TRAVEL TRADE MARKETING STRATEGIES
Relationships are key to doing business in Korea. All managers dedicated to the GVB account who have spent many years developing their industry relationships throughout Korea on behalf of GVB HQ, will be working day to day meeting with the key stakeholders in Korea. The Korea team will bring their unique Korea-wide networks with all the major travel trade, key media, leading airlines, significant brand partners, and government agencies.
The Korea team will be working actively with all the key players in Korea’s outbound travel trade including the leading travel agencies that the team is in daily contact, as well as niche travel agencies in key target segments including romance/honeymoon agencies, golf travel agencies, incentive travel agencies etc. We will work closely with these key accounts in areas ranging from, but not limited to, online/offline sales promotion, FAM trips, TV home shopping, sales collateral development, etc. to boost Guam sales and to develop new tour products targeted to special lifestyle segments such as family, gourmet, romance, and shopping together.
The Korea team will conduct diverse cooperative marketing programs with key industry partners to introduce and promote Guam, integrated with online and offline marketing channels to extend Guam’s position as an FIT and family destination of preference, as well the idyllic destination of romance among general consumers.
In 2017, the Korea team will also put an emphasis on marketing Guam to Korea’s secondary cities such as Busan and Daegu. The Korea team will work closely with airline partners and travel agencies in secondary cities including Busan and Daegu regions to help support the agencies and to generate loyalty.
MICE STRATEGIES
Capitalizing on our already established relationships, and leveraging our various marketing programs, the Korea team will work aggressively with key MICE organizers to select Guam as their MICE destination. The team will identify potential groups to generate new bookings to Guam as well as to shift groups that may not have made a final decision on the destination.
The booking window for Korean MICE groups is much shorter than that of the US market. Smaller groups can be turned around in as little as 1 to 2 months, and larger groups in 6 to 12 months. The Korea Team will strategically target group leads that can be materialized in the 6 to 18 months’ time frame, to fill the 2017 production period. The Korea Team will focus on generating repeat groups through target sales calls and promotions, and in addition, aggressively target new niche markets, particularly within the women and sports & leisure sectors.
The Korea Team will continue to educate corporate end-users by showcasing the variety of facilities that Guam has available for MICE groups, implementing corporate end-user FAMs, events and seminars inviting major key MICE end users who have potential to bring groups to Guam in the short term period. The FAM trips will be organized on a small scale consisting of select corporate groups who are actively searching for MICE destinations.
We will introduce the various types of infrastructure for MICE and services. There are many hotels with the facilities required for MICE groups. Together with the supports of hotels and other services, the Korea team can try to induce more MICE groups to Guam. We’re planning to diversify the types of services it can offer to MICE group as per the size of groups, period, length of stay, etc.
The Korea Team will focus on developing two new niche markets: (1) Women’s Groups (2) Sports & Leisure groups. As such, intensive educational and training events and support will be provided for these new partners in the initial stages. Also, we will provide active support to MICE agencies needing destination information for their bidding, provide imageries and other contents necessary to create information packages to solicit these potential groups.
AIR ACCESS STRATEGIES
Our air access strategies will focus on delivering sustainable air services in order to achieve the goal of attracting visitors for 2017. Since Guam is an isolated island, wide availability of air access is extremely important. Good news is that, over the last several years, there were several new routes launched to Guam, departing from various cities in Korea. This included the Busan-Guam route by Air Busan, as well as the Incheon-Guam and Daegu-Guam routes by T’way.
To further stabilize and increase airlift between Korea and Guam, the Korea team will conduct strategic marketing activities working together with airline partners, building relationships, identifying weak demand periods which require support, improving the quality of the traffic mix onboard the airplanes and going to market together in joint sales activities. The Korea team is very well aware of the importance of collaboration, and will focus our joint efforts on this to further increase travel to Guam.
Specifically, we will work closely with each of the relevant airlines, deploying different tactics to each individual airline to ensure that all airlines stay healthy in terms of load factor, yield, and profit margin.
|
M
A
R
K
E
T
I
N
G
S
T
R
A
T
E
G
Y
| SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY
Distribution of SNS in Korea is 59% nowadays. Korea has taken the first place in 2015 and 2014 as well in Asia. As domestic SNS users' scale is almost close to 30 million people, it is kind of slowing growth in using SNS at the present. Since SNS market has been slowing down and users are getting smarter, advertising efficiency is slightly falling down.
