The Shift Toward Personalization and Niche Expertise

Travelers are looking for personalization and niche experiences. Success for travel advisors hinges on a deep understanding of the audience and the ability to offer tailored experiences.

Meredith Calloway, Co-Founder of Gifted Travel Network, emphasizes finding one’s “brilliance.” She suggests defining a personal brand that aligns with natural strengths and the unique value provided to clients. Whether focusing on family travel, adventure trips, or luxury experiences, serving a specific niche helps connect with a targeted audience and deliver more impactful services.

Mary Charlson, president of Five Minute Marketing, highlights the need to concentrate on a few core marketing channels that work together to guide clients through the decision-making process. Advisors who target specific audiences with tailored content create deeper connections, leading to stronger client loyalty and higher-quality leads.

The Power of Community: Relationship Building for a Loyal Client Base

In an era where travelers can book trips with just a few clicks, personal relationships offer a competitive edge. Building trust and providing personalized advice set travel advisors apart from the faceless, transactional nature of online travel agencies (OTAs).

James Ferrara, founder of InteleTravel, explains that the cornerstone of their success is the relationship-driven sales model. InteleTravel teaches advisors to leverage trust-based relationships rather than rely solely on traditional advertising. In uncertain economic times, consumers are more likely to turn to trusted advisors, rather than make travel decisions through impersonal websites.

The rise of travel advisors as independent freelancers, many of whom operate from home, has transformed the industry. Today’s advisors aren’t just booking trips; they offer curated travel experiences supported by deep knowledge and personal connections. This focus on relationships enables advisors to differentiate themselves from OTAs and cultivate long-lasting client loyalty.

Navigating Challenges with Creativity and Community

Travel advisors who adapted during the pandemic are now reaping the rewards of their resilience. Many found ways to engage clients during downtime—through content creation, webinars, or virtual travel experiences—building stronger relationships that continue to pay off. Advisors who can think outside the box and find innovative ways to connect with clients will always be in a position to thrive.

Meredith Calloway’s Gifted Travel Network leaned heavily into community building during the pandemic. Her team provided support and education to their advisors, helping them stay engaged with clients through virtual events, travel-themed Zoom calls, and even wine tastings. These efforts not only kept advisors connected with clients but also fostered a sense of solidarity, leading to exponential growth as travel bounced back.

Technological Integration for the Travel Advisor

While personal relationships and expertise remain at the core of advisory services, technology enhances efficiency, responsiveness, and innovation.

The Rise of the Younger, Tech-Savvy Travel Advisor

While Baby Boomers have long been the dominant force in the travel industry, a shift is occurring. Younger generations are stepping up, and these tech-savvy, entrepreneurial individuals embrace the flexibility and independence of being a travel advisor, reshaping the industry in the process.

James Ferrara notes that the average age of InteleTravel’s advisors is now around 40, with a growing hotspot of advisors in their mid-20s to early 30s. These younger advisors are digital natives who understand how to leverage social media, technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) to attract clients and streamline services. They’re highly entrepreneurial, driven by a desire for flexibility and the freedom to run their own businesses.

This new generation is reshaping how travel is sold and experienced. They’re not just travel advisors—they’re influencers, content creators, and trusted guides who curate personalized travel experiences with an understanding of what younger travelers want: authenticity, adventure, and connection.

Dipping your toes in AI? Join our workshop live on October 10 or watch the recording.

Leveraging Technology to Enhance Client Experiences

From using social media to staying connected with clients to using AI to streamline operations, technology empowers advisors to work smarter. Travel advisors who adopt these tools are better equipped to offer more personalized service and stay competitive in a digital-first world. James Ferrara shares that InteleTravel’s advisors benefit from sophisticated technology, allowing them to offer seamless services that rival even the largest agencies.

For travel advisors, technology is no longer just a back-end tool. It’s a front-facing advantage that allows for real-time solutions, anticipation of client needs, and the delivery of unforgettable experiences. Whether they’re using AI to help craft personalized itineraries or leveraging online communities for lead generation, tech-savvy advisors are leading the industry forward.

