Can a destination, which professes to epitomise “Truly Asia” with its wide array of culture and attractions, be a true blue niche product?
Tour operators at the receiving end of this question gave a resounding “yes”, stressing that any destination could be niche with the proper marketing.
Henry Wong, executive director of Discovery Overland Holiday, defined a niche tour as one that focuses on a specialised market and addresses a need for a product that is not being packaged by the mainstream providers.
“A niche tour is thus specially packaged for a narrowly defined group of potential customers. To sell such a tour, we have to address the needs of different market segmentations. It can be a business traveller, a corporate outing, the pink community, the rich and famous, the adventure enthusiasts or nature lovers.”
The success behind the marketing of a niche tour is “to understand fully our customers’ needs. We must also be equipped with strong local knowledge in terms of our products and resources,” he added.
Wong demolishes the impression that niche tours cater only for the high-end market. Rather they are specially designed to meet clients’ specific requirements.
“Examples of niche tours we plan for our clients include organising a local wedding ceremony, farm visit and 4WD adventure.” Brandon Lim, contracting and product manager of Asian Trails Malaysia, believes one has to have passion to sell niche products.
“There’s a lot of difference if one does it for passion and for money. With passion it gives us the opportunity to introduce the products in a different way and, at the same time, pass on the message of sustainable tourism.”
Lim said Malaysia is not well marketed as a niche destination. One of the reasons is that is easier to sell a mass destination than going niche. Obstacles in the latter are logistics, getting the right ground operator, and using the services of the local people.
“You need to spend a lot of time to come up with the right itinerary and a lot of leg work receeing for the right product. It’s thus not easy. Apart from passion, one also needs commitment and knowledge before one could really go niche.
Lim, who joined Asian Trails about nine months ago, is a “nature” specialist and he has been promoting the rich natural assets of Malaysia. He has repackaged the popular Taman Negara (National Park) tour into a niche product different from what is on sale currently. It uses different entrances to the park and visitors stay in dormitory or choose to go deeper into the jungle and pitch camps.
The company has also launched Rafflesia Trails where guests get see the famed Rafflesia Cantleyi, the largest flower in the world in Ulu Geroh (Perak) without having to go to Sabah, and unearth “hidden treasures” such as the Royal Belum State Park Rainforest and Pulau Ketam (Crab Island), both in Perak.
Lim believes that such green products is one way of getting Peninsular Malaysia back on track as visitors tend to associate Sabah and Sarawak with nature/adventure tours.
Anthony Wong, group managing director of AOS Tourism & Hospitality Group, has been marketing niche products way back in 1976 when he started Asian Overland Services as a two-man travel agency. He has pioneered tours to the Niah Caves (Sarawak), Mount Kinabalu (Sabah), longhouse stay, 4WD, whitewater rafting, rock climbing and biking through the country, way before other operators had thought of such products.
“Understanding, passion, a love for what you are doing and helping to sustain the environment through the green niche products” are the requisites listed by Wong in marketing niche tours and which are behind his company’s success.
All interviewed agree that niche, not mass, is the way to sell Malaysia. Said Wong, “It’s easier to use a rifle than a machine gun - , more focused and won’t waste bullets. In the same way in going niche you have to package the products according to your target market’s needs. Example, for Europe it will be nature and adventure while India will be theme parks and shopping.”
