During the time between a customer's booking and their onsite arrival, tour operators have a unique opportunity to curate an experience that really wows their guests. Though some travelers are more spontaneous than others, most enjoy having at least a short list of activities they absolutely must do at their destination. In any case, they could always use your help navigating the city and packing for their journey.Here are some simple ways you can enhance your guests' vacation experience long before they arrive.

1. Help guests build their itinerary

As we've suggested before, “Take the time to ask guests about their travel planning and offer to help them plan the rest of their trip with local recommendations." One way to do this is to provide a "destination cheat sheet' for download on your website or send guests a PDF via email as a complimentary service to help them get to know the area.With your recommendations, be sure to group activities that are located in the same areas. Add estimates for how long visitors should spend on each destination and note opening and closing times for those amusements. This helps travelers avoid wasting precious time revisiting a neighborhood only to see one or two things they missed on an earlier visit.

2. Prepare travelers for the adventure

Caught up in the excitement of their upcoming trip, guests may forget to prepare their travel documents, get necessary vaccinations, or pack essential items. To save travelers from an embarrassing encounter at the border, tour operators can share information visitors from other countries will need to know prior to travel.Email guests packing tips. For instance, if you're located in a mountainous region, advise guests to bring sturdy hiking boots, especially if you offer outdoor excursions. During the rainy season, recommend packing waterproof or water-resistant shoes. Remind travelers about what not to bring as well.Finally, share a few fun language lessons. For guests who speak the same language, provide a list of common slang non-locals might not be familiar with.

Tour operators can share information that visitors from other countries will need to know prior to travel

3. Invite visitors to eat like a local

On Facebook and Instagram, it can feel as though travelers spend more time documenting their meals than their journey. Indeed, one of the most exciting things about travel is experiencing local culture through its cuisine.Of course, many first-time visitors may not know what to eat or where to eat it. That said, tour operators can offer their best recommendations for specific dishes to try and restaurants to visit.

The Bottom Line

By simply sharing extra information (and providing concierge-like services), tour operators demonstrate their commitment to an exceptional customer experience. In return, guests will reciprocate with positive reviews and referrals to help you grow your business and bookings.

Things don't always go to plan. There will always be times when a customer has a family emergency, a scheduling conflict, or simply changes their itinerary. So when the unexpected happens, you need to make sure your customers are aware of their rights, and any fees associated with a cancellation. On top of that, you need to make sure you protect yourself, giving enough time to fill that now vacant spot, along with collecting enough of the booking fee to ensure you don't lose out financially.That's why it's so important to implement a simple, clear cancellation policy for your campground. To help you construct the best possible policy, here are a few tips and examples to follow.

1. Determine your cancellation fees.

Airlines and hotels do this to not only cover the costs associated with a cancellation but to also discourage customers from cancelling before their trip. Whether you decide to refund the entire amount of the reservation or provide a partial refund to a customer who cancels within a certain timeframe, you should impose some type of cancellation fee to handle the request. This fee would cover administrative time to process the request, credit card or debit card transaction fees, and any other costs associated with cancelling a booking.

2. Draft your cancellation policy.

Your cancellation policy doesn't have to be complicated, but it does need to contain key details about how much the customer owes you to proceed with the cancellation, what type of time window they have to cancel without any fees, and what their options are for proceeding with the cancellation process.When drafting your cancellation policy, be sure to include the following key details:

• Time window that you will honor a cancellation
• Time windows for various fees charged for a cancellation
• Whether reservations are non-refundable at the time of booking
• Security deposit policy
• Acceptable ways to cancel — over the phone, via email, or through an online booking program

For example:

Georgia State Parks details both its cancellation and transfer policy, and its policy about security deposits on its website. If you specialise in extended stays, you may consider requesting a security deposit and determining whether that deposit can be partially refunded based on when the cancellation takes place:Cancellation/Transfer Policy: Cancellations/Transfers must be made at least 30 days prior to scheduled arrival date. A $10 handling fee per reservation is charged for cancellations. Reservations made within 30 days of arrival are non-refundable and non-transferable. Reservations can be changed one time, at no charge, provided a 30-day notice is given.

3. Post your cancellation policy in several visible locations.

In addition to outlining your cancellation policy in great detail on your website, have customers agree to the cancellation policy at the time of booking. This can reduce liability on your part when a customer decides to cancel and has to pay a fee. You can include a small blurb of the cancellation policy in your terms and conditions section, or simply have it listed somewhere on your booking page so that customers can view it when they check out.

