This week’s Las Vegas Business Press column looks at a travel operator I met in the vendors’ room at Creation Entertainment’s Las Vegas Star Trek convention:
We all know that its getting harder and harder to bring visitors and their money to Las Vegas. But a small startup that specializes in connecting people with the means to travel with experiences that ignite their true passions might have some lessons for Sin City.
Geek Nation Tours is a child of the recession. When Hinton, Alberta, (population 10,000, about six hours by car from Calgary) travel agent Teras Cassidy was in the midst of a summer slowdown, he decided to get creative. Instead of partnering with a local radio station to promote a typical booze cruise package tour to Mexico, he decided to mix his hobby — miniature war-gaming — with his business.
via Las Vegas Business Press :: David G. Schwartz : Which niche is which? It will pay Strip to know.
I think that the folks who sell rooms in Vegas hotels should take a look at what Cassidy is doing or even partner with him to bring in some tour groups. I think that the the travel decision process is undergoing a fundamental shift analogous to what’s been happening with entertainment for the past 40 years. Once everyone tuned into Johnny Carson before going to bed. Now, there’s a plethora of network and cable TV options, to say nothing of the almost limitless choices that can be delivered via the Internet. People are able to find entertainment much more closely tailored to their individual preferences.
I see the same thing happening with travel. Already, the LVCVA is doing a good job of splitting its business travel and leisure travel marketing. But what about the many facets of leisure travel? The most obvious way to split that up is rough demographics (age? traveling with kids?) but a more nuanced–and I think soon to be more necessary way–is by interests. Increasingly, travelers are consumers of content who want to do more than just relax. Tailoring that content to meet their needs will make them that much happier and that much likelier to return.
I’ll get out of here before this turns into a column in and of itself, but suffice it say that I think the niche market goes well beyond geeks–though learning a few lessons from them is a great start.