Thriving in an Evolving Industry

The industry is poised for growth as it adapts to new trends and continues delivering exceptional value to travelers worldwide. Embracing these changes ensures that travel advisors remain a vital and dynamic part of the travel ecosystem, ready to meet the demands of an ever-changing world. By focusing on personalized services, leveraging technology, and fostering community, today’s travel advisors are not only surviving but thriving.

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How we use AI

AI is a tool. It’s a powerful tool, no doubt, but this is not Terminator. ChatGPT and tools like it are simply that – tools. It cannot replace our unique human creativity and critical thinking skills. AI can be used to supplement creativity, find efficiencies and assist productivity. We always thoroughly review and edit anything produced with AI assistance.

Anything done with AI still needs a human touch – or even a heavy hand – in editing. AI can even help to edit itself, as long as a human eye has the last look. My favorite way to talk about AI is as “our digital intern.” Not an intern specializing in tech, but rather a technology tool that acts as an intern. Just as you would check anyone else’s work for accuracy, typos, style and brand voice, the same goes for your AI “assistants.”

Drafts

AI can be a tool for writing first drafts of some content. One of our favorite AI tools for marketers called Jasper, is known for its writing skills. Tell the tool your main points and other supporting information like style and tone, and it will spit out a first draft. An important point to note about AI first drafts is that they are known for being over-the-top with adjectives, overly formal or flowery.

Top tips for using AI on any draft:

• Be as specific as possible in your prompts.
• Starting small, ask it for one piece of content at a time, not a week’s worth of social posts.
• Ask for three versions and you can piece together the best parts.

Editing with AI

What AI is even better at helping with is editing content that you (or another human) already wrote. Refining and rephrasing content is the strong suit. The above tips still work in this case, and I also like to be specific in what I’m asking the AI to do when it edits.

Using AI to edit – no matter who drafted the content – is a chat-worthy process. Give your AI tool direct feedback like “that’s too salesy” or “use fewer adjectives” or “I want the tone to be friendly, not sappy.” The tool will give you a revised version. I also sometimes ask it to review or refine a version I wrote based on all of the back-and-forth.

Naming

AI comes up with fun, clever names and snappy headlines and email subject lines in seconds. So often, we spend time coming up with the “just right” name for an event or themed itinerary when we could be planning the event or mapping out the itinerary (not pieces I would totally trust AI with just yet). AI is great at these – try it out and see what you get!

Summarizing

Another fantastic use for AI tools is creating summaries. Feed in your meeting notes, research notes or long-form feedback from your audience and ask AI for a summary. It can also pull out some themes to organize your thoughts or a report.

How we don’t use AI

We never use AI to create a final version of anything without human intervention. Even those snappy headlines in the example above will need tweaking. This is where the conversation with AI comes in, giving it feedback to come up with better and better versions until you find one you like. Sometimes, it’s straight editing. One other tactic for editing AI content is to have AI draft a few versions, then weave your favorite parts together into a human-touched final version.

Privacy

Unless you have the paid version of ChatGPT and have enabled privacy settings, the recommendations we’re hearing now is to never enter proprietary information into an AI tool. So that means no client, sensitive or proprietary data goes in to AI as a chat prompt or file upload. Open-source Large Language Models are designed to learn from all the data entered, so it’s best not to feed in anything that isn’t already accessible publicly.

AI and Visuals

AI-generated imagery and other creative works – authors are very wary of AI usage – are shrouded in some controversy. When it comes to visuals and art, the concern is over how the AI tools learned to create art and copyright concerns for artists whose works were learned from. Many marketers are using AI art, images and graphics now with the understanding that just like copy drafts, the art drafted by AI needs edits. Some digital artists are embracing AI as a tool, and are creating very cool works using its power, and their own personal creativity.