Have customers agree to your cancellation policy at the time of booking

4. Train staff to handle cancellations appropriately.

When a customer calls to cancel their reservation over the phone, make sure your staff is prepared to handle the situation with professionalism and explain exactly how much the customer will be charged for initiating the cancellation.Be sure to have staff members follow up with the customer to see if they would like to re-book for another day and time, or when they plan to travel again so that a staff member can follow up with the customer again to confirm the booking later. The goal, if possible, is to retain the customer.If you accept cancellations via email, make sure you have a dedicated staff member to handle all online communications so you can process the cancellation and open up the reservation to another customer in a timely manner. This might require setting up a separate email account specifically for cancellation requests and having a staff member monitor this account multiple times a day to handle all incoming messages appropriately.

5. Revise your cancellation policy as needed.

You may need to revise your cancellation policy when you add more reservation options at your campsite and need to elaborate on policies for different types of reservations (e.g. group bookings, long-term stays, etc.). Make sure to update and revise your campground cancellation policy frequently so that your customers are well aware of their rights to a refund (or forfeiture of a deposit), and you are fully disclosing your policy upfront.Developing and implementing a cancellation can improve customer service and even deter customers from cancelling at the last minute—thereby increasing the risk you lose another potential booking. Use these tips to develop and impose an effective cancellation policy for your campground reservations.

Staying up to date on tourism trends can help you learn a lot about how consumers think. What types of experiences pique their interest? How are they booking their plans? Where are they headed? All of these considerations are helpful in knowing how to appeal to your customer—even if your business caters to locals, not travelers. So whether you're promoting wine tasting tours, nature excursions, or guided city tours, here are five tourism trends you can't ignore.

1. Desire to Spend More on Experiences, Not Things

Experts at Cornell University have been studying the connection between money and happiness for decades. Their conclusion: people are happier when they spend money on experiences, not things. Capitalize on this by promoting the experiential benefits of your tours and activities. You offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences, so highlight this through testimonials from loyal customers, picking out reviews that describe the customer's unique experience and what they enjoyed most about it. Or, get creative. Literally compare apples to oranges by showing the consumer what they might be missing should they spend money elsewhere. For example, be clever with something like, "A week's worth of Starbucks would pay for this tour."Another great way to entice customers: vivid photography. As in most aspects of life, emotions rule in purchasing decisions. And, imagery is a key to that. According to KISSmetrics, consumers will connect better to your company if you use imagery that shows emotion. Want them to feel happy and want to participate? Display photos of real people enjoying your service—be it smiling while hiking on your tour or clinking glasses on a brewery tour—and watch your conversions soar.

2. Affinity for Staycations

Local isn't just a fad in the food and craft beer scene—more and more people are now searching close to home for travel-related activities. To make sure you're showing up in these local searches, optimize your website. Include your area of operation in the keywords of each page. It also helps to link to any relevant local pages. Were you included in a local newspaper write up? Link to it on your page.Read more about the rise of staycations here on our blog.Speaking of which, local papers, magazines, and blogs are great ways to catch the eye of local consumers. Reach out to local press, inviting them to experience your tour or activity first-hand. An editorial can go a long way to gaining trust from local consumers. Other ways to garner local bookings: running a state resident special or offering a discount to local residents if they show a valid driver's license; running ads in the local newspaper's 'things to do' section; running radio ads during peak listening hours; or even a short television commercial on local TV stations.

Local papers, magazines, and blogs are great ways to advertise to local consumers

3. The Need to Be Social

Results of a study from Amadeus North America reveals that the next generation of travelers are more adventurous and social. They're searching for experiences they can share with friends—so anything tour operators and merchants can do to make this process easier will help to better serve this market. Customers want to share their experience—so give them the tools to do so. Make it easy on yourself, and have the customers do the work for you. Create a hashtag—and send it out in confirmation and follow up emails—that customers can use after the experience to share photos or videos via social media. Or, run promote loyalty programs, as well as discounts for any referrals to entice customers to share with friends and family.

4. Increased Demand for Wellness Travel

Wellness tourism is a rapidly growing, $494 billion industry, according to the Well-Being Travel Symposium. But, wellness travel isn't just about spa getaways. It's about getting back to nature. According to a recent survey, 58 percent of respondents ranked outdoor activities as being most important for a wellness vacation. And, according to the IB Times, people booking wellness vacations are also looking for unique experiences—ones that will have them interacting with local cultures, educate them on local foods, or provide them some physical activity.Activity and tour companies are in a unique position to tap into this growing segment. You already have what the consumers are looking for—outdoor activities that give them local flavor. Now, make yourself known to them. Reach out to the local tourism board to have your business listed on their website and in brochures. Get yourself on local concierges' radar so they can recommend your experience to guests. On your own site, highlight the aspects of your business that may appeal to this demographic. Post vivid images of the outdoor activities you provide. Do you offer outdoor bike tours? Post photos of smiling customers basking in the sunshine atop their bikes. Offering cooking classes? Be sure to mix in local cuisine, along with descriptions of local purveyors and farms you source ingredients from.

