Marketing Travel & Tourism During the Coronavirus Pandemic
The world will find its rhythm again. Until then, the travel and tourism industry is going to suffer. A lot. Hotels and tour operators (not to mention airlines and other transport companies) are in crisis mode, dealing with financial losses every day. According to ITB’s recent Worldwide Travel Trends Report, the global outbound travel market was forecasted to grow by 4%. That will definitely not be the case.
With news updates and government regulations changing by the minute, it is impossible to escape the coronavirus (COVID-19). It’s hard to think ahead when all you find yourself doing is putting out one fire after the other in a forest of endless booking cancellations. However, the world will find its rhythm again.
And when it does, people will want to travel more than ever. They will be ready to celebrate life after lockdown. So, here are five short-term and five long-term goals you should be working on now to stay ahead of the game:
Short-Term
1. Adjust your marketing strategy, don’t dismiss it.
Readjust your target audience. Focus on local markets rather than international travelers if you can. Change the content planned for social media in the coming weeks. Communicate what you are doing to help your employees, community and customers rather than trying to sell rooms or tours.
2. Train your marketing team to become customer service experts.
There isn’t a whole lot to market when it’s physically impossible to travel right now. So, make use of your marketing team’s communications skills and free capacities, and train them to help where they are needed most – customer service. With cancellations rolling in, you can use all the help you can get in this department.
3. Implement a no penalty cancellation policy.
The only way forward in a crisis situation like this one. You will lose existing and future customers if you do not give them the option to cancel their booking free of charge. If anyone is looking to book their vacation during this time of crisis, this is also the only way you will resume consumer confidence.
4. Offer incentives to customers to ensure bookings are postponed, not cancelled.
Ideally, your customers are open to postponing their trip, not cancelling it completely. Make it easier for them to consider postponing by offering incentives such as free room upgrades, free additional nights, free transfers, or anything else that you are willing and able to offer. Be sure to reach out to your customers before they reach out to you, and show that you have their safety and interest at heart.
5. Maintain a no discounting policy.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and we love using discounts in our industry to drive sales. However, this is not the time to do so. Instead, focus on local markets and the idea of selling value rather than rates. Time to get creative!
Long-Term
1. Use this “downtime” to come up with new and improved products and services.
This is easier for companies in non-travel industries, such as consumer lifestyle products. However, use this time and the power of digitalization to see what innovations you and your team can come up with.
2. Train the rest of your team to become customer service experts as well.
There is one thing we know for sure – a crisis will hit again. So, why not train everyone else in your company to become backup customer service experts in the future? This way you can call on them quickly and guarantee that you will be contacting customers before they contact you regarding cancellations.
3. Reflect on your internal communications.
The current situation comes with a lot of uncertainty. And people need reassuring words in times of uncertainty. However, many companies neglect their internal communications strategies when things are going well because most employees are happy and motivated. This results in a lack of internal communications when things aren’t going well. Take the time to reflect on how you are communicating within your company during this time of crisis, and put tactics in place for clearer and quicker communications moving forward.
4. Adjust your crisis management approach.
As we’ve said before – a crisis will hit again. Take your existing crisis management approach, review it based on how you are handling the COVID-19 situation, and adjust it for the future. Invest in crisis management training for your team, and ensure your team is put to test frequently by hosting simulations.
5. Grow your community projects.
Tourism helps communities grow. Those of us working in the sustainable travel and tourism field will already be involved in local projects. Take this time to focus on your community and its people, and find ways to grow these projects once tourism picks up again. For those of you who have not yet looked into how your business can contribute towards the community you surround yourself in, now is the perfect time to get started.
We hope this blog post has given you some ideas on what you could be doing in this time of uncertainty. And more importantly, we hope you are staying healthy for yourself and those around you. Work from home, social distance yourself to avoid overburdening our healthcare systems and potentially infecting those with weaker immune systems. Please help #FlattentheCurve and #StaytheFuckHome.