There’s no business like show business, they say, and many travel advisors are finding consumer travel shows to be a great source of new customers and positive ROI.

“It’s crazy this time of year,” says Tara Bodell of Trips by Tara and Associates, taking a break from the details of her upcoming shows, two in March and one in May, to chat with me on the phone.

“I have a completely different outlook than those who say they don’t go to consumer travel shows. I love doing these shows, and it’s very worthwhile; I did seven or eight in 2022, and this year I’ll do even more. But now, I’m so busy that I was thinking maybe I need to slow down. Instead, though, I’m in the process of hiring an assistant. I’d rather do events and hire people to help me run my travel business than give up the events.”

Bodell figures that since May 1, 2022, she has increased her database by 1,288 names, about 75% of them from in-person events she has attended.

“I ran the numbers this morning, and attending the Georgia National Fair in October brought in $66,000 in bookings,” she says—not a bad return on her outlay of $1,245 for a 10×20 booth, half of it subsidized by coop funds from Royal Caribbean. “There were half a million people there, and I was the only travel advisor.”

Indeed, she says, “I’ve made money on every show I’ve gone to, I’ve always sold at least one trip.”

Bodell works only at other people’s consumer shows—from small festivals by non-profit organizations to the Atlanta Travel and Adventure Show, the Pan-African Festival, home shows, golf tournaments and wine festivals—especially those where she has a degree of exclusivity. This month she had the only travel agency booth at the Jacksonville Women’s Expo, where she met scores of potential clients, and also networked and learned many useful things for her own business. In May, she will be at the Atlanta Womens Expo, which she found out about from her BDM at Dream Vacations, who knows how much she loves a good consumer show.

“I looked into it and found out I’d be the only travel advisor, so I said ‘ok let’s try it,’” she says. After that, she will exhibit at four events in October, the Georgia National Fair, the Greek Festival, the Pride Festival, and the Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament.

Bodell was pulled into her first event by a friend shortly after she moved to Georgia—a show by the nonprofit organization Women of the Moose. “It was the best 30 bucks I ever spent,” she says. ‘’I was new in town and I made lots of friends. I got, I don’t even know how many, FIT bookings; and then I escorted that organization on a fundraising cruise. I still go to their events if I’m in town. I could exhibit at their show for the next 10 years and not sell another thing, and still come out with a profit.”

Her best advice is to start small and look for events where people don’t expect to see a travel advisor. She stands out from the crowd by advertising Europe at bridal shows, where everyone else is talking Caribbean, and by adding height and color to her displays. “I use old luggage and globes, a backdrop of Santorini or a ship or the Greek ruins, and blue workout mats pieced together to create a blue floor so my booth stands out.”

She changes up her partners as well, depending on the show’s location and the audience. In Jacksonville, driving distance to Port Canaveral, she worked with Royal Caribbean; for the Atlanta Women’s Expo, she is thinking Celebrity will be a better fit; for Greek Fest, she partnered with Celestyal and Globwho specialize in Greece.

More Tips:

Hold a raffle and enter every name into your database. Then send a follow-up email.

Set goals for each event, “if there are 1,000 people I want 10%, so 100 names.”

Move that table that closes off your booth to the perimeter, so people have to step inside and engage. “If someone stops by and says they like that Santorini backdrop, I say ‘if you would like to go, I can help you get there.’”

Don’t take too many brochures; for 1,000 people she brings 200 brochures, including one cruise company, one tour company. and one resort.

Don’t book at the show. Go in there to capture the data and make those personal connections.

Using the Show to Promote Your Products

Bodell is not alone in seeing live shows as the perfect way to find new customers and grow her business. Mitch Krayton of Krayton Travel in Denver is so fond of them that he not only attended the Denver Travel and Adventure Show this month, but also used his booth there to promote the Small Ship Cruising Expo that he himself is putting on.

“I was at the Denver Travel and Adventure show promoting myself as a small ship cruise advisor,” he says, and also offering up flyers advertising the show, where 12 small ship cruise companies will be exhibiting, as well as an Egypt river cruise group he is putting together.

Krayton meanwhile had 380 people at the Denver show signed up for his Small Ship Cruising Expo™, and six expressed interest in an Egypt cruise he promoted at his booth.

“For me, consumer shows are the way to go—and the crowds are back,” he says. There is nothing like having potential travelers meet you in person at the biggest show in town; “I want to be known for that niche in Denver, as a producer of events and also as an advisor who specializes in river cruises. And now I’m that guy they met at the travel show.”

He’s already planning for next year, when he will double the size of his booth. Then, as now, he will call customers after the show and ask which cruise company caught their attention and where they would like to go. “You are spending several thousand dollars to exhibit at the show, but it only takes one expedition or a couple of river cruises to make that all back,” he says.

As for putting on his own show, “I’m just following what the big guys do. It is challenging if you’ve never put on an event before. It’s no different from being a meeting planner—only I’m planning this event for me.”

Learning From the Best at ASTA

Denise Wiggins, meanwhile, has gone from planning ASTA’s shows to attending consumer shows herself, in her more recent role as a travel advisor. She credits Travelsavers’ Anne Marie Moebes, her mentor of many years at ASTA, with teaching her much of what she knows.

These days, “our biggest wins come from doing wedding shows,” she says. “You can’t go wrong there. They are usually packed, and we have a great method that works for us. Four of us go, so no customer is waiting around. Then, positioning is key; so we ask to see the floor plan of the hotel and choose a spot to the right, where most people go first. By the time they walk all the way around to the left, they are tired and carrying heavy bags.”

Some tips she has gleaned over 30 years in the business:

Step out from behind that table with a cheery face and a jovial “hello,” no matter what.

Don’t let people just walk by; say “welcome to the show, this is what I have to offer today.”

Dress up. For a wedding show she dresses “as if I am a guest at a wedding,” she says.

Find a way to engage quickly: smile, make eye contact, compliment their shoes. Use your voice, extend your hand.

Say, “here’s my brochure and here’s what you will find in it.”

Ask if they know anyone else who might have interest in your services and give them your card. “Planting seeds is part of the process, it’s not just hi and goodbye, ‘please fill this out and I’ll put you in the drawing.’”

Wiggins always takes a picture of everyone she speaks with. Then she follows up with a phone call.

Be prepared to spend time in the coming days. “We know we’re going to get 30-40 leads each at a big bridal show. I set aside time to do the follow-up quickly; somebody else will move on them if I don’t. I give them a verbal ‘thank you’ that evening, and then I send them a written one saying ‘I’m looking forward to collaborating soon.’ My thank you is a voice message, not an email, and I’m aware I’m running against the clock. I leave a message within 48 hours, while they still remember my voice. I repeat their name often. I make sure they know that I heard them.”

But perhaps the best tip of all is just to give it a try.

“If you haven’t started yet to invest in a B2C show, begin now,” Krayton says. “Audiences are hungry. And I believe that, if I get people in the room and they get to ask me questions, they will have trust in me—and that trust will earn me the right to put them on a ship.”

Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.