5. Rise of Mobile Bookings

About 27 percent of all digital travel transactions in the United States take place on a mobile device, according to data from Criteo. Whether you're selling tours, classes, or activities, customers want to be able to shop and secure their purchase with a few taps and screen swipes. Make use of this growing market of tech-savvy travelers with a mobile-friendly website and branded applications that make the research and booking process simple and efficient. Make sure your website—especially the checkout process—is mobile-friendly. Use mobile-optimized online booking software, such as Peek Pro, which makes it easy for customers to book directly through a merchant's website and complete the checkout process seamlessly.From the increased demand of experiences over things to the rise of mobile bookings, trends in travel trickle down to tour and activity operators. The more local merchants pay attention to these trends, the better equipped they'll be to tap into many different segments of the market.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by social media, wondering how to maximize your efforts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking platforms? Well, you're not alone. Manta.com surveyed more than 1,200 business owners to find out which social platforms are the toughest to maintain for small business owners and found that Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter ranked high on the list.

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But if you're letting that frustration get in the way of maintaining an active presence on the main social media sites, you're squandering a gold mine. Online travel industry statistics from Funsherpa.com reveal 87 percent of travelers used the Internet for a bulk of their travel planning and 50 percent of travel companies surveyed reported that direct bookings were generated from social media.

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To make sure you're making the most of social media, follow these 11 online marketing strategies.

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1. Create a realistic plan.

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Don't think that you have to be on every single social media platform out there. Instead, be realistic: Consider how much time you can dedicate to pulling together content for your social media channels and how frequently you want to post to each site. Also keep in mind that fans and followers are going to expect you to comment or reply back, so you need to make time for that. Marketing experts share their insights on "The Art of Response on Social Media" for Entrepreneur magazine and point out that most commenters expect a response within 24 hours. In order to not spread yourself thin, choose up to two platforms that you can realistically stick to a schedule with so that staff members can handle all social media tasks and interactions with ease.

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2. Don't be overly promotional.

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While social media platforms are great avenues to share what you have to offer, the true purpose of staying active on these sites is to generate interest in your business, gain fans and followers, and share interesting content. Avoid spamming fans and followers with updates about your specials, ads about your offerings, or anything that sounds like a sales pitch. Focus instead on sharing unique and interesting content that your fans and followers will want to share on their social networks. This might include video of behind-the-scenes footage of chefs preparing meals for a food tour or a short introduction from the captain of a boat tour company. Or, it could be something as simple as a photo gallery of a sneak preview of upcoming tours of the season, or a short article from the owner of a canoe tour company about what to look forward to in the area this travel season.

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Sharing this type of content that your fans and followers end up sharing without directly asking them is is word-of-mouth marketing in action on the social grid and can help you maintain a loyal following for the long haul.

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3. Keep things short and simple.

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It's a great idea to describe a tour or activity with creative copy and entice your viewers but you want to avoid writing mini paragraphs when posting on Facebook or Instagram. The experts at Wishpond point out that posts shorter than 250 characters have 60 percent more engagement than longer posts. Whether you're sharing details about a recent kayaking trip or posting an update about an upcoming promotion, keep the message short and sweet — preferably just a few lines.

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4. Engage with the community.

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Whether you're busy on Facebook, are just getting started with Twitter, or are active on sites like Pinterest and Instagram, you need to take the time to engage with other users in order to build your online presence. Sharing unique content is just one part of the puzzle. As a tour and activity operator, utilize the tools of each platform: seek out locals by entering you location in the search feature on various sites, using hashtags like #travel or #tours, and connecting with complementary businesses such as the chamber of commerce, area hotels and resorts, and other business contacts. The goal is to interact with the community and, eventually, earn your following.

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You need to take time to engage with other users in order to build your online presence

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5. Get on a Facebook Page updating schedule.

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Updating Facebook regularly with photos, video clips, blog posts, and information about your tours or activities can engage your fans and help prospective travelers learn more about what you offer. The key to success with Facebook marketing is making sure you post enough but not too much — the experts at Buffer recommend posting a maximum of two times per day, seven days a week between the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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6. Use scheduling tools to be consistent.

