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Three types of adventure traveller were profiled at last month’s Adventure Travel Conference in London. Experts gave their views on how to sell adventure to the solo, silver and family markets. Katherine Lawrey gleaned a few tips
Don’t underestimate the size of the solo market, cautioned Lyn Hughes, Wanderlust editor-in-chief. She presented results from a Wanderlust reader survey showing 24% of adventure travellers define themselves as “solo” travellers.
The number was higher still when it came to tour operators who classed 33% of bookers in the solo category.
Speaking from experience as a solo traveller, Hughes highlighted common concerns they have about the travel experience. They are:
Sleeps
When it comes to accommodation, Hughes said that solos resent paying single supplements. “It’s the biggest gripe,” she admitted. “We want to feel we’re being treated the same, not paying more for less.” She advised operators to deal with room arrangements sensitively: “More mature travellers want their own room. Sharing can be a backward step for them.” And she also warned not to allocate the furthest away rooms to solos. “I was once given a tent the other side of a river from the rest of the group in the wilds of Africa,” she said. “Nervous solo campers do not like being in remote tents.”
Eats
The evening meal is an important element of a trip, and it can be isolationist if you’re on your own, she advised. The first night is a particular sticking point before the group has had a chance to gel. “I want a tour leader to take charge on the first night,” she said. “I know people who’d rather get room service than venture out on their own.”
Allocated seating was another thorny issue. “Think carefully where you place solos,” she said. “On an expedition ship I was put on a table with a group of Italians who couldn’t speak English, and that was it for the voyage.”
Other concerns
Sell your solo expertise
Recommend tour operators and hotels that cater well for solo travellers, and include the details on your websites, in your blogs and Facebook posts. Think of every stage of the experience for a solo traveller, and communicate what is on offer… that could really make you stand apart, she said.
Debbie Marshall set up Silver Travel Advisor in 2011, which now has 40,00 members. “TripAdvisor doesn’t address the specific needs of the growing demographic of silver travellers,” she explained. “Reviews are important, but it has to be the right review for you.”
This is a market with significant potential, she said, pointing out there will be more people over 50 than under 50 in the UK by 2020. One in three babies born today will live to be 100, and over-fifties hold 80% of the nation’s wealth, she added.
Avoid labels
Not all silver travellers are the same, Marshall said, and it’s a mistake to put them all in the same box. She summarised the decades as follows:
There’s a massive opportunity for silver adventure travel, but it is finite… you can’t really be selling adventure holidays to nonagenarians, she said. And as you get older, adventure becomes gentler. Rambling becomes ambling. But if you want a role model, check out Norma, the snowboarding granny (aged 75), who features in BBC Sport’s Get Inspired series.
Sell the bucket list
According to Silver Travel Advisor research, 48% of fifty-pluses spend more than £3,000 a year on holidays; and 13% visit a travel agent, she said.
When asked about their bucket lists, the Northern Lights came top, featuring on 51% of bucket lists; Venice appeared on 38%; a river cruise on 30%; and a nudist holiday was a dream to fulfill for 2%. Wanderlust, unlike other lust, does not diminish with age, she joked.
Pitch it right
Many silver travellers feel the marketing aimed at them is beige and patronising,” she advised. “Often it is created by advertising executives who are too young to understand the market. Strangely it’s done by people who feel more comfortable targeting the generation who don’t have so much money to spend.” She added: “Font is my bug bear. Make sure those who wear reading glasses can read your messages! Don’t put teenagers on the phone who speak too fast; and tell your tour guides to slow down!”
Charlotte Hindle, director, North South East West Ltd, took a direct approach to explain how her ideal website would allow her to research her own family adventures. “When I’m looking, the first thing I want to know is what an operator or agent has available in six distinct time periods: Christmas holidays; February half-term; Easter holidays; May half-term; Summer holidays; and October half-term.”
She added: “Why not distribute a family themed e-newsletter six times a year, coinciding with each holiday period, to promote upcoming opportunities,” she said.
After being exposed to the relevant holiday periods, she wanted a drop-down menu of experiences: “On my phone I have a rolling list of experiences I want to give my children from campfires and icebergs to sand dunes and star gazing,” she explained. “These are buzzwords that will make me want to book. I want the ability to be able to tick more than one and [be presented with] trip suggestions incorporating those experiences.”
Hindle suggested the trade use the following hooks to lure families in.
Educational value of trips
“If you have the resource to do so, then cross-reference your family trips with the year 11 geography, history and biology syllabuses and put the details on your website. As a potential client, it would impress me that a tour operator had thought about the educational value of their family tours.”
Speak from personal experience
“I want to talk to someone who has done the trip with their own family. Whoever answers the phone is key to my booking. If they are flaky on the phone, it makes me think they will be flaky when it comes to the holiday.”
Use honest videos
“I want something I can show my children. But I don’t want a slick, sanitised, glossy advertorial. Yes I want to see how delightful it is, but I also want to see the dirt! I don’t want to watch videos full of pop music, I want to hear car horns in Delhi and night noises in the bush.”
Be upfront with details
“I want to know who else is on our trip, whether boys or girls, and their ages. That information will reassure my children. Tell me where there’s Wi-Fi. As a mother, I need to manage expectations!”
