There are many great ways to promote your tour and recruit students, but no matter which ones you use, one fact remains true…PREPERATION PREVENTS POOR OUTCOMES!
As a general rule of thumb, groups who book tours 6-12 months in advance of their travel date recruit twice as many students as groups who book less than six months early. In addition to starting early, here are our favorite ways to promote your tour, recruit students and get them and their parents excited and onboard with your plan:
As soon as you choose your tour destination and date, be sure to acquire and confirm all of the necessary approvals from your administration. Immediately start making in-class announcements daily, followed up by email reminders to your students and parents. Announcements should include all of the important details about your trip, such as the date(s), destinations, main attractions, purpose, accommodations, price and payment schedule. Create a handout that lists the important dates and deadlines, any fundraising projects, and any events, such as parent meetings. Make it clear that only a projected number of participants may attend, and that those
ABC Travels will provide you with a Participants Guide that includes a parent letter, your itinerary, the tour price, registration information, payment information, a list of everything included on your tour and a bit about what students can expect from their tour experience. While traditional hard-copy letters can be sent out, there are many advantages of communicating through email. For the enrollment form, the email can include a Google Doc that allows them to easily type in the required information.
Following your initial announcements, continue to keep parents and students in the loop about your tour by sending emails to remind them of upcoming deadlines, fundraisers, fun facts about your tour destination, and frequently asked questions.
We all love social media for personal use, but did you know that it can also help you bring attention and add excitement to your tour? Facebook can be a great way to post reminders for parents. It can also act as a forum where students and parents can ask questions and address concerns. Don’t just stop there…start a Twitter page for the tour and let parents know you will be tweeting “live” from the tour. Go even a step further and encourage students to use a hashtag and post pictures to a private Instagram group. Lastly, if you or a colleague did the same tour last year, compile your photos and videos into a short i-movie. This can be very helpful to show parents and students what they’ll be doing during their tour. The video can be distributed via email and social media, and also shown at meetings.
Once you’ve booked your tour, ABC Travels provides you with promotional items such as a downloadable poster to hang up in your classroom and a flyer to copy and distribute.
Select motivated, creative students to be Student Ambassadors. Their role is to help their teachers make the tour a reality by spreading the word within the school and community. Student Ambassadors share their enthusiasm for the trip and earn a 10% discount off of their tour or even a free trip!
Student Ambassadors will use the Ambassadors’ checklist for ideas on ways to spread the word and generate excitement. PLUS! Every Student Ambassador will be automatically entered to participate in contests hosted by Dream Big Youth Travel for the chance to win cool prizes like a GoPro camera, Beats by Dre, fun travel accessories and free trips! Make sure to connect with us on social media!
If you had a positive travel experience with ABC Travels, do your friends a favor by letting them know about us! They’ll thank you — and we’ll thank you!
Heres how it works:
Our student tours wouldn’t be possible without chaperones. If your Group Leader has selected you as a chaperone, here are some very important guidelines to learn how you will contribute to your tour.
General Responsibilities