By Rezdy — 2 Nov 2018

Tips for seasonal tour operators

For most tour and activity operators, their business is seasonal. The majority of travel destinations have a peak season, and that is when tour and activity providers have the most bookings and generate the most revenue. While this is the norm in the industry, it can still be challenging to maneuver this unique revenue stream. These tips for seasonal tour operators will help you stay productive and profitable throughout the year:

Before the Peak Season

  • Create content and schedule blog posts. During this slow season, you have more time to focus on other aspects of your business. This is the ideal time to sit down, brainstorm and assign blog posts to staff members or content writers. Complete all of the posts prior to the peak season, and then schedule them to post sporadically throughout the coming months.
  • Launch a pre-season marketing campaign. Promoting your tours and activities in the months and weeks leading up to your peak season will help generate buzz about your brand and will keep your prospective customers focused on making a decision so that they can book one of your tours. You could include early booking discounts in this promotion, to help kick-start your busy season.

During the Peak Season

  • Offer promotional codes and discounts. In the height of the tourist season, you can use daily deal sites and social media in order to provide promotional codes and discounts. These discounts may motivate people to book with you more than once, and they can help fill up your last-minute bookings.
  • Post daily about tours and activities on your social pages. When you are running back-to-back tours and all of your vehicles are full, this is the best time to capture images and videos of your success. This is powerful visual proof that you should broadcast to your social followers, as it showcases what people love about your experiences. You may even want to consider live-streaming your tours to increase interest and engagement with your brand.

After the Peak Season

  • Solicit online reviews and feedback. As the last of the travelers start to head home for the season, you should start to focus on social proof. Reach out to your past customers and ask them to leave feedback for you on popular sites like TripAdvisor or Google. This will help drive more bookings during the next peak season.
  • Use social media and automatic e-mails to stay in contact with your travelers. Now that you can breathe a little easier, you can focus more on building relationships with your customers. Social media and automatic e-mail tools are an ideal way to stay in touch with those who have visited you in the last year.

We hope that these tips for seasonal tour operators will help you grow and succeed!

Seasonal tour operators also should invest in online booking technology that helps increase their efficiency, manage their resources and maximize their revenue. Rezdy is the best option for tour activity providers, because it is the only online booking system that was designed for the tour and activity industry. For more information on how Rezdy can improve your seasonal tour and activity business, begin your 21 day free trial today.

Image credit: Duffy Brook