The main methodology for obtaining all this information is to carry out interviews with tour operators when visiting them, in workshops and during the fam-trips.
The collaboration and complicity we may establish when helping them with business & product development is the key to obtaining all the intelligence. The privileged position as collaborators allows us to obtain more information and more easily than an independent consultant.
The information to research a market segment may be obtained with a few interviews with the key tour operators, complemented with other sources like publications, brochures, surveys and interviews with experts and related associations.
The information for elaborating tour operator company profile programming our destination should be obtained through in-depth interviews and brochure analysis; whereas the information about tour operators not featuring our destination may be obtained through telephone interviews and brochure analysis.
The main sources of information are:
- Tour-operators and travel agents
- Publications and newsletters
- Tourism fairs
- Congresses, conventions and seminars (papers, thesis, studies, presentations, etc.)
- Specialized consultants and journalists, special interest associations, etc.
- Internet and social networks.
For the aforementioned research goals and objectives, would you consider any other methodology or information sources?
Associations or member organizations such as Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), U.S. Travel Association, American Society of Travel Agents, The Global Business Travel Association, The National Association of Career Travel Agents (NACTA), Association of Language Travel Organisations (ALTO), Travel & Tourism Research Association and National Tour Association. This list is not all inclusive, but it gives you an idea of what I’m talking about.
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Thanks Lesley for your insights. As you point out, there is a vast and increasing number of information sources providing market intelligence in the tourism industry.
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