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When you've determined how often you want to post to social media sites and have a schedule to work with, consider using apps and tools like Sprout Social, HootSuite, or Buffer to schedule all of your posts to go live at certain times of the day. This can take the stress of administrative tasks off the shoulders of staff members, who are better off spending their time helping guests with customer service inquiries or taking care of tour-related activities.

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7. Use the right keywords and hashtags in your tweets.

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If you're active on Twitter, make it easy for prospective travelers to find you with Twitter's search features. Debbie Hemley, a social media consultant and blogger, tells Social Media Examiner that it's a good idea to make a list of keywords that best describe your business and industry. Using hashtags to accompany your tweets such as #travel, #kayaking, #[destination] can help you attract followers.

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8. Share experiences on YouTube.

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Demand for video content is growing rapidly — Cisco reports that consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80 percent of all traffic in 2019. Sharing videos on YouTube can foster loyalty, inspire potential customers to find out more about you, and makes it easy to drop video links on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. You can share everything from snippets of a tour experience to customer testimonials.For example, Boggy Creek Airboats in Orlando, Florida, features several videos from their most popular routes, along with clips of guests enjoying the experience. One of their intro videos has garnered more than 226,000 views.

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9. Post regularly to Instagram.

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Instagram is a popular photo-sharing site that also offers the option of sharing short video clips. You can include information about your company in a few sentences in the bio along with a direct link to your website or booking page. Hawaiian Paddlesports does a great job of posting shots of its outrigger canoes and beach activities, garnering hundreds of likes on many of its photos. You can do the same and tag all of your photos using relevant hashtags — a simple way to stand out on Instagram as users enter hashtags to find photos of interest. Make sure to tag almost all of your photos with your destination and use keywords like tours and the industry you are in for maximum exposure.

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10. Get active on Pinterest.

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Photo-sharing sites like Instagram and Facebook aren't the only places to generate likes and attract followers. Jump on Pinterest so you can share your photos on themed boards related to the services you offer and connect with travelers or complementary businesses. You can post everything from creative ads to promote specials you are offering to candid photos. Take a look at the Pinterest boards of MSH Hawaii Tours for inspiration. The company has created 14 boards with different themes and generated 100-plus likes to date.

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Whether your goal is to increase bookings, maintain a positive online presence, or connect with customers and local businesses in new ways, adopt some of these social media habits to stay one step ahead of the competition.

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Read about Dylan's Tours and how they became one of the largest operators in San Francisco

For most travel and activity businesses, Google is the primary way new visitors will find you online—be it through a Google Search or on Google Maps. But fighting for top spots in the search results is a full-time job, and not one that many business owners have time for. Luckily, Google is making it increasingly easier for businesses to be found, allowing you to have a presence in local searches with just a few minutes of work.

Make sure Google can read your website

Google looks at your website more-or-less as a person would—it reads the pages, looks at images, and clicks through all the items in your menu. To ensure Google is able to access your website, read it, and then list what it finds in search results, turn to Search Console, one of the search engine's most powerful tools.If your website has been configured incorrectly and Google can't access and read it, the Search Console is where you'll find out. And, depending on the nature of the problem, Google will usually suggest ways to correct the error too.Search Console also has many more useful tools to help you analyze your website's performance, including Search Analytics, which shows you how well your website is performing in search results; Pagespeed Insights, which gives you information on how your website works on different screen sizes; and a messages area, which Google will use to send you important updates about your site.

Tell Google what your business is about

The words and phrases people type into Google to find products, services or information are known as “keywords." The keywords Google will associate your business with rely almost entirely on the words used in your website's copy. Without specifically mentioning certain things in the text of your site, you'll never appear in search results for those keywords.For example, a kayaking business needs to tell Google that they offer kayak rentals and kayaking lessons by talking about them on their website. A campsite needs to tell Google they offer pitches by the night, and how much they cost by listing them publicly. But don't go overboard with these keywords: If it's obvious you're trying to beef up your keyword count, Google will simply ignore it—or worse, punish you by burying you in the results page.A simple rule of thumb: Create a website which works really well for your visitors, and Google will reward you with good placement in search results.And this is another area where the Search Console can help. One of its features, Content Keywords, broadly tells you what Google thinks your website is about by showing you how many times you mention specific keywords. Ideally, the services you're selling should be near the top of this list. If not, it's time to tweak your website a bit.

