familiarisation trip definition

What You Should Know About a FAM Trip

Annie Brigham, Digital Marketing Coordinator

What is a FAM trip?

Who attends a fam trip, who pays for a fam trip.

What are the benefits of a FAM trip for Travel Agents and Media Personnel?

What are the benefits of a FAM trip for the Hosts?

What are some things to keep in mind when planning a FAM trip?

A FAM trip stands for “familiarization trip” and is one incentive of being in the travel industry. FAM trips are exclusive educational trips for travel agents, media personnel, and resellers. These familiarization trips provided by travel businesses such as travel operators, tour operators, and accommodation suppliers allow them to experience their services and destinations first-hand. FAM trips are opportunities for travel businesses to familiarize agents and media personnel with their destination and immerse them in the local culture, introduce them to local operators, and highlight the benefits their company offers, essentially take them backstage. For instance, they can have the opportunity to meet a celebrity chef that they have been referring their clients to.

The usual people presented on these trips are Travel Agents, suppliers, and media partners such as Journalists, Editors, Influencers, & Tour Operators. These individuals are necessary for countless travel businesses’ success, and as suppliers and travel operators, you are looking to build a long-term working relationship with them. The aim is to keep track of key industry influencers and invite people relevant to your industry’s success. These invitations may rope in a travel agent you have worked with in the past, who you want to enhance your relationship with or introduce new offerings to, or a new prospect who has recently jumped on your radar who can potentially help you collect new business.

Though FAM trips are endlessly changing and evolving, and differentiate per business, tour operators, cruise lines, and hotels interested in showcasing their points of interest typically provide everything for these trips. FAM trips are more often than not fully sponsored invite-only events unless there is a partnership with a rental car company or airline that exists. Sponsorships are customary because the host provides the money or product in exchange for their visit.

What are the benefits of a FAM trip to Travel Agents and Media Personnel?

Familiarization trips present numerous benefits to the attendees. The head benefit of a FAM trip is that it allows travel agents and other travel industry providers to gain ideal first-hand experience. This involvement enables them to understand better the several benefits that different kinds of trip excursions offer to their clients. As a result, they can better supply the perfect services and vacations to their client based on their desires and needs and effectively inform their clients on what they can expect. In addition, media personnel, travel writers and editors, and photographers can gain first-hand experience that can help provide better content, details, and photographs for their future publications. These trips grant journalists opportunities to develop tailored stories that they may want to develop further. For example, the trip may introduce them to a chef who has a fascinating life story or recipe to share. A further benefit is that the FAM trip guests can expand their professional network by building connections with other travel agents, suppliers, and media personnel; most FAM trips embrace downtime to relax with other professionals. This schedule allows them time to get in touch with industry experts and exchange stories on what has worked for their business. By developing long-lasting relationships with travel operators and suppliers, they will also acquire better deals for themselves and their future clients.

What are the benefits of a FAM trip to the Hosts?

Arranging a “familiarization trip” is a valuable marketing tool. As a host of a FAM trip, one benefit is that you can generate new leads and business for your company. By permitting these professionals to gain first-hand experience with your products, they will better understand and share the benefits of your travel offerings with their clients. When it comes to benefits from hosting media personnel is that you are enhancing your media coverage; travel writers and photographers take part in these trips to photograph your offerings and compose content. If you can impress and inspire your guests during a FAM trip, then you should be able to generate first-rate reviews and recommendations for your travel business. For example, one of our clients , Arizona, invited an Editor in Chief on a FAM trip to their destination. The Editor in Chief made a customized trip with a luxury angle and published over 20 full pages of material about the destination and included them in the cover. The clients were very thankful for these results and said that the benefits of these results were worth more than five times that than the overall cost of the FAM trip.

After conversing with some of our employees regarding their client’s FAM trip success stories, we have put together some things we think you should consider when planning your FAM trip: You must research and plan the trip and itinerary during the FAM trip planning stage according to your media personnel and travel agent’s profiles. Look at their previous publications and create activities that they will find appealing, craft experiences with multiple “wow factors” that they can share in their publications. Keep in mind that it is up to the criteria of your guest when it comes to what will get published; not everything that they experience will be incorporated. Provide thorough itineraries and trip information as soon as possible in the planning process; this will allow your FAM trip guests to raise any concerns or questions ahead of time and will enable you to customize their stay exceedingly well. When crafting a detailed itinerary for your guests, you must also be mindful of their time on your trip; you must provide a good balance of activities and educational events with free time to relax and take a breather. Lastly, put together a plan for contingencies; keep in mind that not everything will go to plan. It would be safest to prepare for anything from a last-minute guest cancellation up to flight cancelations, emergencies, or lockdowns. But, again, it is better to over plan.

Special thanks to our Connect Worldwide FAM trip experts Eduardo Peraza and Pedro Berruecos for contributing to this article. Contact us today if you are looking for a destination marketing partner or are interested in learning more about attending, planning or hosting a FAM trip.

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What is the meaning / definition of FAM Trip in the hospitality industry ?

The term FAM stands for Familiarisation. The Tours – commonly known as FAM Trips – are trips organised by travel providers (can be a Tour Operator, an Airline, a Hotel Chain , a Tourism Board or other DMOs representing a Destination, etc.) with the purpose of educating about their products &amp services and promoting them.

Usually it is dedicated to everyone who is involved in the selling and promoting process of this particular product/ property / destination. It typically hosts travel agents and expedients, travel media (writers, journalists, bloggers) and other important players &amp partners.

Creating awareness and at the same time networking and building relationships are the main aims of a FAM trip .

FAM´s are very important in the hospitality industry . Basically speaking if the travel agent knows and likes your property (and the location), he will book his clients into it. FAM´s are usually FOC ( free of charge ) or available at a discounted fee.

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What Are Fam Trips And How To Get The Most Out Of Them

• International Tour Operators
• Group & Multi-Day travel
• Customer Experience

Familiarisation Trips, better known as Fam Trips, are educational trips organized exclusively for media partners or travel agents and resellers, by travel businesses such as tour operators and accommodation establishments.

Fam Trips are designed to equip participants with adequate product knowledge to either sell onto clients or publish for media coverage. Travel businesses host Fam Trips to showcase their business and product to the people who resell or cover them in media.

Either way, the fundamentals of Fam Trips remain the same, you want to create memorable, fun, and personable experiences for the people who undertake them. They are essentially marketing tools that highlight your travel offering and are one of several ways to generate leads and new business for your travel company.

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Who Goes On Fam Trips?

Fam Trips are usually set up either as invitation-only sponsored learning trips or at discounted rates exclusively available for travel agents to book.

Travel agents and resellers go on Fam Trips to experience first hand a travel product or offering. This gives them insight into the finer details of the offering and lets them add a personal touch to their sales pitch.

Travelers are on the lookout for personalized travel experiences and something as simple as a travel agent knowing whether there is a packed breakfast available to take on a day hike excursion without needing to check details with the establishment saves time, conveys efficiency and will attract customers to your travel business .

Fam trips are not only for travel agents or resellers though, media partners also participate in them too. Travel writers or photographers join Fam Trips for media to write up articles and take beautiful images to post and share in their publications.

Tips On How To Run Successful Fam Trips

You want to apply the same basic principles to your Fam Trips regardless of whether you are hosting Media or Suppliers. In both cases, the trips should be experiential and relevant to your product.

Set Expectations

Email your suppliers and media partners their proposed itineraries a few weeks in advance so that they know what to expect from the Fam Trips and can raise any questions they may have to prepare for it.

When hosting Fam Trips for Media discuss your expectations for the press coverage before the trips begin so that you are all on the same page. Establish where the write-ups will be published, the length and frequency of the articles, expectations for social media posting etc.

