Comment: Customer events are key to attracting the lucrative singles market

Face-to-face events offer an effective way to target growing numbers of single travellers, according to Colin Wilson, sales director of Travelsphere and Just You

The world of escorted holidays is a very broad church, and one where the single traveller is especially welcome.

Indeed, according to a recent Mintel report, the fastest growing type of group travel is single traveller escorted tours, and long-term predictions indicate that the singles population will grow twice as fast as the non-singles population between now and 2033.

With that in mind, there has never been a better time for agents to connect with those single customers and help them make their choice on their holiday plans.

At Just You, we know from 11 years’ experience that often the biggest decision a single traveller has to make is not where to travel to, but to make the “leap of faith” and make that first booking.

That is where holding consumer events to showcase what they can expect can really work.

Our team is currently involved in supporting agents with a number of Just You events up and down the land – and they have proved to be incredibly successful.

The formula is very simple. The agent creates an audience of interested parties, and we do the rest! These events help dispel all the understandable myths and concerns someone travelling on their own will naturally have.

With a product range from walking in the Cotswolds to river cruises and even 22-day tours of Australia, there is enough choice and variety to suit all customers, and with an average price of £1,850, and a high repeat booking ratio, it is a sector to embrace. The single customer tends to be more flexible, and more likely to upgrade their services, be it either flight or hotel.

We know from recent shows that the response rate back to the agent has been very positive, with some agents reporting as many as 75% of attendees have actually gone on to make bookings. There is no doubt we speed up the booking process by answering the most common questions on the night, such as “will I have to eat alone?”, and “will I still my get my own time and space?”

Whilst digital marketing is an undoubted tool agents should embrace, it is clear that the ability to “tell a story” face-to-face still has a very successful place in the agent marketing tool kit.

We recently appointed the TV personality Jan Leeming as our brand ambassador, and having travelled on two Just You tours, we have involved her in holiday shows to great effect.

On the subject of consumer events, we have previously delivered Italian-themed evenings for agents, and we expect to see the destination continue to perform well when our new Travelsphere brochure lands with agents from next week.

These themed evenings – with a spot of Italian cheese and wine tasting thrown in – help reiterate the message that escorted holidays now scratch way below the surface of a destination, and many tours will include in-depth immersive experiences.

Whether your customers are couples or single travellers, the escorted holiday has moved on in leaps and bounds, and the agent consumer event still plays a huge part in driving business.

Let us, and the other supplier members of the Association of Touring and Adventure suppliers, support you in delivering this sort of event and driving more sales.

Click here to find out more about Travelsphere and Just You