Even if GVB is running social medias like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, we need to create new SNS accounts such as Instagram, SnapChat, and Kakao friend and publicize. In addition, according to the SNS market and growth trends of Korea, it seems necessary to put efforts to expose SNS advertisement in product / brand for the users. Furthermore, we need to establish the new structure of SNS promotion and utilize 'social media influencer' as well. Word of mouth that flows through influencers is another connecting link of social media. And it is totally effective. Now, it has been slightly increasing that many companies are developing social marketing strategy called " Strategic Word of Mouth".
Digital Measurement Benchmark
-
Increase Guam online share of voice against competitors by _____x_____% in FY2017.
-
Increase social media fan base/following by _____x_____% in FY2017.
-
Raise total Guam reputation score by _____x_____% in FY2017(via social media index).
-
Develop online evangelist/loyal customer program for viral marketing and recruit _____x_____% numbers of online influencers.
-
Improve website marketing performance in the following categories:
Total numbers of incoming website traffic by _____x_____% in FY2017.
Total numbers of traffic referral from social media sites by _____x_____% in FY2017.
Average time on site per user by _____x_____% in FY2013.
|
S
O
C
I
A
L
M
E
D
I
A
M
A
R
K
E
T
I
N
G
S
T
R
A
T
E
G
Y
| MARKET INFORMATION
-
List major official public and school holidays
-
Oct. 3, 2015: The National foundation Day of Korea
-
Oct. 9, 2015: Hangul Proclamation Day
-
Dec. 19, 2015 – Jan. 31, 2015: School Winter Vacation
-
Dec. 25, 2015: Christmas Holiday
-
Jan. 1, 2016: New Year’s Day
-
Feb. 7 - 10, 2016: Lunar New Year
-
Feb. 20 - Mar. 1, 2016: School Spring Vacation
-
Mar. 1, 2016: Independence Movement Day
-
May 1, 2016: Labor Day
-
May 5, 2016: Children’s Day
-
May 14, 2016: The Buddha’s Birthday
-
Jun. 6, 2016: Memorial Day
-
Jul. 23 - Aug. 21, 2016: School Summer Vacation
-
Aug. 15, 2016: National Liberation Day
-
Sep. 14 - 16, 2016: Korean Thanks Giving Day
|
M
A
R
K
E
T
I
N
F
O
R
M
A
T
I
O
N
| SMART Goals
S.M.A.R.T. goals stands for smart, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Please ensure that all goals are quantifiable.
Specific - A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. (Who, what, where, why)
Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.
Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.
Timely - A goal should be grounded within a time frame.
1. Increase Korean Arrivals by 5.3% from 475,000 to 500,000
-
Joint GSA and PR efforts to expand trade and consumer outreach and awareness.
-
Increase hotel room availability via KGTA/JGTA coop for early release of J room blockage
-
Increase seat capacity from 535,000 to 570,000 with increased Busan flights from 4X/wk to daily and/or additional carrier.
-
Focus on delivering sustainable air services in order to achieve the goal of attracting visitors for 2017
-
Increase market share from 2.1% in FY16 to 2.2% in FY17
-
Increase return visits from 21% in FY16 to 22% in FY17
2. Increase Yield (From FY15 of $517.00/pax by 10% to $568.00)
MICE Market: Target increase by 25% to LY
-
Collaborate with AMCHAM Korea for member supported travel already in place
-
Outreach to Amway and large corporations
-
50 pax under small giveaway and guide book
50 pax + Airport greeting service
100 pax+ Won 10,000/pax incentive, MG Photo session and culturaldance team
500 pax+ Street banner placement
Sports Tourism: Target increase of 20% to LY
-
Guam International Marathon: 500 to 570 Runners
-
KKRR: From 250 to 280 Runners
-
Soccer Clubs: From 4 teams to 5 teams
-
Baseball Clubs: From 1 team to 2 teams
-
Rugby Clubs: From none to 1 team
-
Sister City Sports Exchanges: Develop with Busan City.