Offer Authentic Experiences

While you do need to pull out the stops and offer the same experiences that full paying guests would get, you do not want to misrepresent your offering by including something not ordinarily part of your repertoire.

Clients will be disappointed if they read about a sundowner experience on the riverbank but discover on arrival at your lodge that it is not in fact on your activities list it.

Create Partnership Offerings

Contact surrounding travel businesses to see if they would be interested in creating partnership offerings to provide to the suppliers and media partners.

Approach restaurants who might be interested in hosting groups for some of their meals. Or contact a bicycle tour operator to ask if they would lead groups on a trail experience.

This will give the other businesses the opportunity to increase their visibility and get mentions in the media and it will help you to spread some of the costs involved in hosting Fam Trip groups.

Offer Alternative Itineraries

Where applicable, showcase a number of your most popular activities to the people on your Fam Trips. Not only will this highlight more aspects of your travel business, but it will also negate the possibility of accidentally excluding someone from partaking in particular activities.

Consider people’s varied interests and add one or two alternatives to your itineraries. The idea is for your suppliers and media partners to make the most of their Fam Trip experience so limiting your educational Fam Trip activity to a snorkeling trip might not work in your favor if you are hosting people who do not enjoy swimming for example.

Set A Manageable Schedule

Remember the people you host on your Fam Trips are working even if it may not always seem like it. With this in mind, remember to allocate a certain amount of downtime on your Fam Trips to allow your travel agents and media partners to check in with the office, organize the information they are putting together on your travel product, or have a quick catch up with the family at home.

Provide All Necessary Information

Your suppliers and media partners are going to need the details of all the accommodations they stay in, restaurants they dine at, and activity providers who guide them on their Fam Trips. As the organizer, you will have easy access to all of this information.

Compile a list of all the names, email addresses, contact numbers and social media handles of your partners onto a database and share it with the people on your trip. This way they will be able to accredit everyone accordingly.

You can include the brochure images and write-ups of your travel product in this informational package too. You might find that your suppliers need to update your product on their site and this will make sure that they have what they need.

Most of this information will likely be required in a digital format, so either email it or make it available to download from a limited access portal.

Make Follow Ups After The Trips

Do not leave it too long after your Fam Trips have finished to follow up with your travel agents and resellers to get their feedback.

See if they have any questions or suggestions for you and check that your media posts are published and all the information is optimized, correct, and up to date.

Keep the communication lines open and find out what worked and what didn’t and learn from each experience and Fam Trip.

Remember that your travel agents, suppliers, and media partners are key players in your business’ success and Fam Trips are a good way to nurture relationships with them. So consider the time and resources you spend hosting Fam Trips and nurturing relationships as an investment in marketing your business and promoting your travel offering.

In an industry where experience is everything, going the extra mile and working together to give clients the best possible service will translate into stellar reviews and glowing recommendations for all parties involved.

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3 tips to stand out with the most memorable fam trips.

• January 29, 2021

• Fam trips as sales opportunity

In the tourism industry, a Fam trip is one of the biggest sales opportunities. As a tour operator, you have the potential to put your destination and your business on the map. The main aim of a Fam trip is to network, build relationships and to personally promote your tourism products.

Definition of a Fam trip

Fam is short for Familiarisation. A Fam trip is a complimentary or reduced-rate travel program for travel agents, tour operators and travel media. It’s designed to familiarise themselves with a specific destination or business. All this to experience the tourism product first-hand and to stimulate sale of travel.

Make a positive impression

Many destinations and tourism experiences are fantastic, but if the Fam trip experience is weak, the entire destination and experience will appear weak in the eyes of your guests. Always keep in mind that your Fam trip guests are well travelled, have high expectations and are requesting good hospitality. It will not be their first Fam trip. The Fam trip is your time to be memorable, so make sure to make a positive impression!

In this article

• Tip 1: Connection
• Tip 2: Curiosity
• Tip 3: Stand out

Virtual Fam trips

Top 3 tips for an epic fam trip.

To find out what makes the perfect Fam trip, we have conducted a survey with key industry leaders. We have found the top three things that are game changers in your fam trip experience.

1. Connection

The number one answer our surveyed leaders saw as a changemaker in a Fam trip is the “Who?”. Meaning who is conducting the Fam trip and can this person deliver and create real connections? Can they read verbal and non-verbal cues? Can they invoke excitement curiosity adding value to the overall experience?

“I felt the Fam trip was about me” – someone shared. Displaying your destination and tourism products is first priority, but should it be? This may sound strange, but your top priority should be building a connection with your Fam-guests. Only then you will be able to fully connect them to your destination and tourism products. Only then are you able to show its uniqueness and its potential!

2. Curiosity

When developing your Fam trip, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do we have in our destination that can spark curiosity?
• What can I teach my Fam-guests about our destination and tourism products?

Personal experience

Personally, I have travelled to many destinations. Many places stand out, but some places piqued my curiosity! When I was in Guatemala visiting a Mayan site, I looked down to the ground and saw an object wondering what it was. I thought: What’s that? What’s inside?

The guide quickly noticed my curiosity and picked up the nut, and asked: “Claudine, do you know what’s inside?” I replied, “some sort of nut?” He then shared that it was an almond. “Let’s see what’s inside.”, he said. He took a rock and hit the nut 3 times. He then said: “take a look”. He gave me the nut and asked me to open it up carefully. And there it was, an almond. My almond which I got to see, touch, smell, and taste. It was a full moment of discovery, and this story stays with me!

My curiosity was sparked, and I learned something new and delicious. What’s an everyday moment for you is a unique experience for a visitor. Always stay connected, looking for any opportunity to add value. Invoking moments of curiosity and surprise. You want your Fam-guests to be excited and share their experience passionately with their clients, your potential customers!

3. Stand out

What will you do differently to stand out and be remembered? My best example of a destination standing out is Grenada, an island in the Caribbean Sea. Having travelled extensively, I will never forget the way Grenadian culture and people stood out. I was invited to a local home to join in a traditional local meal called an “oil down”. A meal prepared with care with ingredients from their own garden. It was hands down the most epic dish around.

The experience was not just going to a home and eating a traditional meal. It was a discovery. An insight to their family, culture and lifestyle. For that time, I became part of the family and the island. Every single part of this experience drew me closer to the local culture. Creating a strong bond not only to the family and the experience, but to the destination. Grenada stood out!

In times of Covid-19 , physical Fam trips have been cancelled until further notice. As alternative, the Virtual Fam trip gained more interest. Virtual Fam trips allow invitees to learn more about the destination from their own homes via video. It’s a great temporary alternative for an actual Fam trip. It allows tour operators and destinations to stay in touch with their re-sellers while receiving feedback on their tourism products.

Top 3 tips for Virtual Fam trips

1. Bring the experience alive. You are behind a screen so the body language, the smile and the experience needs to be a bit more animated!

2. Communicate in an inclusive manner. Say things like “We are going to the museum” instead of ‘I will show you the museum”. Key words can make someone feel part of the journey, as if they are there with you!

3. Study your audience. Know what they like, dislike and what their interests are. Doing your homework will help you connect better!

Remember the top three game changers

Decide what kind of Fam trip you want to host and don’t forget the three game changers. Keep looking for opportunities to put your destination on the map and get ready. Before your next Fam trip, remember to focus on personal connections, creating curiosity and to stand out!

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Wow, these are great ideas! This could really ensure an amazing travel experience. How do I get connected with these types of providers?

Wow! Thanks for the message! Where are you located Amy? Reach out, I’m on LinkedIn: Claudine Pohl

Keep Shining, Claudine

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White Paper: Familiarization Trips

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• What are familiarisation trips?
• What are the benefits of Fam Trips?
• The future of Fam Trips
• How can FamTrips can create a successful destination?

