Women and Exotic Places: A Winning Combo
by Nick VerrastroA growing trend for women to seek out new and exotic destinations is feeding a profitable niche tour business for Beth Whitman, a woman with her own penchant for venturing to exotic and sometimes intimidating places.
This success can be emulated by retail travel sellers. The keys are remaining true to their passion, staying committed to building business, and engaging in effective marketing and networking, said Whitman, who is also an author and host of a successful blog.
Passion for local culture
Whitman embarked on a full-time career in travel four years ago as a way to indulge her passion for immersing herself in what she calls “the thick of the local culture.”
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Convinced there was a growing market for travel by groups of women to exotic destinations, Whitman wrote the guidebook Wanderlust and Lipstick, which formed the nucleus of her blog and website of the same name.
Now it’s also a budding tour company, WanderTours, specializing in small group travel, mainly for women and always to exotic destinations.
Those destinations include such personal favorites as Burma, Bhutan and Papua New Guinea – places where women are often advised to not visit alone.
“I was doing a lot of traveling on my own and felt like women were told they couldn’t do these things, couldn’t be adventurous. I think this is hogwash,” Whitman said.
“Men are told the same thing. People need to be encouraged to travel more.”
Niche that hit a nerve
Whitman’s niche quickly hit a nerve. Her newsletter mailing list grew to 10,000-plus names since its launch in 2007 with just 350 names, most of them friends and relatives and their friends and relatives.
After readers began requesting tours to the destinations Whitman was writing about, she started WanderTours, designed to offer rich cultural experiences while participants travel in comfort.
Whitman sees “tremendous growth” in the women’s travel market – especially in the type of exotic travel that’s her specialty. Demographics and changing attitudes are fueling the trend.
‘More acceptable’
Rather than traveling with spouses or kids, an increasing number of women are choosing to travel on their own or with other women, Whitman said. Female Baby Boomers traveling during retirement is also a growing market.
“It’s more acceptable not only for widowed and divorced women but also for the 40-somethings, who have children at home and want to take a trip with their girlfriends. Their husbands are accepting of that.”
Whether in their 40s or retirement age, more women are choosing the type of exotic destinations offered by WanderTours, which include Bhutan, India, Vietnam and Cambodia, said Whitman, who plans to add Burma (Myanmar) to the roster soon.
Advice for travel sellers
Here is Whitman’s advice for travel agents who want to find similar success in developing a niche market:
Follow your passion. Developing a successful niche market requires staying true to one’s personal interests, Whitman said. For instance, she has no plans to develop tours to Europe, despite requests for them, because she has no passion for the destination.
“Talking about travel experiences that I am passionate about is the only way I can sell a tour, and that is why it is important for travel agents to focus on a niche they are excited about,” she said.
Use multiple marketing methods. Successfully developing a niche “takes a lot of smarts and hard work – especially in terms of sales and marketing.” This is where blogs and websites and social networking come in – what Whitman calls the “long tail” of marketing.
Expand your networking. Network with other businesses as much as possible. Get the word out that you are available to do seminars by searching for opportunities with community colleges, night schools, service clubs, and other sources.
Bring people into your office to get the word out about your business. Small networking events work as well.
“Business these days is so much about word of mouth and networking,” said Whitman. “Start at the micro level and people will eventually find you.”
Stick with it. The early stages can be easiest, Whitman noted, because that is when you have committed customers – customers who are as passionate about your niche as you are. She calls them “early adopters.”
In her own case, filling her first WanderTours trips with enthusiastic people was not difficult. The challenge came later when she found she had to keep finding new customers.
“You have to really work the business, and that means marketing,” she said.
Whitman conducted a seminar on travel blogs at the ASTA conference in Las Vegas earlier this fall. Please see related article, ‘Killer Blogs’ Take Passion, Persistence, Sept. 26, 2011
