#Trending This Week - Black Friday Sales, Tour Tourism, Family Vacations Outside Of School Holidays, And Hospitality Personas
#Trending This Week - Black Friday Sales, Tour Tourism, Family Vacations Outside Of School Holidays, And Hospitality Personas
Issue 167 • November 21, 2023
Just before you take off for the Thanksgiving Holiday (if you celebrate), here are some quick trends for the week to take note of. Black Friday sales are going to be big again — but this year they will include A LOT more deals on travel. “Tour Tourism” is a new phrase you need to add to your travel marketing vocabulary as the resounding success of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has demonstrated the fact that more and more people are willing to travel to see a concert AND check out a new destination. Parents are no longer sticking to spring, holiday, and summer breaks for family travel. Fed up with the higher pricetags and crowds — and buoyed by the freedom of remote work — Mom and Dad are price shopping and taking the kids out of school when it suits their wallet and not the school calendar. And it may be time to ditch the exercise in developing guest personas and instead develop hotelier personas so guests have a much better idea of the type of hotel experience they can expect to encounter when booking your property. Note: it’s your time to shine and set yourself apart from every other hotel out there. Check it all out in our two-minute read below.
Black Friday Sales This Year…On Travel
In a previous #Trending we noted people were seeking experiences more than things this year and if plans for Black Friday sales are any indication, the travel community is going all out to capture travelers. Early feedback is showing travel companies offering a wider range of travel destinations and deals in the hopes of luring the cost-conscious and economy weary travelers to make bookings for 2024 travel by making those trips more financially accessible. Read more in Travel Weekly here.
The Rise of “Tour Tourism”
Expedia has just released a new 2024 report entitled “Unpack 24,” and one of the biggest trends they are seeing in travel for the new year is what they are calling “Tour Tourism.” Taylor Swift’s Eras tour brought light to a new level of live music tourism. In fact, 70% of travelers polled claimed they are more likely than ever to travel to a concert outside their own hometown and 40% say they would travel for a concert as an excuse to visit a new place. Read more on Expedia here.
Family Travel Is Happening Beyond School Breaks
There’s a huge trend right now in parents just taking their kids out of school at any time during the year to travel. One of the primary reasons is cost. Spring Break travel is incredibly costly and families just don’t want to or can’t afford to bear the high costs of peak season travel anymore. Additionally traditional summer vacation travel can be hot and crowded too. Remote work is also giving parents the impetus to just up and go whenever they want versus feeling tied to specific school breaks or vacation periods. Read more in The New York Times here.
Hoteliers Are Adopting Personas
At some point, everyone in hospitality marketing has been involved in developing guest personas. But now the focus has reversed and properties are being advised to develop hotelier personas in order to better appeal to the evolving desires of travelers. There’s the Curator, Designer, Neighbor, and Trailblazer — each communicating to the guest the type of experience they can expect to have at a particular property. Read more in HospitalityNet here.
Need Copy Or Content?
JC Communications specializes in copywriting. Check out the editorial we just wrote for ASRI, a new custom-published magazine by the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort & Spa. You can access it right here.