IC TRAVEL AGENT November 2013 | Page 10

Give the GIFT of Travel The Gift of Travel is something parents can give to their children: teenagers, college students, newly married… travel is a gift that meets the needs for everyone. Yes, kids can send Mum and Dad on a well deserved weekender or a 7-day cruise. There is no limit to who can give and to whom. Religious Tours As you will know Religious Vacations, Faith Based Travel, Spiritual Tours are selling and selling well. You can promote religious vacations based on your own faith and if you have not yet found one, then you can promote any and all faiths. Throwing the net wide is a plan. Why not create a gift certificate yourself or borrow one from your suppliers and use that as your promotional tool? There are tours for any and all faiths who want to experience the historic places and events of a religion not their own. So a Christian tour of Muslim worlds to view Mosques instead of churches and vice versa. You get the idea. It’s a multi, all-faith tour. The best time to promote your religious tours would be just after the Christmas holidays and you could also wait for the New Year to pass – then you’d have most people’s undivided attention. They are still in holiday mood… the decorations, if they went up, don’t come down until 12 days after, and so your repetitive promotions will take hold. Search online for gift certificate templates, download the ones you like and then print at home on thick quality card. Here’s the link to Office.com templates: If you know the faith of your clients, you might even send out a stocking stuffer that is based on a special offer your preferred faith based supplier is offering. http://office.microsoft.com/en-ca/templates/christmasgift-certificate-christmas-spirit-design-TC103982379.aspx An example is shown below: The Adventurous Faith Based Tour Have you ever stood on top of a mountain and looked out at sunrise taking in the First Light of the new day? If you have you will know first hand that what you saw could be claimed as a religious experience. Standing anywhere that is of a spiritual nature can be classed as a religious experience. There are adventures to many parts of the world that offer this experience. Page 10