If you look at the official statistics of the majority of tourist spots in India and across borders, you’d see that there has been a very significant increase in the number of people who take trips to these places. If we talk about hiking and trekking travels, it is peaking like never before. People from the large and fast metropolitan cities often trek to the heights of the mountains in search of some peace and quiet around them. When such trends are seen, the season of travel agents also comes like their own blooming season. However, we also need to keep in mind that with growing travelers, there are a lot of travel agents to guide and therefore you as a travel agent need to pump up your skills and make yourself extremely equipped to fight away the competition. In the growing age of technology, you have to take care of a lot of other things to create a significant impact on your presence and make everyone come back to you over and over again. To help you get into that direction, below are a few things all travel agents should know about trekking travel today!
Know your audience
To be able to meet the demands of your customers, you need to first invest time in understanding and knowing your customer base. We’re talking about Trekking travel so it is important to understand the kind of people who would want to go on trek travel. Most of the people who take up trekking are the ones belonging to the age of around 18 to 30 years. This young collection can be of your priority target. You can develop the website around this customer base. However, neglecting any customer can prove to be risky, so you can also develop special or separate sections for the mature trek enthusiasts probably in their 50s or beyond. No customer needs to be left out, and meeting their demands smartly is the key.
Decide the right trekking event
As a travel agent, it is important that when you plan to organize a trekking event, you make sure you are choosing the right kind of event for your customers. Trekking events, especially in India need to be processed well since they’re a lot of factors that contribute to a successful event. You need to look out and research for the best season for trekking at that particular place. While most of the famous trekking destinations have treks round the year, it is important for you to decide when will be the best time for travelers to enjoy the landscape to their fullest. The second decision that you need to make is, what kind of trek do you want to organize, weekend or longer treks. If you’re going for a weekend trek, your audience base is likely to be the working youth and middle-aged people looking for a weekend escape. Such treks are mostly organized within 100 km of the urban city. For longer treks, you can take them to the most popular hiking and trekking trails in India, and at greater heights.
Create a user-friendly website
Building a website is a must and there is no way you can skip that part if you’re looking to expand your business. It isn’t just about being able to sell something to a customer base, but you need to make them realize ‘why they need it’ and ‘why should they buy it from you’. If a person has to decide which organizer they need to choose to take a trekking trip, the thing most readily available to them is the organizer’s websites. The website creates your first impression, therefore, it should be built in a way that it is super attractive for your target audience and the interface should be easy and user-friendly so that it is easy for them to explore things better. Make sure that the website is mobile optimized because not everyone will sit with a PC to plan out their trip.
Know all the specifics of the trip
When you plan or organize an event, especially a trekking event, you will need to have an in-depth understanding of that trek. You are the one who would be contacted for inquiries and it wouldn’t make a very good impression if you don’t have the answers to their questions. Research well and if possible take a trip once on your own to have a better understanding. When you know the place inside –out, it will be easier for you to pitch a sale. Your customers will develop faith in you based on the confidence with which you explain the itineraries of the trip.
Develop trekking related content
Create a section on your website that is devoted to the creative section of content and copywriting. You can include blogs written on various personal experiences of people who took a trek through your agency. You can write compelling articles about the beauty of trekking trips. The idea is to keep your audience engaged while simultaneously persuading them into action on your website and other platforms. Keep this section well updated so that you are one of the top results on search engines.
Have a strong and compelling social media presence
It is the age of social media, and there is no better platform to showcase and pitch your business than the ones downloaded on your phone right now. Create official pages of your agency on all the prominent social media platforms. This will help you advertise well and will also keep you well updated about the wants of your customers.
Running a business is not an easy task, we agree, but the key is to be the kind of travel agent you would want for yourself!