1. Executive Summary

Familiarisation Trips, also known as Fam Trips, could be seen as an added value to Destinations & Marinas since it has many benefits. Here you can think of benefits such as first-hand experience, both valuable sales- & marketing tools, and your participants can expand their professional network. In addition, Fam Trips are not only popular these days but will become even more popular in the future. In order to get familiar with the impact of Fam Trips, you should first become aware of what the future and success of Fam Trips look like. After this, you can apply this to your own organisation and take advantage of all these benefits.

2. Introduction

Familiarisation Trips (Fam Trips) are an undervalued marketing tool that any destination can use. Nevertheless, Familiarisation Trips have become increasingly popular when it comes to destination marketing over the years. This white paper was written with the intention of answering the following research questions: “How can Fam Trips create additional value and a competitive advantage to your destination?”, and “Why should you have Familiarisation Trips as part of your marketing and sales proposition?”. In order to do so, an explanation of what Familiarisation Trips are will be done, followed by an explanation of the benefits. Next, the future of Fam Trips will be discussed, and finally, an overview of how Fam Trips can create a successful destination will be done. 

3. What are Familiarization Trips?

Familiarisation Trips are a marketing tool that highlights what your destination has to offer and can also be used to generate new leads. By definition, Fam Trips are exclusively organised educational trips that equip participants with sufficient knowledge of the destination to either sell clients or publish for media coverage. The purpose is to allow participants to experience the destination first hand (Alban, 2018). The participants of Fam Trips vary and are based on the organisation hosting the Fam Trips.

4. Benefits of Familiarization Trips

Fam Trips can have many benefits to your organisation, which will lead to new business opportunities. In the following section, we will elaborate further on these benefits and how they can help you to grow as an organisation in the yachting industry.

1. First-hand experience 

As it has been said in the previous section, Fam Trips will give a better view of the products and services your destination has to offer. Participants are going on Fam Trips to experience this first hand (Alban, 2018). According to Annie Brigham who is working as a digital marketing coordinator at Connect Worldwide, this involvement enables participants to better understand the several benefits that different kinds of trips and excursions offer to their guests (Brigham, 2021). As a result, they can better supply the perfect products and services to their guests based on their desires and needs and effectively inform their clients on what they can expect. Next to that, it will help participants to provide high-quality content, details, and photographs for their future publications. For example, the trip may introduce them to a chef who has a fascinating life story or recipe to share (Brigham, 2021). 

2. Valuable sales tool 

A further benefit of organising Fam Trips is that it can help your organisation to generate sales. According to the Good Tourism Institute, you have the potential to put your destination and your business on the map. The main aim of a Fam Trip is to network, build relationships and personally promote your products and services (Pohl, 2021).

3. Valuable marketing tool 

According to Annie Brigham, it will give a better understanding by permitting these professionals to gain first-hand experience with your product (Brigham, 2021). When it comes to benefits from hosting media personnel is that you are enhancing your media coverage; travel writers and photographers take part in these trips to photograph your offerings and compose content. If you can impress and inspire your guests during a Fam Trip, then you should be able to generate first-rate reviews and recommendations for your destination (Brigham, 2021). 

4. Expanding your network 

Another benefit is that Fam Trips guests can expand their professional network by building connections with other participants who will have different kinds of field expertise; most Fam Trips embrace downtime to relax with other professionals (Brigham, 2021). This schedule allows them time to get in touch with industry experts and exchange stories on what has worked for their organisations. By developing long-lasting relationships with other participants, they will also acquire better deals for themselves and their future clients. 

5. The future of Familiarization Trips

‘’Fam Trips are more important now than they ever were,’’ is what Natalie Browning said, owner of Insider Travel Planners in Danville, West Virginia. ‘’Given the circumstances, the general public is afraid to travel, or they have concerns. When they see someone they trust out travelling and experiencing new things, they are likely to follow suit. We need Fam Trips in order to show the world that we can travel and things are open.’’ (TravelAge West, 2020)

According to TravelAge West, the new world of Fam Trips is going to be very exclusive, focusing on changes in order to provide consumer confidence (TravelAge West, 2020). It will stay important to focus on what the traveller wants and anticipate this in the future. ‘’Moving forward, we will be hosting smaller and more personalised Fam Trips with a stronger focus on social media’’, said Carilis Felipe, the company’s director of field sales (TravelAge West, 2020). We want to encourage agents to document their experience on their social platforms for consumers to see and feel comfortable travelling to the destination. 

Regardless of how they take place, Fam Trips are likely to become an increasingly important educational source for travel advisors, according to Thomas Carpenter, owner of Huckleberry Travel (TravelAge West, 2020). 

6. How can Familiarization Trips create successful destinations?

People often believe that Fam Trips hold no value, but this is probably because things went wrong in the organisational process. Maybe the right people weren’t invited or the proper follow-up process did not take place. Therefore, carrying out Fam Trips the right way can be beneficial for any company (Lucht, 2015). 

According to Lucht (2015), the Taiwan Convention Bureau invited 12 corporate buyers from China for a six-day Fam Tour. On the last day, the Bureau presented 12 destination management companies and travel agencies to the corporate representatives, and they generated three corporate travel deals. This amounted to 1,500 MICE travellers heading to Taiwan. The Fam produced an ROI of 3000%. The cost of the Fam was $25,000 and Taiwan generated at least $750,000 from the MICE travellers for the destination (Lucht, 2015). 

Additionally, ACREW hosted a Fam Trip for a marina who received a ROI of 1000% based on the return visits for those who attended the Fam Trip. Another broker Fam Trip hosted by ACREW for a destination resulted in $3.4 million charters being brokered. This shows that Fam Trips can indeed create successful destinations once done right. Here are some tips on how to successfully run Fam Trips:

Set Expectations

Sending the participants their proposed itinerary in advance is a good way to manage their expectations (Alban, 2018). You can also organise a meeting a week in advance to go through the itinerary to discuss and give further details. Managing expectations is one way to ensure that the participants are not disappointed during the Fam Trip. 

Creating Connections

You would think that displaying your destination and tourism products should be your first priority during Fam Trips, but it shouldn’t be. Your top priority should be building connections with the participants of your fam trips. Only then would you fully connect them to your destination, and be able to show their uniqueness and potential (Pohl, 2021). 

Make Follow-Ups After The Trips

Don’t wait too long to follow up with the participants of the Fam Trip and get their feedback. See if there are any questions or suggestions. Keep the communication lines open and find out what worked and what didn’t. Their feedback can be crucial going forward (Alban, 2018).

Alban, M. C. (2018). What Are Fam Trips And How To Get The Most Out Of Them. Retrieved from https://www.wetravel.com/academy/fam-trips/

Brigham, A. (2021, July 06). https://cww.travel/blog/what-you-should-know-about-a-fam-trip. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from CWW: https://cww.travel/blog/what-you-should-know-about-a-fam-trip  

Lira Alban, M. C. (2018, September 22). What Are Fam Trips And How To Get The Most Out Of Them. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from We Travel Academy: https://www.wetravel.com/academy/fam-trips/  

Pohl, C. (2021, January 29). 3 tips to stand out with the most memorable Fam trips. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from Good Tourism Institute: https://goodtourisminstitute.com/library/fam-trips/  

TravelAge West. (2020, June 16). What Is the Future of Fam Trips? Retrieved March 17, 2022, from TravelAge West: https://www.travelagewest.com/Industry-Insight/Business-Features/What-Is-theFuture-of-Fam-Trips  

Lucht, J. (2015). The Value of FAM Trips. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/value-fam-trips-joern-lucht/

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Travel Agent FAM Trips: What is a FAM Trip?

Written by: Guest on April 16, 2018

There are a lot of perks to becoming a travel agent and one of them is FAM Trips. FAM Trip stands for “familiarization trip” and it is a trip exclusively for travel agents (and sometimes their guests!) that are provided by suppliers or travel operators. Seminars at Sea are similar to FAM trips, but they are offered by cruise lines and give agents the chance to experience the ships and sailing itineraries that they’ll be selling.

