Travel Niches / Travel Books
by John Hawks

Travel Niches

Targeting the Senior Group Market

When it comes to having the discretionary money and the flexible schedules to buy lots of travel, the 50+ seniors market is hard to beat. AARP says that Americans 50 and over spend 74 percent more on a typical vacation than 18- to 49-year-olds.

This month, we'll talk about selling senior group travel -- focusing your business on finding, and closing sales with, groups of 10 or more seniors traveling together on trips that you plan and package for them.

Why bother selling senior groups? Here's the primary reason: You're basically repeating the same sale across every member of the group and earning the same (or even more) commissions every time. In some cases, the same effort you'll invest in persuading one picky 30-something couple to choose their annual cruise can be directed instead into pitching a group of 40 seniors who want to travel together -- but the big difference is that you'll earn 20+ times the commissions!

In many cases, cruises and travel packages and tours are the ways to go with senior groups, because they can conveniently travel along the same itinerary and schedule and they'll appreciate the value that comes with booking their trips under group volume prices.

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