What kind of spark will be produced by "travel agency + coffee shop"?

Learn about tourism information while drinking coffee.

What kind of spark will be produced by "travel agency + coffee shop"?

Our reporter Wang Fenglin

Have you ever thought that one day when you come to a travel agency near your neighborhood, you will find that you can not only learn about tourism products, but also have coffee parties, play board games and watch movies. This is no longer an idea, but a travel agency has begun cross-border marketing with cafes.

Recently, Caesar Travel has reached a strategic cooperation with very Northern Coffee. While enjoying coffee, customers can inquire about tourism products, scan QR codes and communicate face-to-face with tourists. Coincidentally, in May this year, U Coffee Coffee, the first concept cafe of Zhongxin Tourism, opened in Beijing, which integrates leisure, friendship, experience, sales, currency exchange and other functions. In Hangzhou, the reporter also found a travel agency with the function of a cafe, which has been transformed since the beginning of this year, combining travel and coffee.

A coffee party in a travel agency? The 3.0 era of travel agency stores is coming.

At present, there are roughly two kinds of travel agency stores, one is the traditional store with product sales function, and the other is the tourism experience store with digital experience function. Tourism experience store is called the second generation store of travel agency, which is obviously different from the traditional travel agency store in service concept and operation mode. For example, increase the display of LED digital display, tourist souvenirs and derivatives, create a unique style of consumer environment, expand the rest area and so on.

Nowadays, travel agency store 3.0, which has more obvious functions such as leisure and party, is quietly coming.

On May 20 this year, U Coffee Coffee, the first concept cafe of Zhongxin Tourism, was established in Chaoyang District, Beijing, which integrates leisure, friendship, experience, sales, currency exchange and other functions.

While tasting coffee, customers can buy tourism products in the store and enjoy the beauty of the world on the big screen. A "currency exchange office" is set up in the store to meet consumers' currency exchange needs more conveniently and quickly.

It is reported that "you Coffee" will hold travel experience sharing meetings on different themes every week, as well as a long-term preferential activity of "one yuan coffee": consumers will come to the store with overseas special tourist souvenirs and pay another 1 yuan in exchange for a cup of coffee.

Recently, Caesar Travel and extreme North Coffee reached a strategic cooperation agreement. In the extreme North Cafe, there are intelligent computer desks where guests can place travel orders, make travel plans and customize private itineraries while drinking coffee.

At the intersection of Jianguo North Road Stadium in Hangzhou, you can find a strange store with a sign saying "entertain you who know coffee and love to travel", as well as some key words such as "freshly ground coffee", "travel consultation" and so on.

A few days ago, the reporter went into the store and found that this is not a cafe, but a travel agency. There are colorful tourism brochures, dazzling bookshelves, photo walls pasted all over the scenery, comfortable and soft sofas, mellow coffee aroma.

Mr. he, the relevant person in charge of Hangzhou Tianshun CITS, told reporters that the company focuses on Saipan and Thai island tour products. After this year's renovation, the first floor is a cafe and the second floor is a travel agency. "our cafe offers freshly ground coffee, fruit juices, fruit platters, tea drinks, etc., with a unit price of 20 or 30 yuan, which is more close to the people. guests can learn about our company's tourism products while drinking coffee, and we can customize travel routes for them."

Coffee-loving and travel-loving groups overlap, and travel agencies are optimistic about the new model.

Mr. he explained that the company's main business is a tourism customized group, and the content of the project is extremely tedious. Every detail has to be communicated and confirmed with the guests. Sometimes these trivial things have to be done outside the office, and the most frequent visit is the coffee shop.

"once I went on an expedition to Taihu Lake and walked into a cafe near the scenic spot. I went in and ordered a cup of coffee and sat down only to find that it also sold tourism products. When I came back, I thought, why do the guests go to other cafes to communicate the details of their travel plans with us? If we had a cafe of our own, we would have solved the problem. "

In addition, affected by a series of factors, such as the domestic and foreign economic environment, the rapid shrinking of the official tourism market, the squeeze of online travel service providers on traditional travel agencies and the rapid growth of self-service travel, at present, the situation of traditional travel agencies is quite difficult.

Mr. he said that many travel agencies have begun to explore new ways to seek transformation, either in product innovation or in service improvement. "guests who come to our store for customized tours have to stay for a long time, and we need to understand the general travel needs of our customers before providing solutions step by step. After having a coffee shop, guests will not feel bored drinking coffee and watching movies in our shop. The 'travel agency + coffee shop' model not only enhances the stickiness of customers, but also promotes our sales performance. "

Mr. he said that since the travel agency set up cafes this year, the number of customers entering the store has increased by about 5% every month than before. "I think there is an overlap between coffee-drinking and travel-loving groups, which can transform some of the guests as potential consumers of our travel agency."

For example, Ms. Shu, who lives in the Shuyuan district, is a regular customer of this cafe. At first, she just asked her friends to sit down and chat. Later, when she got to know each other, she simply asked the travel agency to customize a tour of Saipan. "Ms. Shu is a yoga instructor. This time she wants to take her students to Saipan to experience a yoga trip. It is enough for each person to pay more than 8000 yuan for a 12-day trip. Our customized plan meets their needs very well."

Is the "travel agency + coffee shop" model the trend of the times?

Li Hongxiu, director of Zhongxin Travel member Club and general manager of Beijing Youyou Coffee Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the media that people who love travel are also people who love life, and there is a certain overlap between the two. The combination of tourism and coffee, the establishment of "U Coffee Coffee" is to establish an open exchange and sharing experience platform for online and offline, but also to build a platform for tourism investors to discover value and help the development of the industry.

Zhang Jianrong, vice president of Zhejiang Travel Service Association, is very optimistic about the cross-border marketing of travel agencies and cafes.

It is reported that in 2013, more than 60% of travel agencies in Hangzhou had fixed assets of less than 500000 yuan. The situation of "small, weak, scattered and poor" in Hangzhou travel agency industry has not been fundamentally reversed, and the overall competitiveness of the industry is not strong.

Zhang Jianrong believes that at present, only some large-scale travel agencies are actively carrying out new business type to improve brand competitiveness. "the combination of travel agencies and cafes is a major breakthrough for traditional travel agencies in marketing using Internet thinking. What is Internet thinking is consumer-centered. By turning a travel agency into a cafe environment, customers will stay longer, so they are more likely to decide to buy tourism products. " He said that traditional travel agencies should take a longer view, and offline stores should make customers feel at home instead of setting up routes and signing contracts and leaving.

"on this point, I think Japanese travel agencies have done a very good job. Japanese travel agencies will provide you with tea and exquisite refreshments no matter whether you buy tourism products or not. As a result, customers' good impression of the travel agency has improved a lot, so the next time I want to travel, I may come to you to choose tourism products. " Zhang Jianrong introduced.

However, some people in the industry believe that the "tourism + coffee" marketing model is not available to all travel agencies. "our travel agency is mainly engaged in wholesale, and the profit margin is not big. Being a cafe will not greatly improve the performance of the travel agency. If the company needs to expand its customized group business, I think this cross-border marketing model is feasible. For Chinese consumption, the spending habits of most guests who want to travel still stay in the store to inquire, place orders, pay, and so on. The pace is very fast, and the purpose is very clear. If I sell coffee in the store, I may not even earn back the labor cost. " The head of a large travel agency in Hangzhou said frankly.

Source: morning Post (Hangzhou)