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New Tools to Take Away from Hawaii FareHarbor Conference

April 17, 2019 — by FareHarbor

a body of water with a city in the background

One week has gone by, and if you were unable to attend FareHarbor Conference in Hawaii, you missed out (and we missed you!). It was a full day packed with engaging one-on-one discussions, speaker sessions, and a networking happy hour for the decades.

Our team was excited to get back to our roots and spend time connecting with over 300 incredible attendees who made FHConference a wild success. There was a real sense of Ohana, and it was great to see everyone contributing to the conversations around Hawaiian tourism. Seeing the excitement within the Hawaii market reaffirmed FareHarbor’s commitment to keep delivering real and transformative value through everything we do. While it’s nearly impossible to capture all of the one-on-ones, presentations, and networking that went on, here are a few tools that were covered at the FareHarbor Conference to bring back and apply to your business.

Grow Your Business

In this digital age, it’s no longer an expectation to be technologically optimized; it’s a requirement. So how do you stand out in a super competitive industry like travel and tourism? Building a strong online presence is necessary to reach new customers, retain old ones, and help you stand out. Here are a few tools mentioned during the conference to get you started:

Email Marketing – According to Statista, 90% of American adults use email. Email within the travel industry specifically yields a high open rate of 20.69% according to MailChimp. The benefits of email marketing for your tour business can include building brand loyalty, attracting new customers, and allowing you to compete with larger tour companies. Head over to Compass, our online suite full of resources to grow your business, to learn more about email marketing and get started with your first email campaign.

Google Analytics – With more and more travelers looking to book activities online, having an optimized website can do wonders for your business. Using Google Analytics in conjunction with your website can provide valuable insights into the best way to run your site. As a free online tool, Google Analytics can help you track your web visitors’ behaviors and analyze your traffic. There are thousands of ways you can slice and dice the data you have available in Google Analytics, so let us help you! Head to our help page to get started with setting up a free analytics account.

PPC Advertising (Pay-per-click) – According to Ipsos MediaCT, 80% of travelers start shopping for tours to book for an upcoming vacation by searching online. Having a paid search strategy could greatly benefit your business growth. By visiting FareHarbor’s Compass page dedicated to showing you how to get into PPC, you’ll learn how to control your advertising costs, optimize your ads, and increase your conversion rates. Don’t wait to start boosting your business.

Distribution Channels

The number of ways to promote your tours can seem daunting, which is why we offer easy ways to connect your activities to third-party resellers, including Online Travel Agents (OTAs), other tour companies, and local connections within your area. These useful tools allow you to work with businesses to reach travelers in different market segments and increase your reach.

API and Affiliate connections – By using our Application Programming Interface (API) connections, partnering with online travel agencies like Expedia or Viator can be easy. Availabilities between platforms are updated in real time and can be seen from your FareHarbor Dashboard. To learn more about setting up your API, get in touch with our connectivity team today.

Reserve with Google – FareHarbor’s recent integration with Reserve with Google is a revolutionary way to connect Google search users right to your activities. When travelers search for an activity using Google Search, Google Maps, or Google Assistant, they will be matched with your available offerings and an option to book right from the Google page. FareHarbor gets your business on Reserve with Google and gives you full control to manage which activities are available for booking. Get discovered and booked through the world’s largest search engine by reaching out to our team today.

Partner Program – Grow and support your business by connecting with local resellers in your area who are also using the FareHarbor platform. Our Partner Program is a regionalized network of FareHabor clients who opt-in to resell and be resold by one another for a commission. We introduced this program as a way for you to easily gain more exposure for your business, all while earning commission on referrals. Learn about existing Partner Programs and how you can get involved.

Dashboard Training

Our Dashboard track focused on a bunch of new features that were introduced over the past year. We’re always trying to take the customer’s experience to the next level, and the following Dashboard additions make improvements to the overall ease and accessibility of your bookings on both the front and back end. Select a feature below to get started!

Thank you to each and every person who made FareHarbor Conference Hawaii a success. We can’t wait to see the value you bring back to your business and your team to make a difference. Make it stick by applying these tools!

If you missed the FH Conference in Hawaii, we’ll be heading to Orlando in October 2019 for conference number two. Stay tuned for updates and sign up for more information by visiting fareharborconference.com.

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