As people return from one trip they often look ahead to the next one right away, says Silver Travel Advisor’s Lisa McAuley
I’ve just returned from a week’s sailing with friends around the lesser-known Cyclades islands. We hired a catamaran between four couples and it was an absolute blast from start to finish.
It was also stunningly beautiful and heart-warming to see so many tourists travelling again. The Greek islands rely heavily on tourism, and to see ferries full of holidaymakers darting around must come as a relief to the thousands of people employed during the summer season at the many hotels, restaurants and beach bars.
Towards the end of our week away, the conversation in our little holiday group turned to future holiday planning. In fact, over the weekend the WhatsApp group started up with the question: “Well – what are we doing next year?!”
Even though the sun continues to shine here in the UK, our group of intrepid travellers need something in the diary to look forward to, and I’m sure we’re not alone.
As people return from one trip they often look ahead to the next one right away, and with airlines and destinations reporting record passenger carryings and arrivals, the opportunity to trade out of crisis still exists. Holidays remind people why they love their precious time away, so there’s no better time to market overseas or domestic breaks to them than upon their return.
Forging ahead
There’s a great quote from legendary American sharpshooter and feminist Annie Oakley that resonates with me. She said: “Sitting still is harder than any kind of work.”
As recovery continues – and it may or may not be a bumpy ride ahead amid concerns about the cost-of-living crisis – at Silver Travel we’ve decided to forge ahead with plans we’ve been pondering for a while.
This month, on the publishing side of the business, we’ve launched the Silver Travel Awards for 2022. Voting is well under way, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the fantastic number of votes we’ve received from the travelling public.
It’s great to see silver travellers are so keen to show their appreciation and support for those travel companies, cruise lines and destinations that have gone above and beyond in providing inspiring holidays and the very best service for the over-50s.
We also continue to expand our reach and brand awareness as we join forces with the National Association of Retired Police Officers (Narpo), one of the UK’s largest public sector organisations across England and Wales, boasting a membership of more than 93,000. The team at Narpo provides a central hub of information for those who have left the police force. The tie-up is a perfect alignment of audiences, with both Silver Travel Advisor and Narpo championing the over-50s and embracing the experiences to be had in later life.
Printing and inspiring
We’ve also produced another edition of our Silver Traveller magazine and are increasing the print run and distribution. The next magazine will appear in several outlets, newsstands and venues, including a range of hotels and high traffic points including on the Gatwick Express and Stansted Express, and in Heathrow and Gatwick.
We have plenty of content to choose from as our team of freelance travel writers makes the most of being able to travel freely once again!
We continue to evolve as a business. As Richard Branson said: “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming along.” While the market is buoyant, it would be remiss of us to overlook opportunities, from launching a wine club to our members in conjunction with Tourism Australia and Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia, to further enhancements to the website.
We’re full throttle in inspiration mode, making the most of the superb partner and destination content that’s available to us, as well as content provided by our writers and members’ own travels.
After a period of intense negative headlines about chaos at ports and airports, we feel compelled to ramp up our activity and showcase travel and tourism as it can and should be: something that brings happiness to all willing to embrace it.