How do you host a fam trip for travel agents?

Start with the bookings you want and work back. A useful objective names three things: the source markets, the kind of agent, and a measure of success.

• Markets: which countries or regions you want more business from.
• Agents: front-line sellers, product managers, or a particular agency group.
• Measure: enquiries, quotes and bookings from participating agencies over a set period, compared with the period before.

Product knowledge and goodwill follow from a well-run trip, but a fam judged only on goodwill is hard to justify a second time.

For a DMC or ground handler, the fam is a demonstration of the operation as well as the destination.

• Build a routing a client would buy, then add short site inspections of other places to stay along the way.
• Show range: accommodation at more than one price point, so agents can quote for different clients.
• Let agents see the operation at work: meet-and-greet, vehicles, guides, and how a problem is handled.
• Negotiate complimentary or reduced rooms and activities with suppliers, and credit them on the trip.
• Give each agent a quote-ready pack: sample itineraries, net or commissionable rates, and booking contacts.

A tourist board hosts for the destination rather than one product, so its fams usually involve partners.

• Choose source markets from arrival data and the board's marketing plan.
• Select agents with partners in those markets, such as tour operators, consortia and specialist programme graduates.
• Bring in airline partners for seats and private-sector partners for rooms, vehicles and guiding.
• Arrange or cover park entry and permits where the board can, and agree in advance who pays which fees.
• Show more than one region, and include training sessions on access, seasons and visas.
• Agree with partners how bookings will be reported, so results can be measured.

A rep, or representation company, hosts on behalf of the suppliers and DMCs it represents in a source market.

• Build the route across several principals so each one gains, and agree the cost split before inviting anyone.
• Select agents from your own relationships: the people you already see in their offices and at trade events.
• Run applications and vetting, and handle the paperwork, travel insurance checks and briefings.
• Travel with the group where you can, because you are the follow-up point when the agents are back at their desks.
• Report results to each principal: who travelled, what they said, and what they booked.

Vetting is where most of a fam's return is decided. Check each applicant against the same criteria:

• The business is real and trading: a website, a registered company, and trade body membership where that is the norm in their market.
• The applicant sells: they are client-facing or train those who are.
• The business sells your destination or region now, or has a plan you believe.
• A reference from someone you trust: a rep, DMC or tour operator they book through.
• Commitment in writing: a participation agreement and, if you use one, a deposit returned on completion.

Warning signs

• Cannot name a recent Africa booking or describe their clients.
• Asks about bringing family, extending, or upgrading before being accepted.
• Holds a trade card but no client-facing role.
• Has been on several fams with no bookings reported to those hosts.

Plan the group around the vehicles and the aircraft. On safari that usually means one or two game vehicles' worth of agents plus a host who travels with them, sized so the group fits the light aircraft on your routing. Larger groups split across vehicles and lose the shared conversation that makes a fam useful; smaller groups cost more per agent but give each one more time with your managers and guides.

Show the trip a client would take, with the selling information added, and leave room to breathe.

1. Arrival with the meet-and-greet and transfer a client would get.
2. Two nights or more at the key stops, so agents feel the rhythm of a stay rather than a tour.
3. Short, scheduled site inspections of other places to stay, timed between activities.
4. Activities at the times clients do them.
5. One training session with rates, seasons, policies and the booking process.
6. Some free time each day for notes, photos and rest.
7. A debrief on the last evening, while impressions are fresh.

Avoid a new bed each night. Agents who spend the trip packing remember the packing.

Budget each line, then agree with partners who carries it before anything is booked.

• Within a couple of days: a thank-you with the pack, photos, rates and booking contacts.
• Within two weeks: a short feedback form, and a call with each agent.
• Within a month: help with a first quote, and an invitation to a webinar or training for their colleagues.
• Over the following year: regular contact from the rep or sales lead, and a check on enquiries and bookings.

Record each conversation against the agent and the agency, so the next person who contacts them knows what was said.

Compare what participating agencies booked before and after the trip, over the same length of time, and set it against what the fam cost.

• Before: bookings, room nights and revenue from each participating agency in the year before the trip.
• After: the same figures for the year or two after, plus enquiries and quotes.
• Cost: the full cost of the trip, including partners' contributions and your own staff time.
• Return: revenue or margin from the uplift, divided by the cost.

Ask agents to mention the fam when they book, and ask partners for their figures. Measured results are what persuade partners to co-host the next one.