There are so many AI tools for generating visuals, editing images, cutting together videos and other graphics. Dall E is the open source version put out by OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT. Adobe’s Firefly tool is another popular one for those using the Creative Suite. We have dabbled in AI-generated images and use them for creative ideas in proposals, social media graphics and ads.

AI Tools for Tourism Marketing Innovation & Creativity

Our favorite tools for content are Jasper and ChatGPT, and those are a great place to start as you are experimenting in using AI for tourism marketing purposes. They write well and take direction on the project, just as if you were delegating it to someone. You just get the result in seconds instead of hours or days! There are so many resources available right now on creative ways to use AI

There are so many tools to try out, and so many different uses. From Seamless.AI and Apollo.io for sales prospecting, to PressPal by MuckRack for PR and Yoodli speech coach. Scribe AI can write down your processes (like how you use collaboration in your organization…) and all the big names in tech are developing their own. You may have already seen that Google, Zoom and Microsoft have AI tools now available. There are even websites dedicated to finding the right AI tool, although I’m partial to just asking ChatGPT for what it suggests.

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Takeaways from the NYSTIA Conference

Last month, I attended the 2024 New York State Tourism Industry Conference in Niagara Falls, NY. A panel discussion with tourism professionals in the outdoor sector demonstrated the force of outdoor tourism:

• Outdoor participants have become more diverse since 2022, with an increase in visitation among Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQIA+ travelers.
• 80% of outdoors activities experienced an increase in participation, from larger categories like camping to smaller categories like skateboarding.
• Outdoor recreation generates $1.1 trillion in economic output, surpassing industries like mining and farming.

An Increase in Technology

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to expand into every facet of the industry, it’s no surprise that similar technology has made its way into the outdoor sector. Along with AI, augmented reality and virtual reality are becoming more prevalent in outdoor activities. Travelers can use programs to help map out their routes, curate experiences personalized exactly for them, or enhance their outdoor experience overall with relevant information in real-time.

The Impact of Health and Wellness

While it’s widely recognized that spending time outside has an impact on mental wellness, it seems as though travelers are embracing this self-care strategy more than ever. Wellness retreats, camping trips and other group activities offer an outlet for people to disconnect from the outside world and instead tap into their own wellbeing.

Top Outdoor Recreation Locations

Outdoor destinations should prepare to welcome travelers of all types this year. In addition to an expanded, diverse outdoor audience, travelers are opting to travel solo. More than two-thirds of travelers (69 percent) are planning on taking a solo trip in 2024, including 76 percent of Millennials and Gen-Z. Where are these adventurers going?

Truly Hidden Gems

Most travelers are actually looking to venture into unfamiliar places and discover their own hidden gems. US travelers in particular are being drawn to western scenes in outdoorsy destinations with a rustic ranch feel, and 70 percent of millennials and Gen Z’ers report seeking travel experiences to places that their family and friends haven’t heard of.

Nature Tourism

Another trend we’re seeing with tourists is the demand for nature tourism. People are yearning for a trip where they can slow down and connect with nature in ways that they haven’t before. In fact, 42% of travelers are booking activities that focus on bettering their mental and physical health, such as forest bathing. “Microadventures” are also increasingly becoming popular as they allow travelers to connect with nature on smaller, shorter, and cheaper excursions.

Sustainability

Sustainable tourism is critical for maintaining the natural beauty of a destination, minimizing littering and waste, protecting cultural and historical sites, and respecting the local communities. This travel style is no longer a niche or trend – it’s a demand. In fact, over half (53%) of travelers are seeking accommodations that blend comfort with innovative sustainability features.

Destinations also must continue to consider the effects of overtourism when it comes to sustainable tourism. The issue of overtourism arises when there are too many visitors to a particular destination. The constant stream of people at specific locations and monuments inevitably puts pressure on infrastructure and natural resources, leading to the destruction of natural ecosystems, increase in waste, and the departure of local residents. With this in mind, destinations should act as an advocate for their residents, ensuring the health and safety of their green spaces.

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