If your travel & tourism brand is not ready for welcome back messaging, read our 5 tips on how to continue your marketing efforts for future sales success.

Travel & Tourism Marketing Tips During COVID Crisis

5 Travel and Tourism Marketing Tips for Engaging with Customers While Setting Up for Later Sales

It’s not news that the pandemic has had a brutal impact on the <a href="https://cms.union.co/industries/travel-tourism">travel and tourism industry</a>. It’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/coronavirus-pandemics-impact-on-travel-tourism-in-5-charts.html">expected</a> that passenger revenue for airlines will be down 55% compared with 2019. And it’s predicted that U.S. hotels will see up to a 50% drop in revenue per available room. It doesn’t help the industry that more than 200 countries and territories took actions to restrict or deter travelers from crossing their borders.
So, what now? With coronavirus cases still surging in the U.S., travel and tourism brands are struggling with the idea of implementing any sort of messaging that might say “welcome back to our destination” or “shop these travel products for your next trip.” It’s tricky to encourage travel when our officials – and peers – are largely discouraging it. 
Still, that doesn’t mean travel and tourism brands can’t take on a more optimistic approach and keep the spirits of their customers and prospective customers high and tinged with a sense of adventure. It doesn’t mean these brands can’t prepare for recovery and upcoming opportunities for sales. 
Here are five ways travel and tourism brands, from spas, to hotels, to airlines, to luggage producers, can stay top of mind for customers while setting up for later sales success.

The drop in desire to travel presents a unique opportunity for travel and tourism brands to temporarily channel the paid media spend they were directing toward sales into nurturing their customer base.“If you’re not going to be able to generate sufficient sales, take the time to reengage with your current customers,” said Allie Robbe, Union Senior Paid Media Strategist. “Reengage with people who have converted before to maintain their customer loyalty, so when things get better, they still trust you as a brand. Another option is to focus on spreading awareness to a new potential customer base, so when you get to the point where you can convert, you have a bigger customer pool to target. Essentially: you might not be able to solve your sales problem right now, but you can set yourself up for better sales later.”Start by showing empathy as a brand. Consider hosting free, virtual events – like cocktail classes with the hotel bartender, or tours of your park or spa, or a lesson with your museum expert, or a how-to with a popular product – as a way to reward customers. This giving-back approach also keeps your brand top of mind. It’s subtle advertising just by being helpful and extending your value as a brand. “Customers care what brands are doing to help during this situation,” Robbe said. “This adds to customer lifetime value.”

Reengage your customer base

“<a href="https://cms.union.co/services/performance-media/geofencing-hyper-local">Look at geotargeting</a> and your location and be able to customize messaging to what people are searching for,” said Union Senior Paid Search Strategist Amanda Zwerin, who uses tools like Google Trends to gather data. “And be aware of where users are coming from and going to. The industry is very much location-based, so you’re able to cater your messaging and targeting more granularly to make sure you’re providing an appropriate connection for that consumer.”
For example, if people are searching for “hotels in Texas,” it might also be helpful for brands with Texas markets to know how people are being made more comfortable in Texas, so they’re able to be really geo-specific for those queries. This kind of knowledge will help travel and tourism brands prepare for marketing during recovery, when they are indeed ready to welcome customers back. 
One of the most fascinating finds, Zwerin said, is people aren’t as interested in going somewhere new or with a brand they trust. A feeling of safety is the most important travel factor for <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/more-than-half-internet-users-say-safety-most-important-factor-planning-next-vacation">54%</a> of US internet users right now.
“This is potentially a time for other brands to emerge if people are not being brand loyal but are looking for the next solution that makes them feel safe,” she said.

Know what consumers are searching for

For travel and tourism brands, it’s no longer enough to just keep the direct consumer in mind for messaging. With so many opinions about comfort and safety and ethics, not to mention plain peer pressure, circulating during this pandemic, the travel companion needs to be considered when speaking to the consumer.
“It’s important to know there are more social influences on customers,” Zwerin said. “The typical consumer journey might have an added layer of who you’re talking to. You’re not just talking to your key persona, you’re talking to your persona’s husband or family unit as a whole. There are all these added opinions disrupting your consumer journey. This social pressure to travel or not is a challenge to take on. That’s the first thing that brands need to overcome.”
Take a step back and look at the industry as a whole, Zwerin said, starting with how people are reacting to the concept of travel and tourism in general.
“People want to feel safe, then they want to relax, then they want to look at price,” she said. Make sure your <a href="https://union.co/services/data-brand-strategy/brand-identity-messaging">brand messaging addresses those priorities</a> – for both the consumer and their companions.

Be aware of the shifting customer journey

With so many people staying home right now, we can simply encourage them to book future stays or services, or purchase gift cards for later use, right? While that seems like a logical tactic, if you’re planning to keep selling, be wary of selling too far ahead. While these up-front sales can support brands now, what about when those future dates do arrive, and sales for that quarter plummet because customers are arriving to redeem their pre-paid experiences? It just delays the same problem. “If you sell ahead, limit just how much you sell ahead,” Robbe said. And consider alternatives to fold into the process. “You don’t want to capitalize on all your future sales now. Hotel brands could offer a special dinner at their restaurants that customers would be encouraged to book rooms in order to experience. Meanwhile, travel brands could sell exciting, limited-release products to avoid digging into their baseline products.”

Limit your sell-ahead inventory

But for brands that do sell ahead (or have sold ahead) and later run into the problem of reduced inventory and a slowdown in sales, all is not lost. “Look at the calendar and pinpoint low-conversion days,” Robbe said. “For example, note if customers who booked ahead didn't choose to book hotel rooms Monday through Wednesday. Strategically offer promotions through paid media campaigns for those days that haven’t been booked once prepaid bookings are redeemed.”Want to talk through more strategies for preparing your travel and tourism brand for success during recovery?<a href="https://union.co/contact"> Contact us</a>.

Assess low-conversions for opportunities

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