Create a website which works well for your visitors, and Google will reward you with good placement in search results

Tell Google where your business is located

Appearing in local search results is vitally important for travel and activity businesses. Most searches take place on mobile devices now, so you need to be as visible as possible to travelers passing through your area and in search of a fun activity.The most basic way to tell Google where you are based—and to appear to local searchers—is to simply include your address and phone number on your website. Google will take this information and be able to deduce your location, and pretty soon you'll be appearing in local search results.Another important step in attracting local searches is to get your business listed on Google Maps. Google My Business—the search engine's home for many of its small business services—allows local businesses to easily create Google Maps listings and verify them by linking the listings to their websites.It's easy to claim your Google Maps listing. Simply search your business on Google Maps and touch "Are you the business owner?" and follow the prompts provided.Your Google Maps listing can contain plenty of information above and beyond your address and phone number. You can add opening hours, photos, and invite customers to review your business. The better your reviews, the more people will find you online, and the more will visit you in real life. You can even add a link that directly points customers to book your activity or rental.In just a few minutes, these simple updates can vastly increase your online searchability.

If you've spent some time surfing the web, you know there's no lack of advertising space on a myriad of websites. But what you may not realize is many of these advertising spots are "for rent." Dubbed remarketing (or retargeting), it's all about enabling companies to show relevant ads to people who have initially expressed interest in what you have to offer online.For instance, did you visit a clothing site and later that day, on another website, see an ad for the article of clothing you looked at ? While it may appear that the stars are aligning to help you rationalize that purchase, it's actually Google's remarketing engine at work. And, it may just be the tool to help drive more online sales for your tour or activity company.

What Is Remarketing/Retargeting?

We interviewed Margot da Cunha, previous content marketing specialist at WordStream, a Google Premier SMB partner focused on search marketing. According to da Cunha, remarketing, also known as ad retargeting (these terms are used interchangeably), is “essentially when you cookie your past site visitors to follow them around with ads on various sites they browse."In a sense, it's kind of like an acceptable business form of stalking. If someone comes to your website and is looking into purchasing a kayak tour experience, but then gets distracted and pulls up a new website, a visual prompt advertisement of your choosing will show on other websites they visit, such as Facebook, to "remarket" to them. The hope is that they'll see the image of the kayak they were researching on your site, along with your carefully crafted advertising message, and realize that it might be time to head on back to the page or shopping cart they abandoned.

Does Remarketing work?

“Most people who are doing paid search, who start to then embrace remarketing, are blown away by the results," da Cunha says. “It works because you're targeting people instead of just keywords." In other words, you know they're more qualified than people who just stumble upon your ad, because they've actually been to your website before and shown an interest.There's no tried and true statistic on how exactly retargeting will help your business, but in general, anytime you're advertising to people who are interested in what you have to offer, the better the results will be. “Conversion rate increases with exposure," says da Cunha. "The more your target sees your ad, the more likely they are to convert." And, don't worry too much about people becoming annoyed because “your odds of overwhelming the audience, because of the way Google controls things, are pretty low."

Retargeting works because you're targeting people, not keywords

How do I get started?

The process to set up remarketing efforts for your tour, activity or rental business will be fairly straightforward. If you already have a PPC campaign running through Adwords or Wordstream, there is a simple setup process, which you can learn more about here: How Does Google Remarketing Work? It involves modifying your website pages with a small piece of tracking code (called a tag), creating a list of people you would like to remarket to and deciding how often you want them to see your ad.You can get as general or specific as you see fit when it comes to setting your criteria (who sees it and how often). Here are few scenarios of people you can target with ads of your choosing:

• Everyone who has visited a certain page on your website.
• Only people who visited a specific landing page (for instance, your wine tasting ticket purchase page), but didn't convert.
• Only those who placed a bike or kayak in their cart, but then abandoned ship.
• Only people who purchased a Halloween escape room adventure last year, who you want to casually remind to do so again for the upcoming season.

What's it going to cost ?

Similar to Google Adwords, you can spend hundreds, thousands or even more on your remarketing campaign. As with any new service, it's best to start by allocating a reasonably sized portion of your online marketing budget, along with tightly defined goals, so you can measure how remarketing affects your conversions.The broader your remarketing campaign's criteria, the higher your cost will usually be. You can fine-tune and set frequency caps (i.e. this person can only see this ad a certain number of times per day) and duration (i.e. this person will no longer see this ad after 30 days) as you see fit to manage costs.Wordstream does have some recommendations when it comes to duration and frequency based on recent studies and experience:

• Duration should be set to three times your average sales cycle for best results.
• Setting the frequency to unlimited is worth it. Even if you set frequency cap to unlimited, those people will only see it an average of 3.71 impressions per day.

There's no time like the present to get started with remarketing for your tour, activity, or rental business. If you're interested in learning more (which you should be), check out this guide: Complete Guide to Content Remarketing.