Growing your Travel Agency Business

While the Internet has pierced into many aspects of our life, it has, in addition, turned into a throng marketplace for travel agencies. Not only are you competing for clicks and revenue, but you’re also competing with big airline and hotel players that sell their products directly from their website. Your agency needs a vigorous marketing strategy to stay afloat. This article provides a breakdown of the advantages of marketing a travel agency, as well as some useful travel agency marketing tips that you can implement to generate more revenue for your business.

Have a good website

Do everything you can to get your company a good website. You just can’t go wrong with this! This is the “point of contact” of you and your customer and it has to be completely commendable. Exceptional websites have a good design and compelling content. Your website must be completely responsive. Mobile bookings in travel have grown by 1700% between 2011 and 2015, moving from 1% to 18% of online revenues. Still, this also means that 80% of online bookings don’t take place on mobile devices in 2016 which means that there should a continuous focus and growth in the mobile application (as there is a huge potential for growth in the mobile) without compromising on the development of other sources as majority of the revenue is still generated from the other sources.

Develop a Relationship

There is an ocean of options for the customer to dive into and if you really want to attract them you need to create and value for them. Give them a good and a personalized experience and they’ll definitely come back to you for the service. Differentiate yourself from self-service online solutions and instead give consumers highly personalized service, recommendations, etc., right from your very first interaction with them — whether online, by phone or in-person. It’s all about selling experiences. The more unique, the more value you’re adding. The more you can get clients access to special events or people, the more differentiated you are.

Technology is the Key

Technology is the most significant area of the Travel Industry. You are required to have good technology with you in order to stand a chance in the vast market. You could opt for services of products like “Travelomatix” which is a best in class Travel Technology.Having a well designed Travel Technology will definitely increase your customer base and sales.

Search engines love fresh content

Work on those keywords, Search Engine Optimisation and all the online marketing tools that help you divert potential customers to your services. Keep updating your content along with your services and offerings to your customers.

Go upmarket

Segment the market based on different customer types. Have a separate team to provide services for them. This helps you provide better service based on the type of customer. Travelers with more money than time value purchasing a travel agent’s expertise and ability to handle every aspect of the trip. On the other hand some travelers don't require as much services and you revenue generated through them would also be comparatively lesser. But these customers are important too for the volume game as they will be more in number.

Build Partnership and Associations

In the Travel Industry, Partnerships are very important. Your relationship with the hoteliers and airlines could get you discounts and more importantly, you will not have to worry about over booked scenarios. Be a good marketer or hire a marketing agency to help you. Have a Partner Program travel referral program to get more leads.

Capture Social media

Social Media presence is a must for any business. On customers front If you don’t exist on social media, you don't exist. Social Media influences customers’ decisions and buying patterns to a great extent.

A Facebook Page for your travel business is highly recommended. Get your clients to be fans and to post reviews of your services. Engage them with insights and tips. It is fine to post some specials or deals, but a Facebook page is best used when it’s less about selling and more about engaging with fans and being helpful with your knowledge. Apart from Facebook. Your social media presence on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn are equally important.

Powerful. All In One. TRAVELOMATIX 3.0

1 Revolutionary travel portal software platform lets you engage B2C users and B2B agencies to make more sales. Top APIs, custom UIs and best in class features bring the edge.

2 Deploy Travelomatix IBE on your existing domain or setup on a new domain. Sell flights, hotels, transfers and other travel deals under your brand.

3 Our cloud-based IBS (internet booking system) is 1/8 the price of a custom travel agency software with equal features. You spend less time managing travel technology and concentrate on business.

4 Travelomatix is 100% mobile responsive. Your travel ticketing software will look and perform equally well on desktops, tablets and mobile phones with no extra coding or design work.

5 Travelomatix offers payment gateway API integration of your choice. Sell online deals on your travel website and receive payments directly into your account.

6 Integrate your online booking software with leading travel CRM software solutions like Salesforce and ERP suites like NetSuite, Brightpearl and Microsoft Dynamics.

7 Analyze and gain insight into your online booking engine's growth. Integrate additional GDS like Amadeus, Travelport, Sabre and third party hotel & transfer aggregators.

8 Travelomatix IBE is developed with top end travel technology to deliver the highest quality operations. Server, bandwidth and performance are the things that we take care.

How to succeed in online travel business (OTA)?

Robust booking engine platform

One must have the best travel technology partner to setup robust OTA. Find out a company with great infrastructure, a unique product team in core, implementation team for customer interface and must have quicker to go market approach. This will let you focus on other non technology but IMP tasks.

Don't sell deals, sell expertise!!!

Many agents advertise deals on their booking platforms and send promote it. It's tough to beat deals on the Internet, and will be even tougher proceeding further. Upgrade your booking engine and define a clear strategy to sell expert advice and personalized service.

Plan your segment well

In general, global market has two traveler types. 1 - Those with more money than time and 2 - those with more time than money. Target both segments but travelers with more money than time value purchasing a agency's expertise and ability to handle and manage all aspect of the trip.

Engage and sell through social media

We highly recommend social presence for your travel business. Get your customers be fans and to post reviews of your services. Engage them with insights and tips. A facebook page is best used, when it's less about selling and more about engaging.