Change or adaptation: a reflection by Riccardo Viroli and 5 points to focus on for 2022

As we move towards the last part of a particularly articulated and complex summer season, we propose a reflection by Riccardo Viroli, CEO and Co-Founder of CampingVillage.Travel, which indicates 5 points on which to focus for 2022.

We can certainly say that we are good: we have obtained numbers that can be compared to 2019 (some more, some less), so good! Indeed, very good, I would say! After a 2020 in which the main “fear” was not to be able to open and a 2021 with a thousand variables and a thousand uncertainties, it was not at all obvious to achieve results of this type. To date, we can read or listen to a lot of marketing and sales content in which we talk about “change”: “customers changed”, “changes” … Today, on the other hand, I really want to give help to open-air tourism professionals and entrepreneurs, with which I compare myself every day. I would like to talk about adaptation!

Yes, if the human species has evolved and progressed (even with all the pain of these last 2 years) it is because history has put us in the conditions – year after year – to make us evolve and tend to live a better life with more comfort. One might wonder what the evolution of the human species has to do with the advice that I – Riccardo Viroli – can give to structures. It does, and now I will explain why.

I refer to my advice from 2017: “Look at your website as if you have never seen it and look for information“; and I wonder: are we living the same life today as in September 2019? And why our potential customers should be so different in this adaptation? Do we all use the mask to enter an indoor place? Do we still use that gel if we buy something new? The answer of course is yes, but that’s the way it is for everyone because we have adapted. To a bad situation, it’s true, but we did it anyway.

But now let’s get to the real reason why I thought about writing my reflection, or what we can do differently to grow and achieve a 2022 with record numbers. I want to share 5 practical tips that are key to this adaptation:

1. Plan: all the activities that lead to a sale are dictated by a marketing action (direct or indirect). For 2022, putting them already in maturity and then simply “adjusting them in the run”, if necessary, will be essential!
2. Attention to the online presence: if the micro-moments of connection with the potential customer have increased (given the greater stay online), it is necessary that the presence on the various online channels is as coordinated as possible and reflects the truth.
3. Let’s get used to being more and more present on social networks (with continuous paid campaigns): in the adaptation of our potential customer, social networks become more and more an integral part of everyone’s life. To date, reservations go for the most part from Facebook, so better a few channels but well managed.
4. We thrill with the true values ​​of our Camping Villages: whether we want it or not, we sell emotion that then becomes a memory. So, from updating promotional portals such as CampingVillage.Travel with new content to sending a gadget to the 100 loyal customers of the structure, these all will be actions that will make the difference.
5. In this adaptation, the tourist has learned to distinguish the true from the “falsified” and is more aware of what he is buying. Worrying about getting a new positive review that highlights the real added values ​​of a structure will become even more important rather than writing to TripAdvisor to have a negative one eliminated on a single case: the tourist will understand.

Surely this reflection of mine is less technical and practical than usual, but there is a reason, and it is not a trivial matter: we have worked like never before this summer to create something unique. We at CampingVillage.Travel in a couple of weeks will present a nice surprise to those who want to follow us.

I want to wish good planning to all professionals and entrepreneurs of en plein air tourism, to all those we support every day and to those we know and can help to better prepare for 2022.

Riccardo Viroli, CEO and Co-Founder CampingVillage.Travel