It comes to small companies, generally single-shareholder ones that are passionate of their activity, which offer nature guiding services, sport training, visits to sites of cultural interest, meetings with craftspeople who open the doors of their workshops and share their know-how, wine cellars and cheese factories, among many others.
Defined until quite recently as holiday “extra activities”, are they still really complementary? Aren’t most displacements usually done to do a specific activity? Wine tasting or snowshoeing hike isn’t actually what we share on social networks?
Why is the offer of activities still so slightly visible and so difficult to book although it registers a yearly growth of 10%?
Some time ago, visitors didn’t use to buy activities before arriving at their destinations. Nowadays, platforms allow them to book before leaving home and, through the mobile phone, the companies have the opportunity to be literally “in the pocket” of the potential customers.
The magazine HOSTELTUR has published many articles about this topic for years and about the fast evolution of the online marketing of activities, led by well-known powerful groups such as Booking, Airbnb, TUI, Trip Advisor.
Airbnb, for example, thanks to the purchase of Trip4real start-up, has added a tab on its main menu that links to experiences “designed by local people”. Musement, a platform focused on trips sale, is somehow related to TUI group, and Viator is linked to TripAdvisor… just like as many others, including Google, with its Google Bookings.
Source: TOURS AND TRAVEL ACTIVITIES REPORT 2019.
The professionals who offer activities should be able to take advantage of the opportunities of the global commercialization offered by technology, probably at the expense of a higher price flexibility and high commissions; a step that accommodation and transport companies have already had to take.
On the other hand, they are provided with multichannel booking engine that can be easily integrated to their website and help them to be promoted throughout the world.
The most interesting aspect is that they can increase the flow of searches on the web of the company and thus offer a direct booking if the website is attractive and allows an easy purchase. The structure of the activities will probably have to be more flexible and dynamic in terms of minimum groups, target audience, cancellation conditions, etc.
This new challenge also provides new possibilities to the most dynamic companies –which are getting involved in the channels they consider interesting through specific booking engines– as well as to companies and destinations that include them.
The workshops on product creation and the advice sessions aimed at small companies offered by DCB Turisme through the different regional and European programs broach the topic of online marketing of the activities so that the professionals know about it and consider it as an opportunity to adapt to the new trends of holiday consumption.
@shutterstock