Travelling seasons
In the last decade, we’ve watched destinations become overcrowded and experience overtourism. Most destinations have a relatively short high-season and longer low seasons. Meaning many travellers visit the destination at the same time in high season.
Worldwide, there are different high and low seasons and overall, seasonality occurs for three significant valid reasons. These factors determine when people prefer to travel. These travel patterns then create the high and low seasons accordingly.
In this article
1. Natural factors
Such as weather dependency, climate, location, and accessibility. Most travellers avoid rain or extreme dry periods and only travel when the weather is good. Those looking for winter activities only travel when there is a high chance for natural snow. For example, the Rocky Mountains in Canada and the Alps in Central Europe are very busy in winter season.
2. Demand factors
Such as holiday patterns, availability of leisure time and social norms. Most travellers travel during their summer holiday or common holidays such as Christmas and Easter. For example, the South of France is extremely busy in summer and the same goes for Indonesia around the Islamic holidays.
3. Supply factors
Such as available activities and trading patterns that attract travellers to specific places in a specific time. For example, the cherry blossom season in Japan attracts many travellers from all over the world. The same goes for the Great Wildebeest migration in Kenya and the Carnival season in Rio de Janeiro.
“More and more travellers are looking to travel without too many people around and will opt for low season instead”
Shift to low season
Post-pandemic, we’re seeing a shift in travel patterns. Shoulder and low seasons are gaining momentum from travellers. Travelling off-season is cheaper due to less demand. There are less people around, and travellers are able to experience a completely different side and feeling of the destination that not everyone can see.
Tip: sell experiences instead of activities
Tourism is no longer only about selling travel products. It’s about creating travel experiences that meet the needs of your customers, while doing good for the planet and its people. Read our article about the experience economy that helps you start selling experiences instead of activities.
How to develop low season travel experiences
To gain a year-round income and to lengthen your seasons, it’s important you develop low season travel experiences. Key is that you find something unique about your low season. This helps you design travel experiences that are attractive and will attract the right travellers.
"Low season experiences cannot be exact replicas of summer experiences only sold to people who accept worse weather or only want to book because of your discounts” – Xavier Font
5 steps to develop low season travel experiences
Start developing low season travel experiences yourself by following our 5 steps.
Step 1: Define your seasonal assets
Having multiple seasons is an opportunity to offer just as many reasons for your visitors to come experience something that is unique both to your place and that specific time of the year. Per season, define what your destination has to offer. Think about:
- Local heritage and traditions
- Cultural events or festivals
- Local cuisine special for the season
- Outdoor experiences in different weather
Tip: brainstorm for low season assets
Think about activities you personally enjoy doing in your destination when the weather is off or when there are less travellers around. Use this as your inspiration when you brainstorm low season assets you can turn into travel experiences.
Step 2: Feature the positives of each season
As mentioned, don’t just accept the negative sides of slower seasons but turn them into something positive. Travellers are looking for different experiences low season can often provide. For example:
- Rain season makes nature look greener
- Snow destinations are great for hiking in summer
- Cold outdoor hikes can be combined with indoor food experiences
- Usually crowded highlights can be shared with only a few people
Tip: make visiting in low season worthwhile
No matter which destinations you offer, there are always positive sides to travelling in low season. If it’s a different view, less people around or a completely different experience in a well-known destination, you can make it their visit worthwhile.
Step 3: Consider your target group
High season and low season travellers are very different. They're looking for different travel experiences and are satisfied with different types and levels of service. Therefore, it’s important to consider your target group and determine which target group is interested in your low season travel experiences. Low season might be the perfect time to target:
- Locals who are looking for domestic travel and to re-discover what their own destination has to offer
- Repeater travellers who have already travelled with you to experience the destination in another season
- Digital nomads or remote workers who are looking for a change of office scenery
Tip: target remote workers
The ‘work from anywhere’ trend has changed the tourism industry. The number of digital nomads and remote workers are growing rapidly and is opening up a completely new market. They’re looking for destinations where they can explore the surroundings besides working online from co-workings of coffee cafes.
Step 4: Create low season packages
To attract more travellers, you need to start making travelling in low season attractive. Identify experiences that have emotional and entertainment value to your customers and turn them into packages. Offer them a package that will convince them to travel. For example:
- Bundle similar activities into a longer experience
- Collaborate with other partners for a diverse offer
- Provide special prices for low season travellers or add freebies instead
- Add interactive and entertaining elements to your packages
Tip: entertain for a longer period of time
Develop treasure or scavenger hunts that entertain visitors for a longer period of time and visiting multiple businesses and regions. It’s active, can be both indoors as outdoors and is great for all types of travellers.
Step 5: Promote benefits of low season visits
If it takes you time to find something special about every month of the year in your destinations, you can imagine travellers will probably not find them at all. It’s your task to share the positive side and promote benefits of visiting in low season. Take the initiative and make sure your low season travel experiences are visible online for the right target group.
Through online marketing, you give potential customers what they are looking for, while they’re actively searching for it. Use this to your advantage and write articles, create videos, and share photos that highlight the benefits of low season visits.
Business all year round
If you are interested in having travellers all year round, start to develop low season travel experiences. Stop being dependent on the ‘standard seasons’ and attract travellers to travel in low season. By spreading traveller numbers, you contribute to avoiding overtourism and spread the impact of tourism on the destination.
Every destination can attract travellers in low season. But it’s up to you to identify seasonal assets and to turn them into great travel experiences. Be creative, keep adding value to your business and look for opportunities to expand your current travel offer to low season. There are travellers interested in what you have to offer, you simply have to provide!
Join the discussion
Join the discussion below and share your thoughts on offering low-season travel experiences. Have you already thought about developing low-season travel experiences? If yes, what low-season travel experiences do you offer and to whom?
