The pandemic sadly caused a good portion of the travel industry to reduce their trading operations, and some, sadly have ceased trading all together. There were border closures, flight restrictions. Every aspect related to travel showed remarkable decline. However, the number of international trips increased by over 58% between July and September of 2021 due to the widespread use of vaccines.
More vaccines and fewer restrictions will make it easier for the travel and tourism industry to make a comeback in 2022, and RBR active™ are presenting retail and commercial travel agencies with an opportunity to add a valuable revenue stream to their travel portfolio.
Travel and tourism were among the industries hardest hit by the pandemic. The global economy lost $2.7 trillion of GDP. Following the pandemic, people explored and flourished on social media platforms, creating content such as blogs and video on sites like YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. This growth in social media and digital acceptance will only continue to grow over the coming years and drive sales on digital platforms.
Companies that survived the pandemic will now be competing heavily, with retail and commercial travel agencies having to adapt to the demand in people booking their holidays online. It’s estimated that 74% of the total market revenue between now and 2026 is expected to come from online sales, it’s important therefore for them to maximise their digital sales opportunities.
RBR active™ have set up a dedicated travel affiliates programme (RBR affiliates™) for their travel, deep vein thrombosis prevention device, the RBR legflow™. Paul Westerman, Director of RBR active™ says; “the RBR affiliates™ programme is an online tool that we feel both retail and commercial travel organisations will want to add to their portfolio of client services. With an estimated 74% of sales expected to be from online sales by 2026, travel welfare products, as well as other travel products and services like travel insurance, hotel reservations and car hire will be an essential element of online purchase.
Key commercial benefits to retail and commercial travel organisations of the RBR affiliates™ programme:
Low cost – no set up costs, no membership fees, no license fees
Increased revenue stream – retail price of £12.99 commission based or per unit revenue options
Reach – RBR active™ are a global supplier to the travel trade
Branding – enhance the organisations brand with retail and corporate clients
Customer Care – duty of care and staff welfare are prerequisite demands for every employee and traveller in today’s world
Versatility – allows agencies to either add as a revenue stream or as an incentive to clients
Data tracking – total transparency with monthly management reports of sales, traffic, retention
Customer journey
Paul Westerman says; “by dealing directly with retail, commercial and franchised travel organisations, the RBR active™ affiliates programme is highly effective in generating increased revenue for the affiliated company, it’s easy to set up, there’s total transparency on all customer transactions and above all, there’s no cost to the travel company. Their client orders, RBR active™ dispatch the order, the affiliate is notified of the order, and the affiliate is paid.”
“With everything that has happened because of Covid, as well as other economic challenges, developing an affiliates programme was one of the key goals set out during our recent pitch on the Dragons’ Den, as we know just how beneficial this extra revenue stream can and will be to all those within the travel industry going forward.”