Have QR Codes? Will Travel!

As a travel agent or a marketer involved in the travel and tours industry, how do you come up with a great advertisement for a far-flung destination?

A beautiful picture of what the destination has to offer: from molten lava, to tropical beaches, or skiing fun. Check.

The destination’s name in BOLD easy-to-read font.  Check.

An attractive price.  Check.

Small print details.  Check.

QR codes.

No?  Why not?

If you are not using QR codes on your travel brochures, posters, flyers and leaflets, then you are losing out on the opportunity to snag more than 19.7 million customers.  Yes, that’s right, close to 20 million people are looking for travel information and are doing travel-related research on their smart phones, according to data from eMarketer.

What’s more, an estimated 12 million people will book their plans via a mobile phone in 2011, while around 25 million will be looking for more information the same way this year.

In fact, for the next three years, it is estimated that a total of 75 million people will have used their smart phones to do some travel related searching.  Out of these, 35 million will be booking their travel on the mobile Internet.

Having that QR code on your travel marketing materials could spell the difference between them booking their tours with you or a competitor.  Are you willing to take the risk?

Do NOT risk it! Put a QR Code Now!

A QR code is quite easy to generate and it costs absolutely nothing for you to create it.  Printing it on sticker paper, you could easily put it on your existing printed collaterals.  

Because of its small size, you can easily include it in the layout of your next travel brochure or poster.  Just think about it, a potential customer passes by your shop front.  He is late for his date, or maybe he is late for a meeting with the CEO.  But he finds your travel poster showing the deep blue waters and the pristine white sands of Boracay, a beach in the Pacific. 

He may not have time to get out a notepad and write it down, but he can certainly pull out his smart phone and scan your QR code.  He can then read more about Boracay while inside the cab or while waiting for his date (she’s even later!) to arrive.  

On your mobile site, you can provide the option to have him reserve certain days or instantly book a flight.  In a lot of different ways, you are engaging the customer and keeping him in your radar.  You are also making it easier for him to get information that he needs to make a decision.

In any case, here’s what he won’t be doing.  He won’t be forgetting about you or Boracay.  He won’t be searching the Internet for information about Boracay, and then go to a competitor to book the flight and the accommodations.  You control his actions, all because you have a QR code niftily added to your posters!