How fam trips help travel agents and media promote cultural tourism globally

Whenever the phrases familiarisation trips (colloquially shortened to “fam trips”) are talked about, ideas routinely appear to go to tour operators or travel agents who wish to know sufficient a few location so as to pitch it to potential prospects.

However, within the context of the rising international penchant for cultural and even pop-cultural tourism, familiarisation excursions aren’t only for agents, however in addition they help contributors acquire a greater understanding of the situation via its historical past, traditions, tradition, and delicacies.

In this characteristic, we level out a number of explanation why fam trips could be an integral a part of tourism promotion, notably within the context of cultural and heritage tourism.

It is our hope that this text serves to information the considering of tourism boards and different organisations searching for to promote their house nations or particular places to the world at massive.

The stay Tangkuban Perahu crater in Bandung, Indonesia serves as a dwelling ecology lesson that fascinates each native and overseas travellers

First up, what precisely are familiarisation trips?

In the method of doing the analysis for this characteristic, I’ve seen that many specialists skip defining the time period, and I discover this annoying as a result of not everyone seems to be clued in on what it means.

So let me put it merely right here: a familiarisation journey / fam journey is outlined as a promotional exercise on the a part of a tourism board, airline, hospitality supplier, or cruise agency whereby travel and tourism professionals are invited to tour a particular vacation spot so as to increase the situation’s picture, expose it to a wider or extra numerous market, and enhance visitors into the world.

Fam trips are, certainly, a good way to provide contributors first-hand expertise of what a location has to supply, basically immersing them straight into its tradition, traditions, and points of interest.

Regardless of whether or not contributors are travel agents and tour operators, travel media and influencers, and even tourism officers and diplomats, fam trips needs to be handled as a worthwhile platform for studying past mere familiarisation.

Attendees at ITE HCMC 2025 had been inspired to attempt their hand on the age-old craft of silk portray in Ho Chih Minh City

Broadening horizons via hands-on expertise

One of the extra memorable points of interest supplied to media and influencers masking ITE HCMC 2025 was a sequence of on-site workshops educating quite a lot of conventional crafts from silk portray to baking banh mi from scratch.

Indeed, whereas fam trips function an expression of nationwide delight for organisers, they will function a method of broadening private horizons for contributors.

As a report from The Tourist Space places it:  “Those who are visiting can see the inspirational impact [such experiences] have, the excitement of returning home to share the news of what they have learned and how they visualise ways in which they could implement similar practices within their own destinations.”

That stated, fam trips provide an perception right into a location’s historical past, intrinsic practices and traditions, and the trajectory of its socio-cultural in addition to financial growth.

By doing so, contributors get first-hand data on what methods helped draw travellers into the world, what prompts them to remain and/or return, and how the neighborhood has benefitted from tourism over time.

The tunnels and outdated camps in Cu Chi, a neighborhood to the northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, inform travellers the grim story of how the folks survived all through the warfare years

Beyond the fantastic thing about places

At the identical time, fam trips aren’t only a method for nations to indicate off magnificence spots, however in addition they function dwelling lectures on their historical past, together with the darker aspect of it.

Case in level: Vietnam has by no means shied away from bringing fam tour teams into areas just like the Cu Chi Tunnels on the northwestern outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City so as to find out how atypical folks fared all through the Vietnam War.

At Cu Chi, tour contributors are led via jungle paths to the precise tunnels used all through the warfare, those that led to bunkers that served as strongholds and protected homes for the locals, in addition to people who had been laid as traps towards the enemy.

Such excursions are additionally supplied exterior of Asia, with guests making their solution to Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco and the Holocaust Memorials in Europe.

These function a bodily reminder of the savage affect that felony exercise and warfare have on nations, and function visible and psychological warnings to these within the current day of the results that these could have on society in the event that they occur once more.

For diplomats taken on a fam tour to those places, they function meals for thought to help steer their considering in direction of extra peaceful relations with their international neighbours.

For the media, then again, it helps to create a extra holistic view of a vacation spot, permitting for a extra goal tone when presenting it to the general public.

The Pier-2 Arts Centre in Kaohsiung’s Asia New Bay Area is an industrial space that’s now a hub for the town’s creatives

Before you go…

Prior to participating in a familiarisation journey, I discover that it pays to be ready for it effectively beforehand.

In which case, listed here are a number of ideas that might help you alongside:

• Do your analysis     By this, I would really like you to take a actually good have a look at your vacation spot: know its historical past and geography, get to know key points of interest and how these have appealed to each native and overseas travellers; even go so far as what specialities are intrinsic to the world;
• Know the folks     Be certain you understand who your level individual for the fam journey, together with any related contacts you may get in contact with for very important data, interviews, and even emergencies;
• Know what to ask This is particularly relevant to members of the media and influencers on such trips and is expounded to the primary two factors. Knowing the world and the important thing folks concerned will help you ask the precise questions. This is especially useful if the fam journey is held at the side of or instantly after a key occasion akin to a travel commerce conference or a significant exposition;
• Prepare your self     As in all circumstances, make sure to costume appropriately for the local weather and tradition of the world you’re visiting. Be certain to behave in a circumspect method and be conscious of your environment. Likewise, be proactive and advise your host organisations of any bodily circumstances you’ll have which may affect the journey each for your self and everybody else.

While fam trips are work trips in a really technical sense, realizing the terrain so to talk will allow you to benefit from the expertise and come away with a greater understanding of the world round you.