Michelle Baran
As tour operators head into the busy selling season, one question looms large: how to generate buzz in an industry that doesn't change much from one year to the next.
Unlike cruise lines, which can drum up excitement around the hype of new ships, tour operators don't have a big, shiny, new physical product they can market and promote. It's not like they're going to talk up a fleet of new buses, or new amenities onboard their motorcoaches.
No, tours are intangible, which means that tour operators have to get creative to make the hype machine churn out interest, a problem only amplified by the seemingly unstoppable ballyhooing of the river cruise industry -- which, with its ties to tour companies such as Globus, owner of Avalon, and TravCorp, owner of Uniworld, is like a not-so-distant braggart cousin to the tour industry.
But though they don't have new ships to plug, tour operators do have some buzz-worthy material at their disposal. For one, they are always heading to new and emerging destinations. They also roll out new product categories or variations on existing product. And of course, there are trends and fads in the tour industry that help to promote product.
So what are some of the buzzwords for the tour industry heading into 2012?
According to the U.S. Tour Operators Association's annual survey, experiential travel was rated one of the most important travel trends for 2012 by 85% of the survey's respondents. Consequently, 53% of respondents plan to offer new experiential programs in 2012, with 26% planning to add culinary tours and 22% planning to add cultural tour programs.
Vietnam led the list of emerging destinations that tour operators see gaining traction in 2012, followed by India, Ecuador and China.
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