Late start to the outdoor season – get ahead with these tips

The late start to the outdoor season this year was not only due to the cold and rainy weather. The long second lockdown in Germany also meant that many tours and activities providers had to open later this year. The restrictions are being reduced slowly and people are booking outdoor season activities once again.

However, this has made for a hard start into the summer season, which is why we provide you with useful tips on how to make the most of this summer.

Study data from the previous year(s) and adjust prices 

It’s worth taking a closer look at the numbers from previous years. Which of your activities were the most popular? What times and days were the most frequently booked? You can use this information to optimise your activities for maximum capacity utilisation. 

In that way, lower prices on less attractive days or times help to increase your overall capacity utilisation. 

Or, if you have that option, you can increase the frequency of your most popular tours or activities. Offer them more often than usual and remove some of the less popular offers.  

Contact your customers about outdoor season activities

Contact your customers now and invite them directly. In the last months, there were so many rules and restrictions to be observed that your customers did not even think they could start booking with you again. Let them know now! 

Give them a small loyalty discount as an incentive to make a purchase. Your customers are practically waiting for suggestions for recreational activities. That’s why now is the perfect time to contact them. 

Pay attention to training and raising awareness in your personnel 

There is a lot to consider on location For example, you must pay attention to keeping sufficient distance and disinfecting hands. Or you need to maintain specific directions of travel and comply with wearing a face mask. 

At the same time, you may make the experience that your visitors are less tolerant and patient. Now is the time to stay cool, and, above all, friendly. It is important that your staff deals with this new situation in an authentic way, in order to prevent bad experiences for guests. As these can end in complaints and negative online reviews.

Prioritise your hygiene concept and make sure it’s transparent.

Even if visitors are annoyed by all the new requirements, there is a growing expectation to maintain a hygiene concept and safety in general. 

That’s why your hygiene and safety procedures are displayed on your website and during the booking process. This creates trust. 

Next, you must implement the measures announced on your website on location. Currently, customers place greater emphasis on their safety and feel uncomfortable if they see that you are not observing certain things. Therefore, make sure that there is good, clear signage to guide your visitors. Open up various queues to reduce the formation of groups and install distancing markings on the ground. 

Digital is your most important point of contact

During the lockdown, customers became increasingly used to the availability of products and services online. With regard to tours, activities and attractions, there are four main trends:

• Customers mainly book online from their homes
• Your customers prefer time slot tickets to save time on site and to avoid queues
• Customers will also book time slots on “unpopular” days if the price is more attractive
• It must be possible to implement every aspect of the search online, from booking to cancellation.

These things have become the standard for your customers. Now that you can reopen, it wouldn’t make sense if you only made these partially available.

Use digitisation on site too. Validate your tickets on location using your smart phone or a scanning device and offer contactless payment.  

Local is coming up trumps – rely on local marketing 

This summer, most exotic destinations are off bounds, so that you can reckon with more German visitors. 

That’s why we advise you to focus on the local market.

In summary, for your outdoor season activities you can rely on the following points:

Combination with other offers from the region

Allow other providers to sell your activities and sell their outdoor season activities too In this way, your customers can put together their experiences

Activate your resellers now

You already work with resellers such as hotels or tourism bureaus? Then invite them to actively sell for you. The best thing would be to work on a common system that allows them to process the sales your activities fully automatically and digitally. Read this too: International partner network & regional sales partners under one roof

Work with your local DMOs / Tourism Office

Ensure that it is possible to book your outdoor activities via the tourism information office too.