-
Golf Promotion: Stimulate exposure of Guam as a golf destination and increase the sales of golf tour product to Guam targeting high-yield consumers
Kalpak +: Target affluent travelers using Kalpak and others
-
Coop with KE and other airlines’ high end travel bookings
-
Coop with local luxury lodging and optional activities to drive spend
3. Establish Busan/Daegu Gateway
-
Convert all flights to regular schedule flights to daily
-
Additional air carrier
-
Work with KGMC for secondary city outbound incentives and promotions
-
Deploying different tactics to each individual airline to ensure that all airlines stay healthy in terms of load factor, yield and profit margin
-
Meet with and entice other carrier to consider Guam direct flights from Daegu
-
Follow-up work with GIAA for new carrier incentives
-
Visit Busan for continued meetings
-
FAA documentation / certification process support
4. Educational Programs
-
Work with travel agencies to develop English Language Learning packages for Guam
-
Organize travel agent fam tour to meet with organizations that promote educational programs on Guam
5. Increase SNS followers/likes by 20%
-
Increase Facebook likes by 20% from 10,985 to 13,182 in FY17
(*The Number of Likes as of Mar 17, 2016: 10,985)
-
Increase Twitter Followers by 20% from 2,132 to 2,558 in FY17
(*The Number of Followers as of Mar 17, 2016: 2,132)
|
S
M
A
R
T
G
O
A
L
S
| MISSION
Continue high visibility and presence in the marketplace
We are planning to increase the consumer awareness on Guam as a steady popular destination for all market segments with the relevant partners in both trade and other industries in order to create the synergy effect in the marketing. Related to the above objectives, we’ve planned to work with diverse partners like as hotels and airlines for the increase of brand awareness on Guam. And we will keep diversifying the chances of working with agents and airlines for the direct sales increase as what we have done last fiscal year. The effort to increase the air seat capacity between Korea and Guam will be continued in this year. We also plan to organize the sales volume incentives, seminars for agents in other cities, workshops with facilities in Guam, online sales promotions with agents etc in this year as well as to reinforce the wide publicity on Guam through the diverse media tools.
Build up the image of Guam as a Destination accommodating all the age groups from youth to senior
Comfort - Utilize “COMFORT” concept to promote Guam as a “leisure” destination: Guam is recognized as the destination for relaxation for most of Koreans. GSA will continue to maintain the concept in every sales and marketing promotions because nowadays Koreans’ most wants from the overseas trip is related to the “COMFORT”.
Ladies - Position Guam as a “shopping” travel destination, using the various shopping centers in Guam: Will try to carry on Guam as the shopping destination by introducing the diverse types of shopping facilities.
Family - Build the image of Guam as a “Family” destination like home away from home: As the 5 day working system is widely adopted and Koreans are largely concerning on the healthy life, they are willing to increase of budget for ‘Travel’. As the most dominant market segment is the group in their early 30s who newly created the families, GSA will create the diverse tour programs for this market with young kids and increase the market segment.
Dynamic - Position Guam as a dynamic destination and actively target various sport-related SIT groups and young generation: SIT is directly related to the FIT market growth. As there are many attractions on Guam for each target such as golf, scuba diving, etc, it is required for GSA to introduce the attractions and facilities in order to attract the SIT market segment through direct sales with partners.
Hafa Adai - Use “Hafa Adai” to promote the history and culture of Guam and use it in various promotions: Though Guam is good for ‘Relaxation’; Guam also needs to introduce its long history and local culture to Korean travelers especially to young and silver generations. Introduce Guam’s history and its culture through the various types of publications and TV programs.
Silver - Create and develop diverse programs for senior generation: As this market segment is getting bigger and bigger, GVB Korea has tried to develop the special programs with travel agents such as the Gold Silver Packages with Mode Tour etc. Marketing representative will research the needs of this market segments to attract more senior arrivals to Guam.
Romantic - Distinguish Guam as a romantic and modern-style honeymoon destination from those in S.E. Asia: Though the Korean honeymooners are heading for South East Asian destination where they can find the ‘Pool-Villas’ which has the private swimming pool at a separated accommodations, Guam has also many attractive points for this market such as the geographic proximity, diverse types of accommodation, pure nature, well developed tourism facilities, etc. Marketing representative will expose those attractive points on Guam for this market through the wide media exposure and the creation of honeymoon packages with hotels on Guam
|
M
I
S
S
I
O
N
| MARKETING OBJECTIVES
The role of the tourism office is changing. There is more pressure to deliver both cost-efficient and effective measures to win over the hearts of the potential travelers against competitive destinations. The industry is challenging us to find out more about consumers’ inner needs, be on top of the trends, and even lead them to unique experiences that exceed their expectations. We will need greater hands on participation and involvement at the core of the industry. We will need to become the brand leader for our destination, or else we will lose out to those destinations who are more aggressive and action oriented.