These trips are provided as a way for agents to gain an understanding of the benefits of different trips that they can sell to their clients.

When you’ve seen a resort or on a cruise for yourself, you can better help your clients understand what to expect. The more first-hand experience you have, the better you will be able to choose the perfect vacation for your clients based on their wants and needs .

KHM Travel Group agents participate in various FAM Trips and Seminars at Sea throughout the year. We have excellent relationships with many of the top preferred suppliers in the industry, and that allows our agents to get great deals and have wonderful experiences on FAM trips.

One of many benefits to becoming a travel agent, these “working trips” allow our agents to have fun, enjoyable and useful experiences at resorts and destinations across the country and around the world. When you go on a FAM Trip, you will return with the education and confidence you need to make new bookings! In fact, you can take photos and post them on your own social media accounts or share them directly with your clients to spark their desire to reach out to you about their next trip.

Another benefit to FAM trips and Seminars at Sea is that while you’re having fun, you also get the opportunity to network with other travel agents! While these trips are “working trips” there is usually time set aside for agents to relax and enjoy the pools, beaches, bars and other activities. Take advantage of the “down time” and mingle with fellow agents and discuss what has and hasn’t worked for their business. Make sure to exchange information and stay in contact. It’s a great way to extend your professional network!

Curious about what these trips are like? Check out our recaps from a few of our past FAM trips and Seminars at Sea:

KHM Travel Agents Experience Culture & Adventure on Azores FAM

Club Med FAM Highlights an Action-Packed, All-Inclusive Punta Cana Experience

Exploring the Western Caribbean on the Norwegian Getaway Seminar at Sea

Want to become a KHM travel agent? Contact us to learn more about this rewarding career, or easily get started online today .

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Understanding Familiarization Trips: An In-Depth Guide

Familiarization trips, or FAM trips, are a widely used strategy within the tourism and hospitality industry. They are designed to showcase destinations, products, and services to those who play a crucial role in promoting them. Yet, the precise nature, benefits, and planning strategies of FAM trips remain a mystery to many. This article aims to demystify the concept of FAM trips, offering a detailed exploration of their purpose, participants, costs, benefits, and planning considerations.

Part 1: Familiarization Trip – A Definition

Familiarization trips, referred to as FAM trips, are specialized excursions organized by travel providers, destinations, or other entities within the travel industry. The primary objective of these trips is to familiarize individuals who sell or promote the trip’s focal point with the product, service, or destination. It could be a tour operator, an airline, a hotel chain, a tourism board, or other destination management organizations (DMOs) showcasing their offerings.

By offering first-hand experiences, FAM trips enable travel advisors, agents, media personnel, and influencers to gain a deep understanding of what they are selling or promoting. This experiential knowledge, in turn, allows them to provide their clients or audience with authentic, detailed, and enthusiastic recommendations.

Part 2: Who Participates in a Familiarization Trip?

FAM trips typically involve individuals who can significantly influence the success of countless travel businesses. These include:

• Travel Agents: They are crucial as they directly refer clients to specific destinations, accommodations, or travel services.
• Suppliers: Suppliers of travel-related products and services, such as hotel chains, airlines, and tour operators, can also be part of FAM trips.
• Media Partners: Journalists, editors, travel bloggers, and influencers form an essential part of these trips. Their first-hand experiences can translate into engaging stories, reviews, and social media posts that can attract potential travelers.
• Tour Operators: They are often the ones who package and sell the travel experience, making their familiarization with the product or service vital.

By attending FAM trips, these participants can cultivate long-term relationships with travel providers, enhancing their ability to sell or promote the provider’s offerings effectively.

Part 3: The Financial Aspect of Familiarization Trips

FAM trips are typically sponsored by the businesses aiming to showcase their offerings. These could include tour operators, cruise lines, hotels, or tourism boards. Sponsorships are customary because the host provides the money or product in exchange for the participant’s visit and subsequent promotion of the destination or service.

However, it’s important to note that while many FAM trips are fully sponsored, some may require participants to cover a part of their expenses. This could include airfare, personal expenses, or tips. Also, in some cases, a partnership with a car rental company or airline could exist, providing additional benefits or discounts to FAM trip attendees.

Part 4: Benefits of Familiarization Trips for Travel Agents and Media Personnel

Attendees of FAM trips can reap several advantages . A FAM trip provides them with the opportunity to:

• Experience First-hand: By experiencing the destination, accommodation, or service personally, attendees can better understand their unique selling points and potential drawbacks. This enables them to provide their clients or audience with accurate information and personalized recommendations.
• Create Content: For media personnel and influencers, FAM trips offer a plethora of content creation opportunities. From detailed blog posts and reviews to social media posts and live updates, the content possibilities are endless.
• Build Connections: FAM trips often include networking events, allowing attendees to connect with other professionals in the industry. These connections can lead to future collaborations, partnerships, and learning opportunities.
• Enhance Professional Development: By engaging with industry experts, travel agents and media personnel can enhance their knowledge and skills, leading to professional growth.

Part 5: Advantages for the Hosts of Familiarization Trips

Organizing a FAM trip can be highly beneficial for hosts as well. Some of the potential advantages include:

• Lead Generation: By impressing FAM trip attendees with their offerings, hosts can generate new leads and potential business opportunities.
• Media Coverage: Hosting media personnel can lead to enhanced media coverage. Travel writers, photographers, and influencers can create engaging content about the host’s offerings, leading to increased visibility and interest.
• Brand Awareness: FAM trips can significantly enhance brand awareness. By allowing travel professionals to experience their offerings, hosts can ensure that their brand is accurately and enthusiastically represented to potential clients.
• Direct Feedback: FAM trips also offer hosts the opportunity to receive direct feedback about their offerings. This can provide valuable insights for improvement and innovation.

Part 6: Planning a Familiarization Trip – Key Considerations

Planning a successful FAM trip requires careful consideration and strategic planning. Here are some essential elements to keep in mind:

• Understand Your Audience: The planning process should begin with a thorough understanding of the attendees’ profiles. This includes their interests, preferences, and the type of clients or audience they cater to.
• Craft a Detailed Itinerary: A detailed itinerary should be provided to the attendees as early as possible. This allows them to raise any questions or concerns ahead of time and helps the host customize the experience to meet their needs.
• Balance Activities and Downtime: While it’s important to showcase as many offerings as possible, ensuring a balance between activities and downtime is crucial. Attendees should also have time to relax, process their experiences, and network with others.
• Prepare for Contingencies: Not everything will go according to plan. From last-minute cancellations to unexpected weather changes, it’s crucial to have a contingency plan in place.

Part 7: Familiarization Trips in the Middle East – A Case Study

To illustrate the potential of FAM trips, let’s consider the example of Gulf Reps , a leading travel and tourism representation company in the Middle East. With dedicated teams in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and other GCC countries, Gulf Reps boasts over 60 years of regional and industry experience.

Their services range from destination marketing, hotel representation, airline representation, to resort marketing, and more. They have served clients on six continents, delivering transformative results to a range of clients, from hoteliers to tourism boards.

Gulf Reps organize FAM trips to introduce travel agents, media personnel, and other key players in the travel industry to their clients’ offerings. Their FAM trips incorporate various elements such as property tours, destination excursions, networking events, and more, providing attendees with a comprehensive understanding of what their clients have to offer.

Part 8: How to Find Familiarization Trips

There are several ways to find FAM trip opportunities. These include:

• Host Agencies and Consortia: If you’re affiliated with a host agency or consortium, they may organize or provide information about FAM trips.
• Travel Providers: Travel providers like tour operators, hotel chains, airlines, and DMCs often organize FAM trips for travel agents and media personnel.
• Industry Associations: Industry associations often have information about upcoming FAM trips.
• Subscription Websites: Websites like Famtrips.travel, FAMrates.com, and others offer listings of FAM trips for a subscription fee.

