The Brief and our Approach
The brief was to increase awareness and product knowledge amongst the trade and increase bookings to the destination. Our challenge was that agents often overlook Texas in favour of tier one destinations in the US, so we had to find an innovative way to keep the destination front of mind.
Our approach saw us run a series of travel agent and B2B events in key cities in Australia & New Zealand.
The travel agent events included a sit-down dinner with short presentations designed to inspire guests, with networking sessions before and after the meal and group line dancing lessons which got agents interacting with each other and injected some fun and personality into the events.
GTI co-ordinated B2B events were structured so each of the Texan suppliers had a one-to-one meeting with all the key product decision makers in Australia and New Zealand.
The Results
- Attendance at these events reached capacity (100 pax) in each city, with some people joining a waitlist
- Post event survey revealed that agents left feeling inspired to offer Texas to their clients
- 12 x new product options were added into wholesale programs to increase sales to Texas
- Members of the Travel Texas team established relationships with key players in the travel trade