It is critical for us to deploy a strategy that addresses and balances the needs of both our consumers and travel trade partners to design and implement tactical programs that can satisfy a broad spectrum of our customers, and improve the profitability of all stakeholders.
In the next 3 years, we will focus on building the image of Guam as a “Family” destination, like home away from home: As the 5-day working system is widely adopted and Koreans are largely concerning on the healthy life, they are willing to increase of budget for ‘Travel’. As the most dominant market segment is the group in their early 30s who newly created the families, the Korea team will create the diverse tour programs for this market with young kids.
Position Guam as a “shopping” travel destination, using the co-promotion with various shopping centers in Guam: The Korea team will try to carry on Guam as the shopping destination by introducing Shop Guam Festival and the diverse types of shopping facilities. Those shopping centers can develop its exposure and promotions by offering their souvenirs and coupons for the certain promotional period.
Guam is an ideal destination for visitors seeking for “Relaxation” & “Safe resort destination” concept. The Korea team will continue to maintain the concept in every sales and marketing promotions because nowadays Koreans’ most wants from the overseas trip is related to the “safe” and “Relaxation”. Though many Korean honeymooners have started to head out to new destinations further out, or prefer hotels and resorts that offer ‘Pool-Villas,’ Guam with its geographic proximity to Korea, continues to stay strong in the honeymoon market, with many tourist attractions, variety of accommodation with ocean front views, dining choices, pure nature, Korean-friendly services.
We will incorporate Visit Guam 2017 Campaign “Love Guam” in all of our marketing and PR, travel trade, media, and social media promotions, to ensure that consistent message is penetrated across the board for maximum synergy and impact.
|
M
A
R
K
E
T
I
N
G
O
B
J
E
C
T
I
V
E
S
|
Koreans’ positive perceptions of overseas travel and the abundance of information sharing through mass media and social media are expected to continue to boost growth of outbound tourism in the coming years. The recent boom of social commerce (social networks and websites that give product/service sellers access to a large pool of international travel consumers) is also contributing to this trend as they offer all types of travel products at unbeatable prices.
Although the economic condition of the nation is threatened by the high rise of living costs and increasing proportion of household debt, outbound travel has not been negatively affected. On the demand side, the popularity of overseas travel is spreading across all age groups. Growth is also propelled by the diversity of affordable destinations.
Our objective is to create a portfolio of tour products, responsive to the key lifestyle segments we have identified in concert with our travel agent and airline partners. These products will be supported through strategic PR initiatives with media and consumer marketing support, and appointing several opinion leaders as honorable Guam ambassadors to represent each key segment.
As more and more travelers decide to travel on their own, we need to develop tour products that go beyond the traditional one size fits all, generic leisure product. These new products must specifically respond to the unique needs of their target lifestyle segment, under the broad umbrella of a Guam experience. Each of these market segments listed below, will have their own marketing plans to create products, awareness and demand within the segment, in concert with our industry partners.
|
M
A
R
K
E
T
S
E
G
M
E
N
T
S
| TARGET MARKETS
-
FAMILY
The family market is also seeing a change in patterns. The traditional ‘mom, dad and kids’ trips, is now expanding to include 3-generation trips, mom and daughter trips, family re-union trips, and senior couple trips (paid for by their kids).
We will focus on developing the 3-generation trip product, given the rising number of families with very young children, middle age parents, and mobile grandparents. A family travel product to Guam with three generations all together will have to include tour programs that are not only relevant to all three age groups, but also offers breakaway activities catered to each group’s needs and interests. Because these groups usually travel in more than 5 pax, the economic potential of this traffic is highly attractive to all stakeholders. We intend to introduce travel agencies and media to the various tour programs and activities available in Guam that appeal to each age and interest group, to assist in the design of these products.
We will promote and position Guam as a safe, welcoming and comfortable destination for Korean families, working with wholesalers and travel agents to promote family-themed tour products targeting summer/winter vacations and holiday seasons.
