Marketing your adventure tour to new guests can be expensive. Especially because being visible to potential new customers is becoming more costly with Viator.com’s release of the new Accelerate program. This means an increase in marketing costs for your business. But there is way to recover those higher costs. Consider getting into retail and starting a gift or souvenir shop. It offers a great way to recover the increased Viator costs of getting new guests to your tour.
Viator.com and the Accelerate Program
Viator.com has become a big name in the tourism industry. It has a distinct position that attracts all those who are looking to go on adventure tours. In fact, Viator has become the go-to place to find activities from sightseeing tours to zip-line adventures. And quite recently, Viator has announced the release of it’s new Accelerate program.
For potential guests using Viator, all they have to do is enter a date and place, and Viator will do the rest. With Accelerate, tour operators will be able to create ads for all their products and services. Viator will then deliver these ads across the platform for potential guests. But, promoted listings don’t affect the order in which tours and attractions appear on the platform. What it does, though, is give a significant boost to your brand’s visibility. But the catch is that you’ll be paying Viator bigger commissions to get this increased exposure.
Joining Viator Accelerate
If you’ve been spending a lot on marketing and not getting enough money back for your investments, Accelerate might be the answer. Paying into Accelerate would get an ad for your company in font of a customer at a critical time in their search. Someone visiting Viator.com has either made up their mind or is seriously considering going on an adventure tour. They may not have a specific adventure tour, but a well-placed ad for your company may help a guest decide. Also, you will be able to highlight what makes your adventure tour unique at the right time, attracting new guests in the process.
Retail: Recover your extra Viator costs for getting new tour guests
If you are considering Accelerate to get more exposure, you’re probably wondering how to recover extra Viator costs of getting new guests to your adventure tour. As mentioned earlier, starting a gift or souvenir shop is a great option. It costs a lot to bring a new guest to your tour, so upselling them with souvenirs will get you a greater return on your investment. Plus, your guests will want to remember the great time they had on your tour. Bringing home a souvenir will help them with that.
Opening a gift shop will create a new stream of revenue for your adventure tour, recovering the marketing costs of getting new guests. Your guests are already onsite. Which makes it a great time to offer them souvenirs, like apparel, handmade gifts, and jewelry. And with advances in the digital world, PicThrive has made selling photos easy. PicThrive shows that photos and videos can not only improve your guests’ experience, but also boost your purchase rates.
Also, when a guest buys products from your gift shop, they encourage other guests to visit your retail space as well. That would make your gift shop an unavoidable part of your tour and increase you revenue. You can then put this revenue toward other business costs, like marketing on Viator.
Offering great souvenirs can also increase your exposure to other potential new guests. Selling apparel with your company logo will get your name out there even more. And if a guest shares a photo of them enjoying your tour on social media, they’re marketing your tour for you! This means you could bring in even more new customers to your adventure tour and more returns on your investments, also recovering your marketing costs.
The Bottom Line
Opening a gift or souvenir shop might cost a lot, but it can also recover the extra Viator costs of attracting new guests to your adventure tour. It’s a great option for expanding your revenue streams, especially if you want to increase your commission payments through Accelerate. If you’re considering expanding into retail, check out PicThrive’s article on 6 Steps for Starting a Gift Shop. And to learn more about how adventure tour operators can generate more revenue from retail, click here to listen to a podcast from the Tourism Marketing Agency.
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