Remember, the best FAM trip opportunities are often invite-only or require an application, so cultivating relationships within the industry can significantly increase your chances of being invited.

Part 9: How to Make the Most of a Familiarization Trip

Once you’ve secured a spot on a FAM trip, here are some tips to make the most of the experience:

• Be Prepared: Research the destination, property, or service beforehand. Understand what your clients or audience might be interested in and focus on those aspects during the trip.
• Network: Take the opportunity to connect with other attendees and hosts. These connections can lead to future collaborations and learning opportunities.
• Document Your Experience: Take lots of photos, notes, and videos. These will be invaluable when sharing your experiences with clients or creating content about the trip.
• Share Your Experiences: Use social media to share your experiences in real-time. Not only does this provide marketing for the host, but it also engages your clients or audience and can lead to increased interest and bookings.

Part 10: The Future of Familiarization Trips

FAM trips are an integral part of the travel industry, and their importance is expected to grow in the post-pandemic world. As destinations reopen and travel restrictions ease, FAM trips will play a crucial role in rebuilding traveler confidence and reigniting the industry.

Moreover, as the travel industry becomes more competitive, the need for authentic, first-hand experiences and recommendations increases. Thus, FAM trips will continue to be a valuable tool for travel professionals to enhance their product knowledge, network with industry peers, and ultimately, provide better service to their clients.

In conclusion, familiarization trips are a win-win strategy for all involved. They offer travel professionals unique opportunities to enhance their product knowledge and networking, while hosts benefit from increased visibility, potential leads, and valuable feedback. As the travel industry continues to evolve, FAM trips will undoubtedly continue to play a crucial role in its growth and success.

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Written on 11 th December 2018 by Nancy Brown

Why are FAM trips important to event agencies?

FAM (familiarisation) trips are a vital learning tool for TAG's Events team. Our event managers are focused on delivering the best possible experience for our clients – and these inspections ensure that we have first-hand product knowledge and can advise on exactly what to expect. Read on to learn more.

What is a FAM trip anyway? 

A FAM trip (or familiarisation trip) is where events planners (and/or potential clients) are invited by a supplier to experience a hotel or an activity first-hand. The supplier shows off what they can offer, so the events manager can develop a better understanding of their services and envision how the event would work before proposing the idea to the client. 

How does this benefit our clients? 

1. FAM trips play an important role in scouting out the very best locations for our clients . We only want to work with the best suppliers – and our events managers are hard to impress – so it’s important that we experience venues and services for ourselves. The events team attend FAM trips in locations that are relevant to their work or clients, whether it be a city that regularly comes up in event briefs, or whether it could be a “wildcard” destination in a proposal.

2. Our event managers are always in the know. They strive to develop their product knowledge, so you can be certain that the advice you receive on hotels, venues and any other suppliers is accurate and up to date. This enables our clients to make informed decisions because we have seen the quality of the bedrooms, the standard of the food and drink, and the level of customer service you would receive on-site. 

3. It’s about strengthening the relationships between TAG, our suppliers and key contacts. This brings huge benefits to our clients because it ensures a smooth booking process and means we can negotiate excellent rates for you. 

4. We keep our clients in mind. When our event managers attend FAM events, they keep our clients in mind. For example, if they’re exploring a new venue, they’ll keep an eye out for the specific features and characteristics that clients would appreciate. We will always be thinking about new opportunities for you. 

What TAG Events say…

 “I recently attended a FAM trip with a hotel supplier in Paris and I found it very worthwhile. I experienced first-hand the hotel’s excellent customer service and high-end décor, so I felt confident when proposing the venue for a corporate summer party enquiry. We ultimately booked the accommodation and event space at the hotel, and I liaised with the supplier contact I made on the FAM trip.”

Sammi Wratten, Events Manager at TAG, London team

21 st December 2018

TAG announces expansion of Events division to Los Angeles and promotion of Bethany Chamberlain as Events Director

6 th August 2018

Barbados – The Ultimate Incentive Destination

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Why familiarization trips (FAMs)?

Why does Destination BC host familiarization trips (also known as FAMs) and what are the outcomes of trips like this? Destination BC and key partners often host journalists, editors, travel agents, product managers, marketing managers or reservations staff from tour operator partners.    The intent of these trips to provide attendees with a level of understanding about what BC has to offer as well as inspire them to sell or write about the destination more knowledgably (when they often sell or write about hundreds of destinations around the world). Learn more about FAMs in BC.

UK trade education

The Destination BC UK team held an educational quiz for Trailfinders, consistently one of the biggest tour operator partners and producers into British Columbia from the UK, which shared BC facts to attending staff in London.

German documentary filming

A German documentary team filmed in the Kootenay Rockies in rare boreal forest from 2016-2017, and the subsequent film “Black Forest” is being released.  The dark woods in British Columbia’s Kootenay Rockies is a 55,000 hectare sized remote area that was owned for many years by the German Carl, Duke of Württemberg who managed it with sustainability in mind. He named it Darkwoods after his home mountain range Schwarzwald. Home to the very rare boreal woodland cariboo, wolves, and grizzlies, the area is owned by the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC).

Australia Winter FAMs

November and December 2018 saw many FAM trips from Australia, sharing the idea of experiencing Winter in BC/pre-Christmas and non-ski activities. The team hosted: 10 retail travel agents from Flight Centre stores in New South Wales, who visited Whistler and Vancouver on their FAM; 10 retail travel agents who were part of the Canada Specialist Program from across Australia, visiting Victoria, Vancouver and the Kootenay Rockies; and 8 top travel trade clients in Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria, and Field at Emerald Lake Lodge.    Feedback from the trips included the following: “If you’ve been to Canada in summer you’ll know the scenery is spectacular, but to visit in winter is truly magical” .

Photo: Product Managers snow shoeing Grouse Mountain.

Recent travel media coverage

Here are just a few of the media outlets Destination BC recently assisted or hosted:

Outside Online, National Geographic Traveler, Orbitz, Robb Report, LA Travel Magazine, BC Living, Globe and Mail, Ski Canada Magazine, Matador Network, Today (Australia)

Examples of recent coverage:

USA Today https://www.10best.com/interests/explore/why-you-should-visit-canadas-thompson-okanagan/?geo=eu

Iconic Life https://iconiclife.com/experiential-gift-ideas/

Outside https://www.outsideonline.com/2375486/5-road-trips-you-need-take-winter

OpenTable https://blog.opentable.com/page/3/

OpenTable https://blog.opentable.com/2018/neighborhood-gems-restaurants-for-a-hip-casual-new-years-eve-celebration-with-friends/

SkiCanada.org https://www.skicanada.org/christmas-carving-part-2/

Sharp Magazine https://sharpmagazine.com/2018/10/12/why-vancouver-is-the-best-place-in-the-world-for-upscale-chinese-food/

Divergent Travelers https://www.divergenttravelers.com/things-to-do-in-squamish-bc/

justBobbi https://www.justbobbi.com/diary/9-wellness-resorts-to-help-you-reset-and-recharge

The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/article-the-best-new-things-to-see-and-do-in-canada-in-2019/

Ski Magazine https://www.skimag.com/adventure/bc-ale-trail-tour-de-suds

Ski Magazine https://www.skimag.com/adventure/coming-of-age-in-the-valkyr-range

Scout Magazine https://scoutmagazine.ca/2018/12/07/exploring-the-pacific-marine-circle-route/ ​

Road Stories https://roadstories.ca/okanagan-valley-vineyard-eats-and-bicycle-seats/

Miss 604 https://miss604.com/2018/12/places-to-storm-watch-in-ucluelet-and-tofino.html

Lonely Planet https://www.lonelyplanet.com/canada/british-columbia/travel-tips-and-articles/connect-to-culture-experience-first-nations-traditions-in-british-columbia/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2757815

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4 Tips To Help You Score FAM Trip Invitations

Posted February 12th, 2021 by Theresa St. John & filed under Travel Writing .

