebook video tourism advertising is also a great way to attract the audience to your page.

1. Find out how the cost of Facebook tourism advertising can differ radically based on your location. (24:50-29:00)

Facebook tourism advertisements definitely differ based on the location of the user. This is because some locations are way more competitive than others. However, if a user is in a location like Brazil or Mexico, he can advertise very cheaply on the platform.

1. What are the best and most profitable types of Facebook travel advertising to run? (30:00-30:50)

This largely depends on the user’s kind of audience. Are they more attracted to Facebook video tourism advertising strategies? Or do they appear to like single image or carousel ads? Users are advised to try different kinds of ads, monitor the results and find the one yielding more results.

Facebook tourism advertising is very important to the growth of any travel business. It’s time tour operators begin to utilize the many available tools of the platform. If you are clueless or confused on how to get started, then LISTEN to this episode of Travel Business Success Radio Podcast NOW!

How to Double Your Leads, Bookings and Profits Online with Tourism Tim Warren

April 25 & May 1, 2019

Here’s the sad truth about the global tourism, travel or hospitality business.

No matter what you offer, where or how long you have or have not been doing it… Without quality leads and booking, you will be out business.

That’s why it is CRITICAL you learn, understand and apply my proven system which taps into the “Purchasing Psychology” of travel shoppers. Join me and fellow global tourism peers and learn how to influence your best prospects behavior and get them to book and recommend you.

Have you been thinking of new ways to increase bookings via online tourism
booking systems?

Are you curious about new tourism marketing strategies that could bring a boost to your online bookings?

Do you want to know more about attraction marketing and how it can influence your online tourism booking engines? 

Then listen in today as Stephanie Kutschera; Head of Marketing, in Trekksoft and I tackle many of the looming questions you might have on how to increase bookings on your tourism booking systems, lower marketing costs, increase distributions and boost revenue sources. Also be sure to check out my free webinar below on how to double your website bookings and revenue.

Why are Online Booking Systems So Important?

Over the years, the growth of tourism booking systems has made it incredibly easy for people to have direct access to hotels and accommodation all at the click of a button. This also makes it easy for tourism and travel businesses to increase their customer reach and book more clients in no time. Therefore, understanding the workings of tourism booking systems and how to tweak the to work in favor of your travel business will definitely put you at the top of your niche. The best way to do this is via tourism marketing and we have just the right expert to tell you exactly how it’s done.

Let’s Get to Know Stephanie (1:54-2:35)

Stephanie is originally from Scotland. She has been in marketing for over 8 years and has worked with multiple companies and hotel groups in the United Kingdom with the most recent being Trekksoft. She joined Trekksoft as part of the marketing team before being becoming the head. Her job description entails to curate and oversee great and appealing content that keeps their audience engaged. she also oversees all marketing strategies at Treksoft on a global level.

Listen or Download Podcast Here

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Online Tourism Booking Systems | Common misperceptions & Tips to Increase Bookings  – Travel Business Success Podcast Show Highlights

Learn About Free Online Booking Systems and How to Get one (4:20-6:59)

• These are online booking systems that more or less pass on the entire cost of bookings to the customers, only charging a transaction fee when a booking is made. The key part about these booking systems is ensuring that they are well integrated into your travel business. This way, all traffic, bookings and engagement you get via the booking systems are centralized and can easily be tracked.

Find Out How Online Booking Systems Increase Bookings (17:13-22:30)

• Tourism booking systems enables users to book online and get all the information they need about a particular listing really boosts the amount of bookings a customer gets. This is because it makes the entire process a lot easier and more transparent for the customer and helps them make quicker and better buying decisions. It also helps travel businesses decrease their marketing costs by a huge percentage and allows these funds to be channeled towards other parts of the business.

Learn About What Benefits Tourism Booking Systems Give to their Users (25:10-29:00)

• With the really low transaction fee and round the clock access to the desired audience demographic, there are a wide range of benefits these booking systems offer to their users. It creates a direct channel to your audience, builds trust and increases sales.

Learn more About Trekksoft (30:00)

• Learn how Treksoft operates and the various benefits they offer to their customers and how they keep them connected to their various audiences.

The information discussed in this podcast will definitely show you the value of online tourism booking systems and how crucial they are to the growth and advancement of any travel or tourism business. To learn how you can get an online booking system and use it to your advantage, listen Now!

Sign Up For My Upcoming Workshop to Help Increase Your Bookings

Thanks for Socially Sharing, Your Questions & Subscribing to Travel Business Success Podcast

The information discussed in this podcast are very useful to professionals in the tourism, travel and hospitality business and a great way to get your travel business social media marketing strategies in check.

