The challenge for the travel houses has been to ‘spread the word out’ about their Niche travel packages – consistently and on target. Digital marketing tools and methodologies provide a perfect foil for this emerging and lucrative segment. Space travels, cultural tours, wine tours to Coffee plantation tours, architectural wonder travel to Amazon forest tours – are just some of the flavors of niche tourism. A sustained online marketing campaign is capable of creating unprecedented visibility for these travel treasure troves.

So, what is the right thought process for a small niche tour operator to get the travelers through the door…

• Association begins on the net but the challenge is to transcend it to the physical domain. Establishment of trust is critical to the process of customer identification and acquisition.
• Prospect or customer identification is always preceded by understanding the preferences of a traveler which is gauged only through a sustained engagement of customers
• Market intelligence is a valuable commodity for both the marketer and the business owner, but it needs to be collected at the right time and from the right pool of customers. Customer collaboration ensures cost-free market intelligence. Identification of social communities and adding value to this community by way of industry news, informative white papers, and case studies makes easier market acceptance for the brand or service. In addition, this also helps in creating long lasting brand ambassadors.
• Customer pool is waiting to be tapped within the different social networking pockets. It’s not the customer pocket, but the customer psychology that needs to be gauged – before they can be categorized as prospective clients
• Identification is just the beginning – Prospect conversion results from a sustained process of meaningful interaction with the customer. The nurturing of customer relationship is one of the most abstained and neglected aspects of online marketing, and one which is the major differentiator between a brand and a great brand.

Internet and its tools of collaboration have created an environment of constructive feedback which not only engenders creativity but also a pro-consumer market environment. Travel and hospitality segment is no exception, with global net connectivity and social networking platforms bringing the consumers closer to the corporate strategy exercises. The combined outreach potential of the electronic and digital media channels is being tapped with increasing vigor by even the smallest of tour operators. This enables the niche players to get their foot in the door – by directly reaching travelers who bank on the web for planning their dream trip.

Travel and tourism industry is no exception. It has judged human liking for unusual and unexplored, and has introduced many niche tourism concepts within the last few years. Niche tourism is growing as the fastest sector within the travel and tourism industry. Common travelers are looking for variety of niche tourism concepts as big cities, museums, beaches, hotels, et al are done to death and people are looking for travel and tourism that will not only relax them but also amuse their minds.

Home-stays: This concept is fast catching up to cater to the tourists who want to stay away from the hustle-bustle of the big hotels and spend an innocuous stay. Home-stays offer all the comforts of a hotel and allow you to be yourself without being bothered with the artificial mannerism. Moreover you get the real feel of the culture of the place you visit.

Camping: Hitherto, camping was the favorite of trekkers and mountaineers. Now it has donned a new avatar to provide complete comfort even for a family stay. Family camping at the mountain peaks and in deep jungles is turning out to be a perfect way to get you lost, for the better.

Sports tourism: This existed since quite a long time; however now it is complete with travel, stay and ticket package with additional tit-bits thrown in. It has done away with sports fans’ separate worries for arranging tours, compromising with stay and then fighting for tickets.

Agricultural tourism: Modern city life has left us deprived of real rural feel and understanding about how the food we eat is produced. To understand the agrarian and rural life on which the altar of modernism is erected, more people are exploring how a rural and agricultural life is.

Ancestry tourism: Global cultural conundrum has taken us away from our birthplace and culture. However, the urge to explore our roots lie dormant within us. Ancestral tourism helps us to explore our origins and get up-close with our own culture.

Hobby tourism: No hobby is localized. There is thread running underneath that connects you to other hobby-mates and places that will enrich you with deep understanding about your hobby. Tourism industry is glad to meet your needs.

Creating a craze

The industry is getting flooded with many innovative ideas to instigate tourists to experience what they wished for till now. These niche concepts are catching the fancy of tourists who travel with family and average budget. They prefer to let loose during the vacations instead of falling into the systematic stay at hotels. They are not willing to let the artificial facades of hospitality spoil their fun.

Most of these concepts are run by small or medium sized tour operators. The increasing popularity of niche tourism is projected to cause a dent in the earnings from leisure travelers of major operators. Either the big operators will have to divert efforts towards niche tourism or restricted themselves to business tourism.