Travel Marketing Trends for Travel Entrepreneurs with Michal Maguire – Episode 53

Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

The travel marketing landscape has shifted a lot throughout the years, and if you’re still relying on generic content and hoping your social posts will magically attract clients, you’re going to struggle.

The solution?

Get back to basics with owned channels like email and webinars, create hyper-specific content that speaks directly to your niche, and use segmentation to send the right message to the right traveler.

We need to stop broadcasting to everyone and start having real conversations with the people who actually want what you’re selling.

I sat down with Michal Maguire, now Chief Marketing Officer at AmaWaterways (she was Director of Integrated Marketing when we recorded) for this deep dive of an episode.

She spoke not just of theory from a corporate marketing executive, but walked me through exactly how AmaWaterways navigated an entire year without spending marketing dollars and still maintained customer engagement throughout the pandemic, using strategies you can apply to your own business right now.

As someone who’s been in the travel industry for over 15 years and runs programs specifically to help travel advisors build profitable businesses, I’m always looking for what actually works versus what just sounds good.

This conversation delivered actionable travel marketing trends that you can implement immediately, whether you’re specializing in river cruising like I do, or selling any other travel experience.

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Why Travel Marketing Trends Feel Harder to Navigate Right Now

Travel content marketing has become harder throughout the years as consumers have become incredibly discerning.

We saw this shift especially last year.

There’s been so much AI-generated garbage flooding the internet that travelers are now expert at spotting generic, unhelpful content.

This is why you can’t create generic list articles anymore; they must be super specific now.

The old approach of “Top 10 River Cruise Itineraries” doesn’t cut it.

But “Top 5 River Cruises for Corporate Retreats” or “Best River Cruise Itineraries for Multigenerational Families”?

Those instantly get ears tuning in.

Your target audience wants content that speaks directly to their individual traveler preferences, not broad generalizations.interest can amplify that work without requiring you to show up daily like social media demands.

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The Power of Owned Channels When Marketing Budgets Disappear

Michal shared how AmaWaterways survived 2020 without their ships sailing or spending marketing dollars.

Their secret was going back to the basics.

“We went back to our owned channels when it comes to social media, because there is no spend really there,” Michal explained. “It was a hugely powerful tool for us.”

Instead of expensive marketing campaigns, they tapped into resources they already had- their incredible cruise managers scattered across destinations worldwide.

These team members created hundreds of videos showcasing the places AmaWaterways visits, all from their own backyards during lockdown.

The inspiration?

A teacher near Washington D.C. who took her students on virtual field trips when they couldn’t leave home.

AmaWaterways applied this same concept, having cruise managers walk through Passau, show the rivers, and give viewers that virtual experience they were craving.

For travel advisors, this translates as you don’t need massive budgets to maintain visibility.

You need to get creative with what you already have access to like your own experiences, knowledge, and authentic voice.

How Weekly Webinars Became a Marketing Powerhouse

Another shift AmaWaterways committed to? 

Moving from monthly webinars to weekly webinars, and maintaining that throughout the years.

They showed up with destination content, answered questions live, and had multiple moderators engaging with travel advisors in real time.

“We were able to have that live interaction when we couldn’t have in person events,” Michal said. 

The even better part of this approach is that it wasn’t just broadcasting because it was also creating genuine customer engagement through two-way conversation.

Advisors could ask anything from travel entry requirements to what kind of coffee they serve onboard, and get immediate answers.

They were also strategic, as these weren’t Facebook Lives where anyone could stumble in.

People had to register.

That means AmaWaterways collected email addresses, could send reminders, and most importantly, knew exactly who was interested in which topics.

I’m planning to test this format myself this year.

Imagine creating a registration through Zoom (or your email service provider), having clients or leads sign up, and delivering focused content, maybe dedicating February to France with different weekly topics. 

One week could feature a certain itinerary, another about the onboard experiences, and then updates on travel restrictions, followed by packing tips and regional foods.

When you know who attended which webinar, you have hand-raisers.

As Michal put it, “Those are the people you follow up with. I happen to see this great offer that’s coming out for France. Well, I know I have this group of clients or advisors who need to know more information about this offer and I know they were interested in France.”

The Pinterest Opportunity Nobody’s Talking About

Pinterest exploded for travel marketing in 2020 because of the planner mentality.

“You might not be planning your wedding or your baby shower or trying to decorate a room, but you are planning that trip,” Michal explained. “Pinterest has guides of what kind of river cruises are there? What kind of places can you see? What’s the best souvenir you want to buy in Strasbourg?”

This is different from Instagram or Facebook.

Pinterest is where people actively research and plan.

They’re looking for guides, tips, and specific information about destinations they may have never heard of.

The catch?

You need supporting content.

