What do Agents need to send their clients to island paradise? To convince their customers to choose Tahiti over other Pacific destinations? Aussie & Kiwi travel consultants have the answers.
Better online education modules for Agents, access to more advance product and rollover rates and more engagement and content from operators – that’s how you grow Tahiti’s short-haul markets to Australia and New Zealand, according to a panel at Parau Parau Tahiti 2018.
The panel featured Robert Thompson and Gina Bunton from Tahiti Tourism, Samantha Stock from Expedia, Dominika Dudek, from Flight Centre Global Procurement Network and Natalie Von Dinklage from NZ’s House of Travel.
A key theme of the chat was how Agents can get their clients to travel beyond the traditional honeymoon hotspots of Bora Bora and Moorea.
Educating clients about Tahiti
Expedia’s Samantha Stock acknowledged the role that traditional Agents have in this area, but she also pointed to online content as key inspiration.
“One thing we have found through our market research is that online traffic from mobile devices continues to grow, last year 70 per cent of online traffic was from a mobile device, with people being inspired by the likes of Instagram so we have to engage with those channels,” Stock said.
For House of Travel’s Natalie Von Dinklage the challenge was how to entice customers to the outer islands through education and awareness, but also have clear visitors numbers from Tahiti Tourism and online information about clients. “What is important to House of Travel is seeing what people have engaged with online because that allows to see who our customers are and decide if an outer island Tahiti holiday would suit them,” she said.
Online resources a boost
Flight Centre Global’s Dominika Dudek acknowledged a lack of knowledge amongst both Agents and customers about the outlying islands and called for more information to be available.
“There’s a strong honeymoon focus for us and everyone wants to travel to Bora Bora and Moorea for their first visit to Tahiti, also our consultant’s aren’t as familiar with the outer islands,” Dudek said. “So if we could work with Tahiti Tourism to get more online modules and education that would help.”
Dudek also highlighted the need for product to be available for sale further in advance, such as two-year wholesale contracts or rollover rates.
The inaugural Parau Parau Tahiti 2018 is taking place in Papeete today.
READ: Inaugural Parau Parau Tahiti kicks off
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