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As a tour operator, finding new ways to improve your customers’ experience while also increasing profitability for your business should always be top of mind. A great way to attract more customers and increase your tour bookings is to offer tour packages. By creating and selling travel packages, you’re addressing the needs of a specific type of traveler, one who is looking for a fuller travel experience with the added benefits of convenience and savings.
Today we’ll be discussing the benefits of tour packages, how to effectively create and sell your own travel package, and how Rezgo’s tour packaging system can help.
What Are Tour Packages?
Tour packages are a combination of separate (but typically related) tourism products and services that are presented and sold as one. Customers pay for all the components of a tour package and receive details of their itinerary prior to travel. A typical tour package example is one that includes travel to and from the destination, accommodation, meal arrangements, and activities or excursions.
Tour Package Example
As with this example, when people think of tour packages, they often think of packages that include services from multiple vendors. Tour packages can, however, consist of offerings from a single tour provider. Rezgo’s tour packaging system is designed to help you create and promote travel packages of your own tour products, but also offer resellers the option to package services from multiple tour businesses as well.
What Are The Benefits Of Tour Packages?
Opinions regarding the benefits of tour packages versus purchasing various travel components on your own vary with each traveller. To create and market the best tour package possible, it’s important to understand what customers are looking for in a travel package.
Benefits of Tour Packages
- Convenience – Purchasing a tour package that includes multiple services or experiences in one saves customers the time and energy needed to locate and research them individually. Travelers who prefer tour packages tend to like to avoid the work involved with booking each travel component separately.
- Cost Savings – It’s expected that customers enjoy cost savings when booking a tour package. Tour operators will often provide discounts or special rates for purchasing multiple tour products or services.
- Security / Reassurance – Booking a tour package put together by a tour operator and that has been vetted by other travelers provides customers with a sense of security and reassurance.
Equally important is to be aware of why some customers would prefer to plan their vacation on their own. Understanding the concerns and wants of these travelers can potentially help create a tour package that addresses their concerns and converts them into bookings.
Benefits of Planning Your Own Trip
- Flexibility – Planning a tour experience on your own provides some additional flexibility. Customers are not bound to any constraints that may be present when booking a tour package.
- Options – Sometimes not all travel or tour options are presented when browsing tour packages. Customers may feel like their options are being artificially limited by the tour operator’s preferences or reach.
- Individualized Experience – Customers who want to customize their trip and have an authentic experience tend to avoid booking tour packages over concerns of receiving a limited, tourist-centric experience.
What Kind Of Customers Enjoy Tour Packages?
Now that we’ve gone through the benefits of tour packages versus the benefits of planning a trip on your own, we can begin to understand the kinds of customers who enjoy tour packages. Above all, travellers drawn to trip packages are looking for the convenience and cost savings associated with them. They aren’t concerned about customizing every detail of their trip and are happy to entrust their experience to the tour operator or company. Tour package customers are attracted to the ease and hassle-free booking process and want the best deal possible.
Creating A Great Tour Package
Taking what we know about our audience and what they look for when purchasing a tour package, we can implement strategies that will help us create fantastic trip packages of our own. With Rezgo’s tour packaging system, you’re able to group or combine various tour products together and offer them at a discount that is both attractive to the customer and profitable for your business. What you choose to group and how you decide to package them is up to you. You have the freedom to package travel arrangements to and from your destination, pair up your activities with equipment rentals, or even group multiple experiences together for a multi-day excursion. Need some inspiration for your tour packages? Check out these innovative tourism business ideas!
Remember, customers browsing travel packages for their trip are looking for convenience and freedom from having to handle all the little details. Whatever you choose to include in your tour package, make sure that you’re making it as streamlined and stress-free an experience as possible. Include as many relevant details in your tour package descriptions and preemptively answer questions that your customers might have regarding what is or isn’t included. Highlight the benefits of your tour package when compared to an individual tour and include details about discounts or deals. Customers should feel like once they book your trip package, all that’s left for them to do is enjoy their amazing vacation.
How to Market and Promote Your Tour Package
While there are definitely a few different factors to consider when marketing and promoting tour packages versus an individual tour, the fundamentals remain the same. To successfully market your tour package you need to first understand your target market or audience. That is, who are you selling your tour package to? You can then begin to build a marketing strategy aligned with the needs and wants of your target audience. As mentioned earlier, travellers expect discounts when booking travel packages so be sure to carefully consider your tour package costing so as to provide a great deal for your customer while keeping your business profitable and sustainable.
For an in-depth look at effectively selling your tour package, we suggest checking out our post on how to promote tour packages online and familiarising yourself with the 7 Ps of travel and tourism marketing.
Closing Thoughts
Tour packages are a great way to combine and sell your tour products and services in a way that is attractive to your customers and profitable to your business. By understanding the benefits of a tour package over individually booking tours and addressing the needs of your target audience, you’re able to effectively create, market, and promote your own travel packages.
We’re excited for you to try out our new tour packaging system and look forward to seeing all the amazing tour packages you build for your business!
FAQs
What should be included in tour packages?
Include transportation, accommodations, meals, guided tours, and activities. Detail what’s covered and any extra costs.
What is the difference between a tour package and an itinerary?
A tour package bundles services for one price. An itinerary outlines trip details but doesn’t include bookings.
Should my tour package have add-ons?
Yes, offer add-ons for customization. It enhances the experience and meets diverse traveller preferences.
Written By | Edward Nieh