A Pinterest pin promising “5 Top Tips for Visiting Strasbourg” needs to link to an actual blog post or page that delivers on that promise.

You can’t just drop a pretty graphic and call it done.

This makes Pinterest perfect for promoting your blog content and establishing yourself as an expert on specific destinations or travel experiences.

Why Listicles Still Work (If You Do Them Right)

Let’s talk about list-based content, because despite what you might think, listicles aren’t dead, they’ve just evolved.

“Listicles are amazing. And listicles work in almost every single channel,” Michal said. “Think about your own self. What are you drawn to? I want to know what’s the best eye cream. I want to know what are the top three things to pack.”

But here’s the evolution- consumers now demand specificity.

A generic “Top 10 Things to Pack for a Cruise” gets ignored.

“3 Things You Should Never Put in Your Cruise Suitcase”?

That gets clicks.

The psychology is simple.

As Michal pointed out: “If you think about, especially from a digital perspective, you want digestible content. If I know my own self, and maybe you are the same, when you get an email with tons and tons of copy, are you going to read it? Probably not.”

We skim.

We look for bullets and headlines.

We take the information and move on.

This is why listicles work across social media platforms, in email newsletters, on your website, and especially on Pinterest.

They give travelers exactly what they want: quick, actionable information they can actually use.

Email Marketing That Actually Converts

I’ve been doing email marketing and segmentation since 2018 or 2019. 

I’ve been consistent, and then not, and finally stayed on the bandwagon thanks to the Email Marketing Membership (affiliate link).

First, let’s address the elephant in the room- dumping all your content into the email itself might be killing your engagement.

I used to write weekly emails with the entire article inside and Michal made it clear this is a mistake.

“With email your first goal is just to get people to open it. I can tell you whatever I want inside, but if you don’t open it, it doesn’t matter.”

Your subject line is everything.

And once they open?

You need to decide what action you want them to take.

If you give them all the information in the email, why would they click through to your website or blog?

Subject Lines That Get Opens

Michal shared specific tactics for improving open rates:

• Keep it short and sweet
• Create mystery or ask questions
• Use words like “new” and “announcing”
• Test opposite approaches (instead of “best things to pack,” try “things you should never pack”)
• Personalize with first names
• For newsletters, use consistent naming (January Newsletter, February Newsletter)

I asked about emojis, and she feels that it depends on your brand and clientele.

For luxury travel, probably not.

For adventure travel to younger demographics, maybe, but be aware that some email service providers block emojis, showing weird boxes instead.

The Importance of Segmentation

Proper email segmentation has let me communicate with my audience in a more targeted way.

How you set up email segmentation will vary based on your email service provider (ESP), but generally you create a different list for each entry point, each lead magnet, event, webinar, or point of contact.

You’ll also have a different workflow for each entry point, though you can typically copy from another workflow and edit as needed.

For someone to land on a certain list and go through a certain workflow, they need to sign up through a form, which is also typically done through your email service provider.

To get to the form, you either give them a direct link (which you should definitely embed on your website using your domain, not the generic ESP link), or if you’re doing a presentation or event, create a QR code they can scan to fill out the form.

I make all my QR codes right in Canva.

Here’s my recommendation- include specific information in the name of your segmented lists, like “River Cruise Webinar 2.26” or “Tulip Time Interest 2.26.”

This way, when you need to promote travel or are setting up a group trip, you know exactly who to reach out to first for easier sales, compared to sending to everyone on your list who may or may not be interested in that particular type of travel.

Michal took this even further, explaining how to use behavioral data, like clicks: “If I see that you are always clicking on articles about France, I should send you more content about France. I shouldn’t send you articles about the Mekong because you’re not interested in that.”

Most email service providers will either provide this information automatically or you can track it through UTM codes (special tags in your URLs that identify where clicks come from).

You can even set up automated triggers, if someone clicks on your river cruising content, they automatically receive a follow-up email series specifically about planning their next river cruise.

Finding the Right Email Frequency

The question I hear constantly- how often should I email my list?

Michal’s answer?

“It will depend on your audience. If you have something valuable to say, I don’t mind if you’re going to email me every day, really. But if you don’t have something valuable to say, I don’t want to hear from you that often.”

She shared that she reads two newsletters every single morning without fail.

If they haven’t arrived by the time her alarm goes off, she’s actively looking for them. 

But she’s also unsubscribing from brands that email too frequently without adding value, daily shoe sales, for example.

You’ve got to remember…your clients aren’t always in vacation planning mode.

Someone booking a river cruise, typically isn’t taking more than a couple per year.

They don’t want to hear about river cruising daily, and that’s okay.

This is where segmentation becomes important again.

Some people on your list might be in active planning mode and want frequent updates.

Others might only engage once every six months.

My personal favorite cadence is to send weekly emails, as I think that’s enough to stay top of mind, without annoying people.

