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Niche + Special Interest Travel.......the BOOM business By Adrian Caruso Guest Comment | TRAVEL WEEKLY | Monday 02 April 2007

'The more you narrow your focus, the more you expand your market'.  ......is an old Zen saying which more relevant in today's travel environment than ever before. We constantly hear everyday the BAD NEWS about being travel agents – commission cuts, Internet and direct supplier selling.  Now here’s the GOOD NEWS – there exists an incredible opportunity for agents to be successful and extremely profitable forever.  The industry is changing constantly. Whether you have been in this business for 20 years (or 55 like my father was) or have just entered the field, you probably you’re yourself in a world of bewildering change….not knowing what might happen from one day to the next.

Enter…..niche and special interest travel……the next BIG BOOM business in travel.

By specialising in niche and special interest travel it will rejuvenate your interest in the travel business and make you and your business even more profitable and.....guarantee your survival. It will get you excited about the future and not dwell on the past.

Other reasons why agents should focus on niche and special interest travel include worldwide trends affecting our society today and more specifically the travel marketplace. These being:

1. the personal computer and the Internet
2. the aging baby boomer market
3. the accessibility of the world and the mobility of the world’s population

Customers most likely to purchase a special interest tour are more educated and affluent therefore you can profit handsomely just by helping people pursue their interests with other, like-minded people. Whether that interest is bird watching, archaeology or genealogy this clients has the desire and the money to take such trip. The cost of most special interest tours is greater than the cost of mainstream tours. Let's face it, if a couple wants to travel Fiji for a week and lie on a beach, they can do it fairly cheaply. The competition is great and a savvy agent can find a package that sells for under $900 per person (generating only $180 in commission).

Clients are willing to pay extra due to perceived value of such a tour, since the tour focuses on their main interests, they are willing to shell out the big bucks.   Furthermore, strrong relationships with a few tour operators and ground suppliers increase commissions and bonuses – this is where the value of focusing on small piece of the big travel pie really pays off.

Specializing on a destination, niche or type of travel provides you with a level of expertise that leads to a strong sense of pride.  It’s truly satisfying being able to answer every question a client asks with confidence.   Specialists develop a reputation of professional competence both inside and out of the industry and receive referrals from others based on your expert reputation. You’re more productive as a specialist spending less time on research and planning.  There’s no need to look up travel options when you already know them all. 

Specialization in niche and special interest travel can open the door to continued prosperity by adding new resources as well as new customers to your client base. Niche marketers identify very specific groups of people for whom they can serve unique needs. It can also mean specialization in a specific type of product or service such as adventure travel (this is the fastest growing sector in travel and is BIG BUSINESS), ecotourism, cultural and historical travel, culinary and wine tours, religious and spiritual travel, accessible travel, gay and lesbian travel and luxury Travel to name just a few of the best focus on.

Inspiration for choosing which niche or niches you may want to pursue can come from a personal passion or a product or service that is receiving exceptional interest from the buying public. It’s much easier to sell something you believe in passionately, provided enough people out there love it too. You’re probably already somewhat of an expert in your passion, and you’ll enjoy the process of learning even more.  So start doing something today in an area I feel presents the biggest opportunity ever for agents to profit greatly.

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