| Special Report
on the Religious Group Travel Market Since 9/11, there has been a renewed
dedication to family and faith. Attendance at Sunday church services skyrocked
in the month's following the disaster and has held up steadily. With this renewed
dedication to faith, there is also a new dedication to community. These two factors
are but a few of the reasons that the religious group travel market is expanding
and showing no sign of slowing down. The scope of this market is immense.
There are over 450,000 churches in the United States, about 50,000 of which are
known to run group travel programs. Compare this to the bank travel market, where
there is a total of roughly 10,000 community banks across the U.S., less than
25% of them run any form of group travel. According to Michael Harvey, Vice
President and General Manager of Omaha, NE based American Church Lists, the religious
travel market is in the midst of a healthy growth cycle. "We've seen a 20%
increase in the last 5 years of churches running travel programs. Youths and seniors
in particular, have greater incomes and desire to travel in groups." Not
all denominations travel with the same frequency however, says Harvey. "Catholic
churches, as a whole travel the least, with Baptists, Protestants and Methodists
traveling more." Many of these groups are do-it-yourselfers, especially
when it comes to planning domestic trips. They secure a motorcoach and start picking
up the phone, calling hotels, attractions and restaurants. This presents an phenomenal
opportunity for destinations and operators to forge relationships with religious
groups traveling for leisure purposes. Travel by religious groups takes
on many shapes and purposes. Sectors include youth, pilgrimage, missionary and
fellowship. Depending on the nature of your business or destination, one, or all
of these segments are potential customers. Youth - includes retreats, missionary
work, choir and religious bonding. Multi-generation travel is a big part of this
experience Pilgrimage/Reaffirmation - historically overseas to destinations
such as Israel, Greece and Italy have dominated this market, but due to world
conditions, a larger shift to domestic destinations is underway. Each denomination
has its own unique pilgrimage sites across the U.S. and internationally. Missionary
- giving back to those less fortunate is an integral part of the religious foundation,
and missionary travel plays hand-in-hand to this. Missionary work is performed
domestically as well as overseas. While these groups are budget conscious, and
often stay with community members while traveling, they do take time out for fun
activities, meals, sightseeing and some entertainment. Fellowship - religious
institutions are promoting leisure group trips that allow for bonding among community
members - very important in today's society, as well as providing a fund-raising
opportunity for the church with a portion of the trip price donated back to the
church. This provides a sense of purpose for those traveling, especially among
desirable demographic audiences. Ephrata, PA based MTS Travel is the largest
travel company in North America serving the religious market. They have found
that as churches reach out to a broader audience, they are making headway in the
most coveted demographic segment - baby boomers. Cindy Brodhecker, Tour Promotions
Manager for the company said, "The biggest growth in this business is fellowship,
especially with boomers. To them, they don't just want to sightsee; travel needs
to have a purpose. And if a church can bring together members of a congregation,
they will build a better sense of community and fellowship. It's not just edification
or biblical, not any more." MTS Travel's business has grown dramatically
throughout the past decade, and even in these difficult times their religious
groups are weathering the storm. "We feel these type of groups don't cancel
as quickly as traditional groups of travelers," said Brodhecker. "That's
important in this market." Premier Tourism Marketing has stepped up
its efforts to reach the growing religious group market. Through a partnership
with American Church Lists, we have identified over 48,000 churches throughout
the United States that organize group travel. PTM is soliciting magazine subscriptions
to these churches via broadcast e-mail campaigns, fax promotions and direct mail.
"It's vitally important to have each church leader opt-in to receive our
publications," states John Kloster, Partner in Premier Tourism Marketing
and Editor in Chief of the firm's three magazines. "That way, we know not
only that they're an interested participant, but also qualified. Other publications
in this market simply don't do that. They throw people on mailing lists and call
them subscribers." Results thus far have been impressive with hundreds
of new subscriptions resulting from an e-marketing campaign. What's most interesting
is seeing the infusion of new readers and their unique ideas for trips. "We
require people to send in trip flyers to validate their subscriptions and we're
seeing a lot of variety in destinations, and the numbers these folks are pulling
in are stupendous in this economy," said Jeff Gayduk, president of PTM. "Just
the other day we received a rooming list from a group that did two coaches to
the Opryland Hotel in Nashville over the holiday season, and has a full bus going
to New Orleans at a per diem of $200 per day. This is not budget travel by any
means!" When contacting church groups, the pastor is often the decision
maker, though as churches seek to grow their fundraising endeavors, the management
office, pastoral staff, and volunteer committees play an increasing role in ancillary
activities such as travel programs. The key is getting to the right person. If
you are targeting youth groups, search out the youth ministry. If you seek to
attract mature groups, search for the older adult ministry. The same applies to
music groups. Brodhecker urges sellers to learn protocol before selling to these
groups. "Some Baptist groups don't want wine served with meals; you need
to know that going in to effectively serve this market." How do you
find churches that travel? Mailing lists, such as those provided by American Church
Lists, by advertising in Premier Tourism Marketing publications and web services,
and denominational web sites are your best resources. What's great about
this market is the massive potential, with close to ½ million churches
in the U.S. alone. As Brodhecker points out, "when it comes to promoting
group travel they're only learning." That presents a challenge for some,
but along with that an immense opportunity.
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