Earlier this spring on a British Airways flight, I read an article on the in-flight magazine, business life. It had a great article on ‘How to Spot a Trend’. Here is the link if you would like to read the entire article, and I will give you some insight into how trend spotting can help attractions. We all know that what was popular years ago for visitors has shifted. How can you spot a trend and begin to make changes so your guests will continue to arrive each year?
The article was written by David Mattin, who also has a great website trendwatching.com. In the article Mattin says the best way to spot a trend is to look beyond data and what your customers are saying. Look at what innovative businesses are doing to succeed and think about how to transfer that to your business. How does looking for innovation all around us help your tourism business? By realizing that consumer expectations change when innovations take hold. Mattin writes ” A consumer trend can be defined as a new manifestation – in behaviour, attitude or expectation- of a fundamental human need or want. In short, something new that people are doing to get something they have always wanted.”
How does an innovation become a trend that turns into a expectation? Expectation transfer. Consumers begin to expect to see at your attraction what they have seen elsewhere. One example in the tourism industry is local foods. At the start of this trend, it was seen as cute and unique for a restaurant to mention that items were locally sourced. Today, many attractions list food and beverage options that are local as a part of their appeal to the sense of experience. If you are at a NY State attraction that serves wine and beer, you would assume there would be local choices that you can try. No more Budweiser and Mondavi wines, because the trend has caused our expectations to change.
Uber sounded bizarre when it first start up – I mean who would get in a car with a complete stranger? But the real trend was that your smartphone could provide a service and transaction with one push. For attractions this on-demand trend means that it needs to be very easy to purchase tickets to your attraction from your website. TripAdvisor has done this by purchasing Viator, the ticketing company, and installing a ‘Book Now’ button on the review site. If your attraction hasn’t taken advantage of this tool yet, I strongly suggest you do. Let me know if you need a contact at Viator. Adding a ‘Book Now’ button to your website on the front page would be a great goal as well.
We all see more guests posting pictures while they are visiting. Why not give them some specific photo op places that also include your business name and a hashtag? Consumer created content is a trend that can help stretch your marketing budget.
What trends do you see in the wider world and how can you bring them to your attraction?