This summer looked a lot better from a distance for tourism businesses in West Cork!
Of course, we had anticipated that domestic visitors would take their chance to head overseas after Covid restrictions lifted. But high fuel prices, rising business costs, and car hire hikes have combined with those changes in visitor behaviour to hit visitor numbers and profits hard.
A lot of attention has fallen on rising accommodation costs and the challenges that sector is facing, but it isn’t just overnight business that’s affected.
Day visits are down too as households look to rein in their expenses.
Meanwhile the cost of doing business is rising at every turn for all tourism businesses, and staffing remains difficult to manage with COVID still an active factor in how tourism is faring.
Why it makes sense to nudge visitors
When you think about being nudged, you might recall a parent giving you a gentle reminder – either through a look or a gesture – to say thank you or carry out a job you were already supposed to have finished.
The idea of nudging as a way to prompt people to act and spend in the way you want has been popular for a number of years in the field of behavioural economics.
The power of the nudge is definitely worth thinking about at this mid-season point, when what we’re trying to do is to win business from people nearby or who are already warm to the idea of visiting West Cork.
What can we do to tip the ‘maybes’ into the ‘let’s go!’ camp? And how can we persuade people to stay a bit longer or spend a bit more money while they are with us?
Below, you’ll find a few simple and low-cost steps you can take to convert potential visitors from browsers to buyers, so you can get the most out of your business for the rest of the year.
5 nudges you can use right now
1) Remind people how easy it is to access your offer
Why not remind people how easy it is to escape to West Cork from Cork city or Killarney? It’s definitely possible to win business from people who have had a foreign holiday already but can be persuaded to take advantage of our current heatwave or make a short trip for a special event, experience, or festival.
2) Celebrate what’s free and included
You may not normally tell people that you offer scones on arrival or that your visitors are free to use activity equipment you have at your B&B.
But this might be the time to tell that story, even if you just share a photo of the freshly made baking and use it to generate a bit of hunger in your potential guests!
And use your photos of your own day-to-day adventures to whip up an appetite – whether they’re of spectacular sunsets or brilliant views!
3) Communicate value
The media has taken up the story of good-value pints in Helen’s Bar, Kilmackillogue, with great vigour, which is wonderful. But value isn’t always about shrewd pricing.
As a coeliac, I will always prick up my ears when a business flags that it supports gluten-free dining and really understands the risks of cross-contamination, while a young family might be more tempted to take a walk if they know its pushchair-friendly.
Information about accessibility adds value for guests with specific needs, so make the most of it.
Accessibility a powerful tool when you are trying to persuade visitors to pick between your offer and someone else’s, above and beyond being ethically sound.
And it’s fair to say that most tourism businesses in West Cork are not yet capitalising on the power of accessibility and its impressive capacity to improve shoulder-season business (May-June & September-October).
3) Make the most of events and festivals
Talk up the events and festivals that create knock-on business for you. Whether it’s the West Cork Literary Festival and Masters of Tradition in Bantry, or local festivals in Allihies and Ahakista, big them up and help potential visitors to understand their appeal.
Lots of our domestic visitors return again and again for events like the West Cork Islands Run Series and the Eyeries Family Festival, and so it makes sense to remind them of this year’s dates and memories from previous years.
It isn’t just the job of event organisers to whip up excitement about what’s on near you. Help out the tireless committee members who make festivals and events happen by sharing their posts and building up a buzz around their programmes!
4) Make a fuss of shiny and new things
Stop and look about you to see what’s new around your business. If you’re trying to persuade people to visit Glengarrif, for example, you might want to tell people all about Forest Bathing walks, the new outdoor bar at the Glengarriff Park Hotel, the fresh menu at the Eccles, or the chance to go scuba diving with Bantry Bay Charters.
When you take up the cause of other local businesses, your own offer benefits by association.
You also gain the opportunity to tempt back visitors who enjoyed their last visit but think that they’ve ‘done’ Beara, the Sheep’s Head, the Mizen, or the islands already.
5) Use social proof to give visitors evidence that your offer is fantastic
With permission (and only with permission) share testimonials from your guests or images of them enjoying the experience you offer. Potential visitors trust other visitors more than they believe businesses, so show them what your existing customers are enjoying!
Remember that you will need to get participants to sign a release form if you want to use these images in your publicity.
And, of course, you need to be on social media – ideally Instagram, as well as Facebook – to reach and grow the audience for all of the information we have been talking about!
Lots of these suggestions to help you deal with a difficult tourist season rest on the idea that you are posting in the right places and winning interest from visitors who are warm to the idea of spending time and money in West Cork.
To find out more about how to get noticed and access useful promotional resources, take a look at 2 great toolkits Fáilte Ireland has put together to help small businesses out!
About Siobhán Burke
Siobhán is a tourism consultant and copywriter who works with a wide range of destinations and agencies to develop tourism destinations and their communications strategies.
Clients include Fáilte Ireland and the Irish Heritage Trust, the West Cork Islands, and the Sheep’s Head Way.