Who doesn’t want to make more money?
People get into group travel for all sorts of reasons. Some people simply enjoy seeing the world with friends. Some do it as community service. And some entrepreneurs start full-fledged, for-profit travel businesses. But no matter what got you into group travel, you won’t succeed in your objectives if your trips don’t bring in enough cash.
Travel is inherently expensive, and the uncertainty of guessing how many people will sign up for any particular departure adds a level of financial risk to group tours. You probably try to price your trips appropriately to account for these expenses and risks. But if you’re like many group travel planners, you would love to have some extra funds to work with.
Raising trip prices might be one way to do that, but it’s risky in its own way. A better alternative might be to increase your bottom line in other ways. Fortunately, you can open up a number of revenue streams by offering ancillary products and services your existing customers might be happy to pay for.
If you’re on the hunt for revenue beyond standard trip sales and commissions from your tour operator partners, consider trying one of these five ideas. Not everything on this list will work for every organization, but something here could be a good fit for you.
1. Trip Extensions
Some people who come on your trips might want to extend their experience to spend more time in the destination before or after the group portion of the tour. If you’re traveling to popular places, consider building some pre- or post-tour extensions you can sell to your customers. These can range from an extra night or two in a hotel to an entire cruise at the tail end of a land tour.
2. Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is perhaps the most important ancillary service you can offer your customers. You can’t legally require them to buy it, but you can strongly encourage it. If you don’t already offer insurance, reach out to a few companies that specialize in insurance for group trips and ask what kinds of commissions they offer.
3. Add-Ons and Options
Your group doesn’t have to do every single activity together — people enjoy having free time and choices on group trips. You can take advantage of this by offering one or two optional add-on activities for people who are willing to spend more money. This can be a spa visit, a flightseeing excursion, a wine tasting — anything memorable and valuable.
4. Upgrades
Most travel planners book standard hotel rooms for their tour groups, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in the group actually wants to stay in the same type of room. If you can negotiate with your hotel reps to add a couple of upgraded rooms into your package at the regular rate, you can then make some extra revenue by offering those upgrades to your customers at a premium.
5. Merch
If your travel organization has a strong brand identity, you might be able to increase your revenues by selling T-shirts, bags or other merch with your name or logo on them. This can benefit you in two ways — not only do you make cash on the sale of the actual items, but you also increase your brand awareness as people use the products in their communities.