-
FIT - SINGLES IN THEIR 20S~40S, GOLD MISS
This segment represents the new engine of the Korea travel market, and places quality of life ahead of most everything else. They make time for leisure and live for today with an insatiable quest to experience the best the world has to offer. They are repeat visitors once they find an experience that captures their interest, and will return to rediscover again and again.
According to the 2015 ITA Travel and tourism Top Markets Report, the top leisure activities of Korean visitors were sightseeing (81%), shopping (76%), visiting national parks (25%), fine dining (23%), visiting amusement/theme parks (20%), and participating in water sports (20%). However a significant number of Korean visitors at the same time took interest in culture and history related activities, such as visiting art galleries/museums (18%), traveling to historical locations (17%), visiting cultural, ethnic heritage sites (16%), and attending concerts/plays/musicals (16%). Korea is a highly educated society, with an insatiable quest for knowledge. These travelers are not satisfied with parking themselves at a destination, but want to explore the cultures of the places and people they visit.
We will work with major media outlets in Korea including national dailies, TV, travel periodicals, and trade publications to arrange press visits to generate in-depth coverage of Guam’s unique Chamorro culture, arts and history. Create a quarterly newsletter carrying in-depth information on Guam’s culture and history, to be sent to key media, tour planners, and agents in the travel trade, and general consumers. Also, we will organize social media or/and professional photographer FAMs to produce online viral contents for authentic culture and local life on Guam.
-
MICE
Over 90% of current MICE visitors from Korea to Guam come from corporate incentive groups and social gathering groups. Target vertical industry segments with high proportion of incentive travel activity and MICE potential. Target segments include:
-
Insurance
-
Education
-
Finance
-
Food/Retail
-
Services (Multi-Level Marketing)
-
Healthcare/Medical
-
Technology
-
Manufacturing (Industrial Conglomerates)
-
-
We will target the top companies with known activity in the above industry categories, and work with local chapters of major conferences being held in Guam, to stimulate interest, awareness, and demand amongst potential Korean delegates to participate.
-
SIT – GOLF AND OUTDOOR SPORTS SUCH AS MARATHON
“Leiports” is uniquely a Korean concept, which encapsulates elements of the Western-based terms leisure, sports, travel, and tourism. Leiports (leisure + sports) is one of the key travel themes that we intend to promote for Guam in Korea by developing media projects built around new Guam Leiport travel itineraries, which will be launched in the market through our key travel trade partners.
Signature events such as the Guam International Marathon and Koko Road Race provide for increased sports tourism travel. Additionally, GVB’s recent signing of MOU with Korean Professional Baseball Players Association is a great opportunity for enhanced visibility for the destination. Koreans have always enjoyed participative sporting activities, however, Korea is now experiencing a passive sports boom as well with many Koreans becoming avid sports fans. This has been fostered by the emergence of Koreans on the world sports scene, in particular, Korean footballers in the English Premier League, professional baseball players in the US and a concentration of Korean golfers in the PGA/LPGA. Our activities in this segment will be targeting both the aspirational sportsman and the practicing sportsman, with an emphasis on Guam’s golf offering supremacy.
-
ROMANCE
We will continue to highlight Guam as the favorable romance destination by associating Guam with romantic themes including: proposal trips, honeymoons, wedding snap-shot trips, wedding anniversaries, vow renewal ceremonies, destination weddings, and celebrity weddings. In line with it, we will organize FAM trips inviting select travel agencies, bloggers or media to introduce the diversity of Guam that are appealing to the romance market. We will pitch TV drama and reality TV show projects in which Guam can be portrayed as a romantic destination for couples of all ages.
-
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Koreans are becoming increasingly health centric, as the environmental stress of Korea’s urban density and pressures of a workaholic work regimen takes its toll on health. Wellness and relaxation in Guam is certainly considered a top attribute as Korean travelers plan their vacations, especially active seniors and office workers with heavy work burdens. Guam is renowned for its healing properties, a differentiating factor we intend to capitalize on. We intend to create tie-in editorials focusing on health and wellness travel to Guam working with major media such as lifestyle, luxury, and business magazines. Develop and promote “Rest and Relaxation” themed tour products for eco-tourism and spiritual attractions with travel agencies and airline partners targeting the silver market that are made up of people that are retired with high disposable income and plenty of time to travel.
|
T
A
R
G
E
T
M
A
R
K
E
T
S
|
Share with your friends: |
