Overcoming Tourism Sector Challenges: Top tips from Kate Taylor

Updated On: November 07, 2023 by   Ciaran Connolly

Kate Taylor, an accomplished tourism strategist, consultant and facilitator from Tailored Training, offers insights into how to overcome challenges that every small, medium or large scale entity faces in the industry.

Throughout Taylor’s career, she has worked with over 500 tourism businesses through agencies Fáilte Ireland and Tourism NI. Her main role is to help grow tourism business profits with less stress involved for all.

Taylor couldn’t stress enough how complex and challenging the tourism industry can be, especially when it comes to the industry’s sales marketing on an international scale. She reinforces that even the smallest businesses in the field in Ireland are competing on an international stage whether they want to or not, due to exceptional destinations and amazing accommodation providers, as well as incredible activities and attractions all around the world. According to Taylor, this means that everyone within the tourism industry needs to be at the top of their game.

Due to this, Taylor mentions how difficult it can be for businesses to know where to focus their efforts with so many companies shouting loudly, in what is a crowded and heavily competitive market.

This is usually when Taylor begins working with businesses to help provide insights into their sales and marketing efforts. She provides unique tailored training with every business she works with through her own experiences from living and travelling around the world for many years and getting insights into what visitors and tourists want and need when it comes to what they expect from this ever growing industry.

The tourism strategist highlights that no matter the type or size of a tourism business, the key to success is to focus on a niche and really excel at it. This is achievable by becoming an expert in that industry, as Taylor claims no-one wants a generalist, but a specialist.

Taylor mentions that one of the biggest challenges that businesses in the field face is the sheer volume of potential markets and prospects out there. For tourism companies to give themselves the best chance to succeed, they need to hone down one area of the relevant market and base all their business decisions to target that market and audience to land big contracts. 

She further points out that strategy is also critical to business success within the tourism industry. Stating that companies need to be tracking and monitoring all aspects of the business to understand what is and what’s not working well, doing more of what leads them to positive results. 

Taylor also suggests that multi-tasking isn’t a good thing in businesses. Instead, businesses should be prioritising and blocking off chunks of time, focusing on those high-impact result areas for greater success.

Through her program Focus First, she has crafted a formula to help these businesses develop through three stages: Focus, Formulate and Facilitate. She encourages them to work on the business, instead of in the business, by deciding their core market, the core message and lastly, choosing media outlets for their business focus.

Lastly, Taylor highlights that for tourism businesses to succeed, they must have ongoing training to remain competitive. Tourism businesses need to work on their consultative selling techniques as well as investing time to perfect their own personal skills that can potentially boost their business, according to the tourism expert. 

Another great talk we’ve had about Competition in the Hospitality and the Tourism industries was with leading hotelier, Anton Fedun!