Definition: A FAM trip is a familiarisation trip offered by tourism destinations or resorts to travel writers, bloggers, influencers and media professionals for a personal experience. The intention is to generate PR and media mentions to educate potential visitors and entice more visitors.

Going on a FAM trip is like grabbing the “brass ring” of travel writing.

It’s when someone selects YOU to go on a free trip, with activities, transportation, luxury hotel stays, and the best meals… all on the house.

FAM trips are designed by PR people or tourism bureaus, with the idea of offering a rich and varied experience to travel writers and other media folks, in hopes of promoting a destination or attraction.  

I’ll never forget my first FAM trip, on St. Simons Island, Georgia. I had only a few articles under my belt at the time but decided to take a chance. I applied and landed that golden ticket, traveling with 11 other journalists to The King and Prince Resort, just steps away from the Atlantic Ocean.

When I returned home, I wrote several articles about the experience and worked on getting them published. I made sure to send the links/magazines to every property and attraction I’d been able to visit. Pretty soon, I was being invited on FAM and media trips… without even having to apply.

Once you have a few by-lines under your belt and can prove you’re dependable by delivering articles that highlight your trip, I’m confident the same thing will happen for you.

To speed things along, consider becoming a member of places like ITWPA, Media Kitty, and TravMedia. All three are organizations intent on helping travel writers learn of opportunities in upcoming FAM trips. You’ll have to put your best foot forward when you apply for a spot, as the competition can be fierce.

Here are a few other things you can do to score FAM trip invitations…

Do what you say you are going to do .

If you apply for and land a coveted spot by promising you can get three articles published, you better be ready to go home and make it happen. PR representatives talk to everyone .

If you are the “real deal,” they will sing your praises. Other invitations will arrive in your mail box. On the other hand, if you promise something and produce nothing, it’s a big no-no. It won’t be long before the invites dry up. 

Try and line up publications ready to take your stories before you go.  Review what’s in The Ultimate Travel Writer’s Program, The Travel Writer’s Café, or the stuff you get with ITWPA membership on how to do this. 

You’re on the job.

By all means, enjoy every second of the exotic location, the warm weather, the magnificent vistas, and ridiculous food… but remember to take good notes and tons of pictures, too. You’re going to be writing stories when you return home, so your facts need to be accurate. Be professional. Be that person the tourism bureaus want to work with again.

Don’t be that aggravating, irritating travel writer.

FAM trips are set on a tight schedule. There is nothing worse than showing up late, when everyone else is on the bus, ready to go. Be on time, be respectful, and you’ll be a favorite.

Even if you have no personal interest in where the group’s headed, don’t be a complainer. Find something to enjoy. Look for the story within the story. After all, you may find some little-known thing that makes you excited to write about it later.

Travel writers eat strange things. They go to strange places. They meet strange and interesting people. A sense of adventure will take you far!

You can under-promise, but you better over-deliver.

You were invited on this trip because you promised them a story. Make sure it rocks! Knock their socks off with great coverage and stellar images. You’re a travel writer and tourism representatives are counting on you to help promote their area to others.

I’ve been able to work with numerous tourism bureaus, both overseas and in the states. One recently told me they’re using my “true professionalism” as an example in their training seminars. It’s such an honor to be named in what all tourism bureaus should expect from a travel writer, after the FAM trip is over.

Today, I have nearly 150 articles published. I’m blessed but I’ve also worked hard.  The free trips are icing on the cake.

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The Value of Familiarisation Trips: A Win-Win for Travel Professionals and Destinations

Familiarisation trips, commonly known as ‘FAM’ trips, play a crucial role in the travel industry. These trips offer travel agents, media personnel, and travel influencers the opportunity to experience a destination or suppliers’ offerings first-hand. In this article, we will explore what familiarisation trips are and the benefits they offer for travel agents, media personnel, and the host travel provider. We will also highlight how the host can utilise the TripMapper for Business itinerary builder software to create comprehensive itineraries for their FAM trips, along with valuable tips for designing exceptional itineraries.

What are familiarisation trips?

FAM trips are carefully organised visits to a destination, typically sponsored by the host travel provider (destination management organisations ('DMOs'), tourism boards, tour operators, airlines or hotel chains) with the aim of providing its guests, usually travel agents, media personnel and travel influencers, with an immersive, educational experience. The purpose is for the host to educate their guests about their products, services or a destination and its offerings firsthand. The guests gain in-depth knowledge of the destination, which they can then share with their clients or audience.

Benefits of familiarisation trips for travel agents and media personnel

FAM trips provide first-hand experiences, deepen knowledge, strengthen industry relationships, and aim to generate positive publicity, benefitting both the host and the guests.

• Enhanced destination and product/service knowledge : FAM trips provide travel agents and media personnel with first-hand experiences and insights into a destination's and/or provider’s offerings. This deepens their knowledge, enabling them to better advise and inform their clients or readers. By experiencing the destination first-hand, travel agents can create more tailored and engaging itineraries and packages for their clients.
• Building travel industry connections : FAM trips facilitate face-to-face interactions between travel professionals and local suppliers, representatives, and other industry stakeholders. By engaging with industry partners during the trip, participants can establish relationships that can lead to future collaborations, exclusive partnerships, and better access to local resources.
• Storytelling opportunities : Media personnel on FAM trips have the chance to uncover unique stories, capture stunning visuals, and gather compelling content that can be shared with their audience. This first-hand experience allows professionals to convey genuine enthusiasm and lends authenticity to their storytelling, making it more engaging.

Benefits of familiarisation trips for destination management organisations, tour operators and travel providers

• Showcasing destination highlights : Arranging a FAM trip is a valuable marketing tool. FAM trips offer the host travel provider with the opportunity to showcase the best their service, product or destination has to offer.
• Networking and collaboration : FAM trips foster networking opportunities between destination management organisations, tour operators or travel providers and travel professionals. These connections can lead to partnerships, increased visibility, and a wider distribution network for the destination, product or service.
• Generating positive publicity : Hosting FAM trips for media personnel can generate valuable publicity and media coverage. Impressing and inspiring the guests during a FAM trip could lead to first-rate reviews and recommendations. Positive reviews, articles, and social media posts about the destination, product or service can significantly impact its reputation, attract more visitors, and increase sales.

Image by Mike Swigunski on Unsplash

Image by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash

Using TripMapper for Business for creating familiarisation trip Itineraries

TripMapper for Business is an itinerary builder software for tour operators and destination management organisations. By utilising the itinerary builder and carefully designing beautiful itineraries, the host can showcase the best they have to offer in a unique, engaging and inspiring way. Here's how:

• Curated itineraries : TripMapper for Business is the best tour operator software to use to curate visually stunning travel itineraries tailored to the specific goals of the FAM trip. Our tour operator software provides a user-friendly interface for organising activities, attractions, accommodations, and transportation options, ensuring a seamless planning process.
• Collaborative features : TripMapper for Business is also a great solution because tour operators and DMOs can collaborate with the guests. In addition to the planned items, the guests can add their own items to the itinerary if they have free time during the FAM trip. This collaboration enhances engagement, personalisation and builds excitement.
• Real-time updates : The platform enables the hosts to provide guests with important information and changes during the FAM trip. This ensures that guests have the most up-to-date details ensuring a smooth planning process.

