Helping small tour operators and niche agents with travel ecommerce
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Paul Hunt
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- Derby
- United Kingdom
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Paul Hunt's Discussions
Researching Activity Providers impact on local economies and tourism ROI
7 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Peter Syme Jun 22.
Tracking visitors/leads .. ."How to Guide" required ..
5 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Paul Slugocki Mar. 18, 2009.
Comparing Email marketing tools
2 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Peter Syme Sep. 22, 2008.
Paul Hunt's Page
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Sure it was perth council that did the study 2005 or 2006 I think
Many thanks Peter
Thats just the sort of experience I need. Can I qoute/credit you as source of information in our research report ? Its only required to support a grant application and thus not going very far.
Paul
We had some studies done on us several years back by the local council for some specific events we ran. If I remember correctly it came out at about £3 spent in the local economy for every £1 spent with us.
From our own numbers that is a bit on the…
Belated thanks James.
Had trawled many tourism bodies including the national levels of the regime but they tend to only report on and have knowledge of ROI for accommodation and attraction sector; and even then some admitted that there is no standa…
Hello Marion
Lots of questions where personal choice and preferences have a big part in the answers.
Our website is built using Joomla and combined with TourCMS booking system .
Joomla is certainly a powerful tool but we had no techie/webdevelopm…
Hi John
Bit late in the day but you may be interested in this Code of Practice I've come across from the School Travel Forum which it sets for members here . Just an example of how one national reperesentative body expects its members to be dillige…
Hi Paul,
If you haven't seen already, this is the regional tourism body for the South West: http://www.swtourism.org.uk/
I've used it before to research markets and it's useful so might be some info in there. They cover nine DMOs for South West En…
Thanks Alex I'll give them a try.
It helps in as much that I hadn't seen the first organisation.
Still hoping that SFBO individual activty providers can provide data/knowledge they've gained first hand.
Profile Information
- Do you have a website?
- http://www.skylarkholidays.co.uk
- Tell us more about yourself:
- Made a quality of life decision a couple of years ago to set up a venture where my partner and I could spend time together following our passions ..teaching and leading specialist interest activities, discovering new cultures and sights, and providing opportunities for people to pursue their passion and curiosity for a specialist interest.
No previous experience in travel/tourism industry and trying to learn quickly but feel like a real fish out of water !
- Describe your travel products:
- We provide experience tourism. Specialist interest holidays, breaks and tours in a range of leisure,learning and creative activities for people who are already enthusiasts of a specialist interest or want to try a new one.
Comment Wall (7 comments)
- At 7:03pm on February 19, 2009,
Dee Edwards said… - LOL, I just wanted to have a look at this brochure of yours..special interest would have to be cooking :-)
In regards to the email, I didn't provide one which could explain it, although the form showed the field in a colour that would indicate it was compulsory, it wasn't actually so.
Kind regards
Dee
- At 11:11am on February 9, 2009,
Murray H said… - ...am begining to think that Trading Standards are finding the regulations , er, challenging. It is not a question of showing THAT you comply, it is a matter of showing HOW you comply - hence the use of appropriate logos etc. What trust fund? Anyone can set up a trust fund, but if the money does not go in, in the first place, then it cannot come out; it is incumbent on the trust fund operator to make sure that it works (I am not, for a moment, suggesting that you would be dishonest, in any way, I am stating a "universal observation") Hence the requirement in the EEC Regs to be properly approved etc., hence TTA etc. Anyway, will study this this evening as right now, I have some of these boring old customers who want silly things like flights!!
- At 11:11pm on February 8, 2009,
Murray H said…
- Yes, agents would be interested. I have made a blog post that may or may not be approved (I hope it is!) regarding a bit about bonding and why it has to be, which I hope everyone may find useful. Specifically, though you will get nowhere without some protection - but what protection? Are you packaging? You sell accommodation with a course, rather than accommodation AND a course. You do not offer transport to the destination and I would suggest arranging a taxi to the venue may not be considered "transport" . My advice here, is speak to Trading Standards and ask their opinion. BUT BEFORE you do this, please, please remove that highly misleading and total garbage statement re: EEC Package Travel Regs - apart from anything else, you don't comply because if you did you would be effectively bonded and have the appropriate logos, which you do not. There is also a funny crack under insurance about clients getting insurance for cancellation by Skylark - If skylark cancel, Skylark pay, not any insurance!! That you mention insurance in this way, generally, though is good. Note my comments about also speaking to Advantage, Worldchoice and AITO and listen to what they have to say. This will also give you access to the right agency network - niche operators like you are always welcome. Now, after speaking to Trading Standards and sorting the bonding bit one way or the other, what about agents? Agents are remarkably lazy animals in many senses and they like things nice and simple. Forget bells and whistles, fancy CD's and web bits - many agents still hang on to viewdata and odd bits of 1980's technology. They will need about 4 copies of your brochure per agency and if you want to produce a gimmick then the best thing is a simple 21cms long pyramid-type, clear calender. They will bite your hand off for one. A simple letter of introduction and a bit of rep work will suffice - though you need to contact the independent groupings first and listen to what they say. You will have to pay about 10% commission - but remember, if you do not sell anything, you will not pay a bean. (unlike a website where the costs are fixed, not variable) groups may want a point or so for their members, targeted, so if the network does produce, you should be happy to pay it....
Hope this is helpful. I will have to start charging!
- At 6:16pm on February 8, 2009,
Murray H said…
- ... Ah! Skylarkholidays, I presume!
- At 6:15pm on February 8, 2009,
Murray H said…
- Forgive me, it is probably there somewhere, but which website are we talking about?
- At 12:51pm on January 13, 2009,
Ankit Bhargava said…
- Hi Paul
Yes you would definitely find many companie Reps at TravelConnect.in who are into outbound. Feel free to register and browse thorough the profiles.
Let me know if I can be of any further help
Regards
Ankit
- At 4:47pm on March 29, 2008,
drazek said… - Hi Paul, thanks for the comment. I understand you're expanding skylark here in the US, correct? I'll be happy to help or answer any questions you might have.
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