Travel Niches
by John Hawks

article continued from

Here are the biggest advantages of weddingmoons for your clients:

They'll have many travel options from which to choose. Many cruise lines, tour companies, resorts, and tourism offices now offer wedding and honeymoon packages designed specifically for this market.

They can focus on the family members and friends who are closest to them. In the process, they can forget those invitations to Aunt Tilly who traditionally sobs throughout every wedding ceremony and your mother's cousin four times removed who's known for stealing the mints from every wedding reception buffet line. The focus in a weddingmoon will be on the couple, not everyone else.

They'll save a LOT of money. If a cruise or an island resort stay sounds expensive, remind your clients to multiply $35 or $50 or more per person in reception food and beverage and rental costs, plus the wedding chapel/church rental, plus the flowers and the favors and the pianist ... Suddenly, the weddingmoon becomes a bargain!

Now, keep these tips in mind yourself as you step into this new profitable niche:

Partner with weddingmoon wholesalers or cruise lines for each destination -- and don't re-invent the wheel yourself.

If you really want to specialize in wedding trips and honeymoons for a single destination, that's actually a good plan. However, you should consider relying on hand-picked suppliers who specialize themselves in planning weddings in key destinations. That way, you'll be working with experts who know the local destination (and its wedding regulations) firsthand.

Partner also with local retailers.

Talk to wedding and bridal stores, real estate brokerages, bookstores, wine stores, photographers, tuxedo rental stores, and other retailers and professionals in your area. Can you work together to present a "united front" to these couples?

We know OSSN agents are the experts, so please share with us. What tips have proved to be successful as you've targeted wedding bookings? Send them to us at john@ossn.com! We'll gladly share your thoughts in a future article.