Targeted Marketing
Once you craft the perfect boomer tour, you have to attract boomers’ attention to sell the trip. With modern travelers accustomed to making their own travel arrangements online, your job is to sell not just the individual tour, but also the benefits of group travel to people who have likely never experienced a guided tour.
Create marketing materials aimed at the boomer market with verbiage designed to highlight the benefits of group travel, as well as the aspects of the tour they will value. For example, highlight the ease of group travel, possible monetary savings and extra add-ons not available to individual travelers. To hone in on why this tour isn’t like the group tours for older generations, emphasize the smaller group sizes, the included free time and the experiential activities that give the tour its value.
Consider marketing some tours as multigenerational as well, since this type of group travel has become increasingly popular with boomers who want to share their favorite destinations with family members but don’t want to bother with planning the trip details. Many tour operators offer itineraries specifically built for multigenerational travel to ensure the experience will be appropriate for all ages.
If this change seems overwhelming, partner with others in the travel industry already successful in the boomer market. The annual Boomers In Groups Conference brings together destinations, attractions, tour operators and group travel leaders that focus their marketing on the boomer generation.
Finally, meet boomers in your area who you think would make ideal travelers. Many group leaders say they finally broke into the boomer market by convincing just one boomer to try a group tour. Afterward, word of mouth made the process much easier. Once you convince one boomer to try group travel, ask that person to write a blog post or an article about the experience that you could use to promote your trips to other boomers in the area. You may find that boomers are happy to entrust you with creating their next travel adventure.
