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Research Viewpoint
Is the Traditional Group Tour a Thing of the
Past?
Published
by Tourism Magazine (Vol. 002 Issue
08, August 2005) and written by
Scott Meis, Executive Director Research
- Canadian Tourism Commission. Republished
on OVTA Web Site with permission.
The group tour is one of the tourism industry’s most established and
recognizable product categories. For more than 100 tourism operators in Canada,
the group tour is their core business. For many destinations and hotels, it has
been the mainstay of their business for years.
"... tourism is like clothing fashion; what is "in" this
year may be "out" a couple of years from now. However, it may be more serious
than that for the traditional group tour market."
| "... tourism is like clothing fashion; what is "in" this year may be "out" a
couple of years from now. However, it may be more serious than that for the
traditional group tour market." |
The group tour was born in a whole different era, when the dominant idea
among travellers was that you went touring rather than heading to a destination.
It was about the romance of the road or the rails, but now that could be
changing. Earlier this summer I had the chance to attend the annual conference
of the Travel and Tourism Research Association; one of the surprising
presentations I heard is how the group tour may be in decline in Canada and the
US.
The data is undeniable. Current trend measurements undertaken in the US
suggest the overall market for group tours in North America (outside Mexico) is
flat or declining. Among outbound pleasure travellers, the percentage who took a
group tour on their most recent trip has declined steadily since the mid-1990s,
from 14% in 1995 to 10% in 2003.
As well, there is an image and perceptual problem that has grown up around
group tours. Respondents to questions rated it low on the list of “enriching”
trip experiences. There is also an awareness of the inconveniences of group
tours, such as the “bus prison,” packing and unpacking, dissatisfaction with
travelling companions, lack of flexibility in scheduling and a lack of
independence in general.
It would be fair, perhaps, to comment that tourism is like clothing fashion;
what is "in" this year may be "out" a couple of years from now. However, it may
be more serious than that for the traditional group tour market. It may be the
case that this market has been stagnating or shrinking for the past several
years - in the jargon of researchers, "it may be trending lower on a long-term
basis".
To some extent we should have known this. Independent travel has developed
much faster than conventional group travel over the past several years, and the
product development of tourism industries in all western countries reflects
this.
This represents an opportunity for researchers. The information we have
available on group tours is not current and is not comprehensive, so the
research challenge presents itself: is group travel really in decline? What are
the trends, both long term and short term? What is the demographic structure of
this slice of the market? What are the competing products? What are the factors
affecting purchases of tours? What are the negatives – why is it that fewer
people seem to be buying this product? What are the positives – how can the
group tour experience be redesigned and repackaged to appeal to more people?
What market segments are apt to consider the tour? Can the traditional tour
morph into new products with different appeal?
Many people have enjoyed group tours over the past decades. It would be
useful to know how many people still are enjoying them, or might like
to.
You
can view this article and other
tourism articles on the Tourism
Magazine web site.
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