The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales tradition has not been a big one for the tour industry. Tour operators fight hard for marketshare, but Cyber Monday has never been seen as a big day for tour purchasas.
"I don't think many people are going to be influenced by Black Friday or Cyber Monday to buy a tour," said Brian Stack, president of CIE Tours. "They may go the the mall and buy a watch or a computer that day, but not too many will be swayed by those sale days to buy a trip."
However some tour operators or vacation packagers did run specials and sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and some got good results.
Apple Vacations offered across-the-board savings for BF/CM this year and the response was terrific. The sale followed Apple's SuperSale, which features the company's lowest prices of the year. But Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were still successful, greater than last year.
Big Five Tours promoted Cyber Monday sales on Facebook, offering three free nights in northern Costa Rica, as well as a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam.
"This was our first of what we want to make an annual sale," said Ashish Sanghrajka, "and we had a good response, especially for Chile. There are a lot of last-minute travelers waiting on the sidelines that are now waking up to go on holiday in the next few weeks. Just on Monday we finalized a tour for someone heading to Brazil from a travel agency in the southeast. They already had their visa and flights and booked the trip Monday morning for departure Monday afternoon."
Insight Vacations offered a two-day Black Friday sale. According to Andrea Theophilos, director of marketing, the two-day sale "went really well.
"Our consumers and agents responded well and we received bookings from the sale," said Theophilos. "We also saw a huge increase in our open rates when the blast went out."
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