Content Planning That Matches the Buyer Journey

Creating content for different stages of the planning cycle requires different approaches depending on where people are in the buying cycle.

A list will grab attention when someone’s thinking “what type of travel do I want to go on?”

But what about when you’re nurturing somebody versus when you’re ready to invite them to book?

Michal says to understand your audience through data and surveys.

“You either have to use your analytics that you have in your email service provider or you have to use the data that you have from what they’ve provided. Or you can survey them,” she explained. “Do they want to hear from you every week? Maybe some do, maybe some don’t. Maybe some want to hear tips and tricks and some want to hear about new and exciting destinations.”

Fulfill the promise.

If someone only wants to hear from you once a month, don’t email them every day.

If they want tips and tricks, don’t just send promotional offers for travel packages.

Your travel marketing plans need to respect where each person is in their journey and what they’ve told you (through their behavior or directly) about their preferences.

The Testing Mindset Every Travel Entrepreneur Needs

Throughout our conversation, Michal kept coming back to one word: testing.

“Testing is the best way, right? You’ve got to test and you’ve got to learn,” she said. “I always want to be testing our emails. We want to do more of that in the coming year. And it’s not just testing your subject line and seeing who opens more, but testing everything. Test the layout, test the order, test how big your images are, how short your copy is, the color of your buttons.”

Before you test, decide what you want to learn and what you’ll do with that information.

Don’t test which imagery works best if you’re never going to use certain images.

Don’t test something you can’t actually implement based on the results.

This data-driven approach to marketing strategies is what separates hobbyists from serious travel entrepreneurs.

You’re not just throwing content out there and hoping, you’re consistently learning what resonates with your audience and refining your approach.

Current Travel Trends Shaping Marketing Messages

Michal shared some fascinating insights about what travelers actually want right now, and these current travel trends should absolutely inform your content and marketing campaigns.

Longer trips are having a moment.

Travel has gotten complicated.

When people go through that level of effort just to get to their destination, they want to stay longer to make it worth it.

AmaWaterways is seeing people do combination cruises, back-to-back sailings, and even their 46-night Seven River Journey.

“We’ve got all this pent up demand,” Michal said. “The things that we thought were so boring and mundane before are still exciting.”

Lesser-known destinations and smaller crowds are hugely appealing.

Travelers want wide open spaces, fresh air, and the ability to explore without fighting crowds.

This makes river cruising particularly attractive, but it applies to any travel experience that offers authentic, uncrowded experiences.

Resilience and flexibility define today’s travelers.

They’re understanding about complications because the priority is getting out and experiencing the world.

They’ll jump through the hoops.

These travel trends should shape your imagery, your messaging, and the experiences you’re promoting.

Show spacious destinations, talk about extended itineraries, and emphasize the unique, lesser-known places your travelers can access.

Tools and Resources to Streamline Your Marketing

Michal mentioned that AmaWaterways provides incredible resources through their Travel Advisor portal like social media toolkits you can literally copy and paste, selling toolkits, offer flyers, and even co-branded websites where the quote requests come directly to you, not to AmaWaterways.

This same principle applies to your own business. Look for tools that make content creation more efficient:

• Social media platforms that allow scheduling across multiple channels
• Email service providers with robust segmentation and automation
• Content creation tools that help you repurpose one piece of content multiple ways
• Analytics platforms that show you what’s actually working

The goal isn’t to do more work, but to work smarter and let systems handle repetitive tasks while you focus on the personalized travel recommendations and relationship building that actually books trips.ent.

Let me bring this back to what matters most: building a sustainable, profitable travel business.

The travel marketing trends we’ve discussed aren’t about jumping on every new platform or trying to go viral.

They’re about understanding your audience, creating valuable content that serves them, and building systems that work for you.

Start with the owned channels you control like your email list, website, and content.

These don’t disappear if an algorithm changes.

Focus on segmentation and personalization.

Generic broadcasts don’t work anymore.

Your travelers want content that speaks to their specific interests and needs.

Test consistently.

Don’t just guess what might work.

Create hypotheses, test them, measure the results, and refine.

And remember what Michal said about frequency and value: if you have something genuinely valuable to share, your audience will want to hear from you.

If you don’t, no amount of clever marketing will compensate.

The travel industry is competitive, and it’s also filled with opportunities for those willing to treat their business like a business, not a hobby.

That means being strategic about your brand, your messaging, and how you show up consistently for the customers who need what you offer.

This conversation with Michal reinforced something I’ve believed for years: success in travel marketing isn’t about having the biggest budget or the most followers.

Now it’s your turn.

Pick one strategy from this post and implement it this week.

Start testing your subject lines, create your first segmented email list, or plan out a series of specific listicles for your niche.

Small, consistent actions compound into real business growth.

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