Tips for creating exceptional familiarisation trip itineraries

• Understand guest objectives: Gather information about the interests and goals of the guests to ensure the itinerary aligns with their profile and expectations. If guests are media personnel, review their previous publications and craft experiences that they will find appealing and will want to share in their publications.
• Provide thorough itineraries as soon as possible in the planning process: This will allow your FAM trip guests to raise any questions ahead of time.
• Balance variety and depth: Provide a mix of popular attractions and lesser-known gems to showcase the destination's highlights while offering unique experiences.
• Engage with local experts: Collaborate with local guides, experts, and representatives who can provide insider knowledge and deliver authentic experiences.
• Be mindful of guests' time: When creating the itinerary, consider their time during the trip. Strive for a good mix of activities, educational events, and relaxation time.
• Collect feedback: Encourage guests to provide feedback after the trip, which can help refine future itineraries and improve the overall experience.

Image by The Anam on Unsplash

Familiarisation trips can serve as an invaluable tool for tour operators, tourism boards, and destination management organisations. By leveraging our tour operator system, TripMapper for Business, as an itinerary builder for their familiarisation trips, it will enhance the overall experience for guests and in turn, generate positive publicity and increased sales.

Tour operators, tourism boards and destination management organisations, book a demo of the TripMapper for Business platform or sign up for a FREE 10-day trial now!

• 1.1 Alternative forms
• 1.2 Etymology

English [ edit ]

Alternative forms [ edit ].

• educational ( noun )
• jolly ( noun )
• perk ( noun )

Etymology [ edit ]

From fam ( “ familiarisation ” ) +‎ trip .

Noun [ edit ]

fam trip ( plural fam trips )

• ( UK , aviation , travel ) A free (or low cost) trip for travel agents or consultants , provided by a travel operator or airline as a means of promoting their service.

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Define Familiarization Trip

familiarization trip. A low-cost trip or tour offered to travel agents by a supplier or group of suppliers to familiarize the agents with their destination and services. Example, a resort property or group of hotels and restaurants in Aruba might team up with an airline or tour operator to offer a discount fam trip to the resort or to Aruba. Generally referred to as a "fam trip."

The home study course for home-based travel agents reveals the fastest way to qualify for these ultra-low-cost fam trips.

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Hosting the Perfect Familiarization Trip

• May 16, 2019
• Sales and Service

(this post was originally posted February 2018; this is the revised post here)

Some of your meeting planner prospects may be quite savvy on the FAM circuit, or this may be their first opportunity to be hosted.  Regardless of where your client is in their career and journey, there are some things you can keep in mind as host when planning a FAM trip.

Why are FAMs important?

For meeting planners, familiarization trips work because they provide a holistic view of what their program would look like in a destination – from ease of access, hotels and offsites, local beauty and amenities, and ease of doing business.  All factors contribute to a meeting planner’s decision to use a destination.  For site selection professionals, many of their clients lean on these industry experts to advise them on destination that make sense for their program’s goals. FAMs are education-based opportunities , not vacations.

As a host destination and/or event host, here are some things to keep in mind when you host your next FAM:

• One point of contact- while your FAM trip requires lots of partners in order to make it a success, designate one point of contact for both suppliers and the attendees. This will save on confusion during execution.
• Timing – it works best if you can offer FAMS at varying times of the year, so planners can somewhat “pick and choose” when they can come. If you can only host one FAM a year, you may benefit from moving the FAM around to different weeks or seasons to accommodate planner’s schedules.  There is one destination that I’m dying to go see on behalf of my clients, but they hold their FAM during the same week, every year, during my busiest month of the year.  For 10 years now, I’ve had to decline the opportunity to go see the destination.  Ironically, I haven’t booked a lot of business in this destination either.
• Vetting process – FAMs can be seen as “free vacays” by some inexperienced planners. By vetting the potential delegate, you may be able to qualify your delegates and ensure your fam is full of planners who truly have business aspirations for your destination.
• Pre-fam survey – conduct and execute a pre-fam survey with your delegates. Ask them key questions about their program(s), including size and demographics of delegates.  This will help your suppliers customize their talking points specifically for certain individuals.
• Work collaboratively – regardless of how you feel your particular service is the “best game in town”, ensure you work in tandem with the other hotels and offsite venues in your destination.  The first and foremost goal should be to get the planner to buy into the destination, not your particular service.
• Showcase unique local qualities – showing what’s unique to your destination may seem like a no-brainer, but ensure your offerings truly stand out as original. Are you a museum town?  How are you different from the other museum towns in the country?  Do you have a thriving wine region?  How do you set yourself apart from other wine regions?
• Agenda and timing
• Contact information for each facility, and for the hosts
• Social media handles for each facility
• Dress code for each day of the trip
• Average weather for the season
• Communication between partners – every stop on the tour wants to showcase their best, and they should be encouraged to do so. Have the partners communicate with one another (or use your “one point of contact”) about the plan for the day, especially menus.  While its great that all your partners are known for their fried chicken, the delegates likely do not want to eat fried chicken at three different places in one day.
• Downtime – many of your attendees are busy meeting planning professionals. Their life at the office doesn’t stop just because they took 3 days out of their schedule to see your destination.  Ensure you build in a few hours each day for delegates to catch up on email (or jet lag).
• Post-fam debrief – Conclude the familiarization trip experience by sending both a post-fam survey to your delegates, as well as your suppliers, to see what was impactful about the FAM, and what leaves room for improvement for the next one

Leanne’s Note – I recently attended a FAM during the destination’s most popular festiva l – it was an incredible experience and it really showcased the energy of the city.  Ensure your FAM participants understand the booking implications of booking their meetings around the festival time as opposed to other times of the year.

Some of the above tips may not work for your destination given the logistics, but many of these are achievable regardless of the duration of the familiarization trip or destination.  By employing many of these tips, you’ve set yourself up for a great return on your FAM investment.  Good luck with your FAMs this season!

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Diversity Dictionary: What is a fam trip?

Many hotels, tours and cruise lines offer discounted rates to travel agents so that they can experience what a traveller would get .  Travel and accommodation suppliers and tour operators embrace the opportunity to raise awareness of their services and provide the best portrait of their business . They should aim to answer any and every question a travel agent may have, so that this information makes its way to potential new customers !

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Familiarisation Trip ‐ Fam Trip"; An Effective Tool for Touristic Promotion and Development. The Case of the Fam Trips organized by TIF‐HELEXPO in the context of the International Tourism Exhibition “Philoxenia 2016” & “Philoxenia 2017”

In the framework of the intense competition developed among touristic destinations, new and effective tools for touristic promotion are constantly being seeked and developed. Under this spectrum and in an effort to offer an experiential approach to travel agents, tour operators and other tourism professionals, 3-day Familiarization Trips (hereof referred to as “Fam Trips”) are organized in various regions of Greece. These Fam Trips constitute a means for the promotion of the specific host destination directly to selected and targeted tourism professionals who are thus provided with a “first hand” experience of the advantages that the specific destinations have to offer to their visitors. In this report, a research on the effectiveness of the Familiarization Trip as a tool for touristic promotion and development is attempted. This research shall include two parts: initially, the careful study of the international bibliography on this topic and subsequently a focus on the specific case of the Fam Trips organized by TIF-HELEXPO in the context of “Philoxenia 2016 &2017” Exhibition. In particular, for the inspection of this case study, primary research was carried out with the use of questionnaires for the examination of the perceptions and opinions of the tour operators who participated in the specific Fam Trips, but also of the level of accomplishment of the basic objectives of the Fam Trips, namely the improvement of the image of Greece as a touristic destination and the intention of the tour operators to promote the particular host destinations and Greece as a country to their clients. Keywords: Familiarization Trip (Fam Trips), touristic promotion, TIF-HELEXPO, Philoxenia

