Competitive Landscape Study in the Travel Industry

CHALLENGE

In late 2014, SIS conducted a study for a market leading tour wholesaler in the travel industry, specialized in FIT
Coping with a declining market share, the client hired SIS to seek a better understanding of why its competitors are gaining market share at the cost of the client’s in order to increase its operations and marketing efforts to turn this around
Additionally, the client was looking to achieve an in-depth understanding of its competitors’ best practices and the impact of travel consortia affiliation

SOLUTION

SIS was commissioned to conduct market / competitive intelligence to determine travel agents and wholesalers BDMs’ perception of the major tour wholesalers on six aspects: website, commission structure, marketing materials, sales & customer support, pricing and offerings
In-depth interviews of 30-40 minutes were scheduled and completed with N=6 BDMs and N=50 travel agents (equally split by the client’s customers and non-customers) .
By using this research method, the motivations of travel agents behind choosing the client vs. competitors were revealed, as well as the impact of incentive (e.g. loyalty) programs and other decision making factors

RESULT

SIS identified five main competitors of the client in the FIT space and their strengths and weaknesses
Main concerns related to the client expressed by BDMs included: rising competition, declining use of travel agents in the years ahead, a belief that as higher-end travelers use travel agents more than general population
SIS research revealed three main concerns by travel agents regarding the client’s services: the customer service seemed to be “hit and miss”; recently raised prices were considered not fair; the client lacked a brochure and additional marketing materials

ABOUT THIS CASE STUDY

Business issue:

Defend market share

Market research specialties

Market & Competitive Intelligence

One-on-One / In-depth Interviews (IDIs)

Travel

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