Welcome to 2023! You did it! Last year was a time filled with growth and challenges in the Hospitality and Tourism industry. One of the biggest changes is that we have a new generation of workers and many new colleagues who have little to no prior experience.
Everyone starts at the beginning
Are you new to the Group Tour market? Or perhaps you know someone new to their position in your destination. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or someone just out of college, we all started at our first jobs not knowing enough.
In my first tourism sales position at a Paddlewheel Steamboat in New York State, I had no sales training and had no idea how tour companies found out about us, where they came from, or how to get more. I happily took their reservations and waited for the phone to ring.
But I was lucky to learn from people who had been around longer. Many tour operators were generous with their time and explained concepts like tiered pricing, comp’d tickets and how to create itineraries they were happy to feature. It took years and I am still learning new ideas and concepts.
Free Resources for you
One of my goals with this blog (that I have been writing since 2016!) is to help others on their career journey. It’s not easy to learn if you can’t find resources or helpful colleagues. Today we can change that! I have gathered some free resources for you to check out. 2023 is going to be your year!
TourismProAcademy.com
I created this platform in 2019 as a way to share my knowledge and experience. There are paid courses you can check out, but start with the Free Resources section. You will find ’25 Terms Every Tourism Pro Should Know’, ’10 Secrets to Getting More Group Tours’, and more. I will be adding more items in the next few months so sign in at TourismProAcademy.com now to check it out.
Groups Today.com
Groups Today is a division of Serendipity Media and they have a terrific print magazine as well as online resources. In the last year, they created a host of free e-books to help those who are new to the Group Tour industry.
Their current offerings include:
- New to Group Travel
- Group Travel Marketing 101
- Social Media Best Practices for Group Travel
- Welcoming New Employees into the Group Travel Industry.
You can check them all out and download them at this site.
Join a Free Group Tour webinar!
I offer a free monthly webinar “Group Tour Tactics for our New Reality”. It is sponsored by Groups Today and last year we had over 700 tourism pros join us! It is fun, interactive and I can guarantee you will walk away with some new understanding and at least one action step to take. The next free webinar is on January 11, at 1 pm EST. You can sign up here and add it to your calendar today. Feel free to share this link with others!