The holidays are just around the corner!

It means that it’s time for tour and activity operators to step up their marketing strategy to attract more bookings during the holiday season.

Holiday Tips for Tour Operators

Gearing up your marketing campaign and finalizing a promotional strategy well before the holidays will give you a leg up on your competition. There is no shortage of holiday tips and tricks for tour and activity operators to capture more bookings to help you meet your end-of-year goals.

But, the tricky part is identifying the useful strategies that your team can quickly take action on. Valuable tips are what you need in the run-up to a holiday season.

To help, here are four practical tips that you can get a start on to gain more bookings and boost revenue during the holiday season. 

Spread Holiday Cheer with Gift Cards

There is no doubt about the rising popularity of gift cards among shoppers, especially among holiday shoppers who are on the last-minute hunt for the perfect gift for their loved ones. Google searches for ‘gift card online’ alone have grown globally by over 100% in 2020. 

And activity gift cards or experience gift cards are becoming a clear winner, with 59% of U.S. adults believing that giving experience gifts is easier than shopping for material gifts. With personalized holiday messages, activity gift cards have all the right ingredients to charm the recipient and help them build lasting memories.

Start by offering gift cards at a flash sale price for the holidays. Give a little nudge to your customers during the booking stage by reminding them that they can give the gift of an amazing experience to someone they love. Don’t forget to use social media pages to promote your gift cards.

Zaui allows tour and activity operators like you to offer the gift of experience to your customers. The gift cards can either be for a specific tour or activity or one particular denomination. For those who prefer a tangible, hard copy gift, customers who have purchased an experience through you have the option to print out the activity gift card to insert into their holiday cards.

Boost Bookings with Holiday Promo Codes

Do you know that having a coupon with a promotional offer can significantly impact customers’ shopping behaviour? Several surveys that looked into consumer behaviour suggest that promo codes remain the most effective marketing tool and can help accelerate your customers’ decision-making process.

Make the best use of promo codes to bring a festive mood to your holiday campaign. As the holiday season approaches, entice new customers and connect with them by offering promo codes. Use promo codes to re-engage your previous guests by attracting them with discounted prices they can’t afford to ignore.

So, why not build a code like BLACKFRIDAY10, offering a 10 percent (or whatever works for your margins) discount for those who purchase experiences during the holiday season? Promo codes with a limited period offer will instill a sense of urgency, and in fear of missing out, travellers will jump right in and claim the offer.

Reflecting the seasonal vibe of togetherness, consider marketing your activities and packages by building family-friendly, group activity products and packages for the holidays and offer promo codes discount for group tickets. 

As with gift cards, use social media and your emails to reach out to your prospective bookers and guests to share the exclusive offer.

If you want to elevate your guest experience by offering them gift cards and promo codes, Chat with Us Today!

We offer tourism operators the gift card feature on their booking platform, allowing their guests to opt for a gift card for a fixed amount or by activity. Also, our promo code feature enables them to create, manage and distribute highly customized promotional codes in just a few clicks.

Build Buzz with Holiday Contests

Create festive, positive buzz through various contests leading up to the holidays. Run your contests on social media or your website, and perhaps incentivize them with a free experience—on you!

12 Days of Christmas Giveaways, a Holiday-themed Prize Draw or Survey are a few popular options to kick start the holiday season, all the while building interest and engagement. Add in some extra holiday cheer asking your guests to engage by sharing their past experiences with you, their favourite holiday travel memory or their dream holiday.

Keep in mind, your audience may not end up booking with you. Look at it as an opportunity for you to engage with your community as you place your tours in front of a broader audience and attract future business.

Use social media channels to promote the contest, detailing the contest guidelines and incentives. If you don’t want to get caught in the rules of contests on Facebook and Instagram, host the contest exclusively on your website or through email to your mailing list. 

Tis the Season for Partnerships

Working with other tour operators to distribute your tours and activities during the holiday season can have the potential to bring more joy AND more bookings. Joining forces with another supplier in the local marketplace is beneficial during the season as you can reach potential customers you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Partner with local operators to run an exclusive holiday package for holiday travellers. Offering tour bundles at a discounted rate to your guests will help them make the best use of their time and have memorable holidays. Someone looking for an attraction may be looking for an additional activity like a snowshoe tour along with it at a discounted price.

Apart from being a revenue booster, partnerships can help you build a robust network in your local marketplace. You can always leverage the power of cross-promotion and referral marketing from your new partners and friends.

Zaui via Zaui Connect allows its users to view partner inventory, to add to their itinerary to cross-sell their products, enabling users to offer their tours as packages along with their local partners and fellow Zaui users. Have we piqued your interest? Head over here to know more about Zaui Connect.

Final Thoughts on Holiday Tips for Tour Operators

The Holidays are all about spreading joy and happiness, so get a head start on crafting marketing campaigns and promotional offers that incentivize your customers to purchase your experiences.

End the year with a bang, and build up holiday buzz by sprinkling your website, social media, and emails with festive content to get your audience excited for the season and entice them with exclusive offers they can’t resist.