Have You Been Wondering How You Can Use Social Media Reviews and Specifically Yelp Social Media to Your Advantage?

Curious About What Effective Tourism Social Media Strategies Might Be Missing from Your Tour Business Marketing Strategies?

Want to Reap the Full Benefits of Social Media Reviews and Yelp for Your Travel, Tourism or Hospitality Business?

Then take some time to listen today as Matt Donzella, one of the leading top local business outreach managers for Yelp and I dig into your many questions, issues and challenges that you have with Yelp social media and other online reviews platforms. This episode of Travel Business Success Podcast will give you great pointers on how to maximize your social media marketing and its potential for your Tourism Business.

Why is Yelp Social Media & Reviews Important?

The main purpose of Yelp is to help potential consumers find good businesses in their area with ease. With over 80 million visitors monthly, it has become quite the marketing goldmine for many businesses. It is a great way to create a great online image for your brand, connect with your audience and also become an authority in your niche. With the growth of digital marketing over the years, Yelp as a tourism social media marketing platform is great to focus your travel business marketing strategies on. Who better to get great pointers and tips from than an expert on digital marketing via Yelp?

Matt Donzella – Yelp Local Business Expert

Let’s Get to Know Matt: Yelp Local Business Expert (1:25-1:57)

Matt Donzella is part of the local business outreach team at Yelp. He started out on the sales team but is now fully into educating business owners understand the workings of Yelp and how to use it to grow their business. He also hosts different workshops and attends conferences with the aim of sensitizing as many business owners as possible on how they can use Yelp to their own advantage.

Listen or Download Podcast Here

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Yelp Social Media HIGHLIGHTS: Travel Business Success #73

Learn about the different reasons why Yelp can rock (2:35-3:27)

• The main aim of marketing with Yelp Social media is to connect businesses to their potential clients. It is a great way for a business to become visible to its audience and to ensure that they can easily find the services they need even when they are out of town.

Get insight on the different features of a strong Yelp social media page (5:40-11:00)

• The first step on getting a great Yelp page is usually to search for your business and see if your business is already on yelp. Features like many photos, contact details, business hours, specialties etc. well customized are key to a great yelp page and business owners should definitely ensure these information is provided.

Top tips on how you can get more reviews for your Yelp page (12:30- 15:00)

• Reviews take time to accumulate and it is no different with the travel business. The best way to get great reviews is to turn “Yelpers into your customers.” This can be done by putting up window stickers with your Yelp address, on your front desk, on social media and anywhere your clients might find them.

What are the best way to respond to reviews including bad reviews? (17:12-22:25)

• Bad days in the travel business are inevitable. Replying to reviews can be tricky but it is important that you reply between 24 – 48hrs especially with the critical reviews. This leaves the possibility of the customer changing the negative review or removing it altogether. Another great tip is to always thank your customers for leaving a review.

Here’s an example of an initial bad review that was radically improved based on the way the management responded.

Why does Yelp filters reviews, what are the factors that affect it and how does it work? (26:10-34:12)

• Yelp has an algorithm that governs reviews and how they appear on different pages. There are different factors that go into reviews being filtered and although it is not a 100% accurate, it is used to filter reviews that may not be from authentic sources and ensure that only real reviews are displayed. This is basically to build the trust amongst yelp users and to reassure customers that a large percentage of the reviews on a particular page are real and can be trusted.

Yelp Social Media Tourism marketing Resources to Save Money & Have More Success

To learn more on how you can use Yelp or any social media marketing to grow your tourism business, check out these resources and listen to the show today!

• Yelp Social Media Marketing Ad Promo code: Q1LOCALBOOST19
• Nice blog article on how to get positive social media reviews: https://biz.yelp.com/guide_to_success
• Yelp for business  owners can search for whatever they want to know: https://www.yelpblog.com/

Thanks for Socially Sharing, Your Questions & Subscribing to Travel Business Success Podcast

The information discussed in this podcast are very useful to professionals in the tourism, travel and hospitality business and a great way to get your travel business social media marketing strategies in check.

Want to Increase Your Tour Bookings and Profits?

I’ve Helped 1000’s of Tour Operators, Guides, Travel Agents, B&B’s, Lodges, Resorts, Even DMO’s to Fill Up Their Trips and Increase Arrivals With Happy Paying Customers…

And Now I’ll Show You How To Easily Increase Your Travel Website Bookings and Increase Online Traffic … Using Simple Ideas You Can Implement In Less Than Two Hours…

Even If You Have No Experience Marketing on the Internet or Your Money Back!  60-Day Risk Free Trial

Click here and see what many tourism professionals just like you had to say about my online tourism marketing course