Related Papers

JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH

Myrianthe Moussa

The Xenia Hotels Project started in 1950 by the newly-founded Greek National Tourism Organization (G.N.T.O.). It was a unique Greek State program, by which different types of buildings and infrastructures were constructed all over the country, setting the standards for Greek tourist accommodation. When and why did GNTO start the Program? Which were the aims of the Project? How did the Project change over those two decades? What are the types of the buildings? What happened to the Project? This presentation's ambition is to answer these essential questions based on documents of GNTO archives. In the early 50s, prewar tourist facilities were ruined. At the same time, the General Secretariat of Tourism was transformed to GNTO, so that the Marshall Plan would fund four hotels. Despite wishful thinking that tourism would become a main axis of postwar economy, private investors hesitated to invest in tourist accommodation. As a result, GNTO continued constructing hotels and the Xenia Project was born. From 1951 to 1958, architect Charalampos Sfaellos was the Director of the Technical Department. From 1957 to 1967, the pioneer architect Aris Konstantinides was the head of the Organization's Architectural Projects Sector. Thus, we can divide the Xenia hotels project into twο phases influenced dramatically by the architects in charge. The buildings of the Project (hotels, motels, pavilions etc.), built in beautiful and historical sites, follow the principles of modernism mixed with local and cultural context. The Xenia Hotels set international high standards for private Greek investors in tourism. Local communities welcomed the Program, too. The Program faded out when A. Konstantinides resigned under the dictatorship of 1967. In the following decades, mass tourism, new luxury life model and bad management led the Project to decline. The Xenia Project not only constructed the buildings and their infrastructure, but also produced the “Xenia” brand based on sustainable policy on tourism that promoted the international “icon” of Greece as a “cultural product”.

Yosef Z. (Yossie) Liebersohn

Abstr act. In this article I wish to emphasize the significance of τὸ κατ' ἔνδειαν ἀλγοῦν, an expression appearing in our sources on Epicurean ethics which seems to have been neglected in the scholarly literature. On the strength of my findings I shall suggest a new interpretation of one category in the Epicurean division of pleasures, namely καταστηµατικὴ ἡδονή. I shall argue that within the katastematic pleasures a division is to be made between the removal of pain due to want and the removal of pain due to what is present. These two subgroups will then be identified with the division between katastematic pleasures concerning the body and katastematic pleasures concerning the soul respectively. Introduction Epicurus' theory of pleasures has been discussed by many scholars 1 , and yet numerous problems still remain. It is no surprise that until now no real attempt has been made to organize all of Epicurus' pleasures on the basis of their divisions and subdivisions and to present them as a complete and coherent system. This deficiency is due to disagreements among scholars even over the nature of very basic terms of Epicurean ethics such as katastematic and kinetic, including their exact meaning and the kind of pleasures constituting each group 2 .

Peter Lorenz

A survey of recent literature on the remarkable reading in Mark 1:41, depicting Jesus's anger at a leper who approaches him to be healed — supported by just Codex Bezae, a segment of the Old Latin version, and perhaps the Syriac Commentary on the Diatessaron, attributed to Ephrem — reveals a tendency to ascribe the acceptance of the alternative reading depicting Jesus's compassion to the overwhelming preponderance of its support. It is clear though that the UBS 3 and UBS 4 committee preferred this reading on the basis of the 'diversity and character' of its evidence 1. The present article examines the implications of the predominantly Latin support for the reading that depicts Jesus's anger in light of the question of textual diversity, considering palaeographical, codicological, and textual evidence of a northern-Italian provenance for its manuscripts and text forms, while arguing that the insular character of the tradition raises serious doubts regarding the independence of its testimony when it differs distinctively in relation to the Greek tradition.

George Adamides

This dissertation focuses on the usability of user interfaces for tele-operated and tele-manipulated mobile robots, with an application on a semi-autonomous agricultural robot sprayer. Semi-autonomous operation of agricultural robots is proposed including a framework for its levels of autonomy. In this case, the robot, in addition to whatever pre-programmed operation can do, is in communication with a human operator (farmer), who intervenes when needed. The farmer does not need to be present in the field; for reasons of occupational comfort and safety (as in the case of spraying which is the example discussed here) as well as for reasons of efficiency (as in the case of operating multiple robots in tandem which is not discussed here), the farmer is assumed to be “away”. The objective of this dissertation is to study the design and evaluation aspects of a user interface that supports human-robot interaction, for semi-autonomous agricultural spraying robots. Various aspects related to the user interface design and evaluation that can enhance human-robot interaction are investigated within this thesis including: 1) custom transformation of a robotic platform into a piece of agricultural machinery, 2) proposing a framework for semiautonomous robot modes of operation, 3) a taxonomy of user interface guidelines / heuristics for tele-operated field robots, 4) studies and experiments with the design aspects of user interfaces for robot tele-operation and tele-manipulation for the specific tasks of navigation, target identification and spraying, and 5) development and evaluation of suitable interfaces with enhanced human-robot interaction awareness to the farmer to effectively tele-operate a semiautonomous vineyard robotic sprayer. Specifically, this dissertation starts with the methodological approach followed to transform an existing robotic platform to a semi-autonomous agricultural robot sprayer (AgriRobot). This is followed by the proposed levels of autonomy. The semi-autonomous mode is the mode of operation where one or more operations are in manual mode and one or more operations are in autonomous mode. The robot has operations both in manual and in autonomous modes, concurrently. This formal framework brings out human-robot interaction theoretical issues of human-robot interaction and more practical issues specific to the user interface design framework. This is followed by a systematic approach to develop a taxonomy of design guidelines for robot teleoperation developed from a focused literature review of robot teleoperation. A list of user interface design guidelines was assembled, open card sorting and a focus group were used to classify them, and closed card sorting was employed to validate and further refine the proposed taxonomy. The initially obtained set of 70 guidelines is grouped into eight categories: platform architecture and scalability, error prevention and recovery, visual design, information presentation, robot state awareness, interaction effectiveness and efficiency, robot environment/surroundings awareness, and cognitive factors. The semi-autonomous agricultural robot sprayer constructed was used as an application case study for implementation and field evaluation. The proposed guidelines taxonomy was used heuristically to evaluate the usability of existing user interfaces of the teleoperated agricultural robot sprayer. In terms of experimentation, the first step was to determine how to begin work in this research area. Initially, without the resources to experiment in the field, as a first step we used an effective test-bed - a simulation experiment in a lab – to evaluate the usability of three different input devices. The goal was to evaluate the selection input device (Mouse vs Wiimote vs Digital pen) for marking the targets (grape clusters). Results indicated usability preference for the mouse and the digital pen. Later, in a field experiment, the usability of different interaction modes for agricultural robot teleoperation was also investigated. Specifically, two different types of peripheral vision support mechanism, two different types of control input devices, two different types of output devices and the overall influence of the user interface on observed and perceived usability of a teleoperated agricultural sprayer were examined. Specific recommendations for mobile field robot teleoperation to improve HRI awareness for the agricultural spraying task were drawn. A value-added from this dissertation is the placing of a camera on top of the end-effector sprayer to provide accurate target identification and spraying verification, thus improving activity awareness. Similarly, placing a camera at the back-top of the robot provides peripheral vision and enables the operator to locate obstacles around the robot wheels, thus improving location and surroundings awareness. Regarding the input/output devices, the PC keyboard and monitor were preferred over the PS3 gamepad and the head mounted display. The dissertation concludes with a discussion on the research findings and suggestions for future research directions. In sum, this work described aspects of how a robotic system should be designed (i.e. asking users how they expect the robot to perform tasks), defining levels of autonomy (including levels and type of communication), using heuristics and design guidelines (gathered from a large body of literature specific for mobile field robots) to develop and evaluate the user interface. In terms of future research directions, these include the robotization of a tractor. In this case, the tractor can be used for several agricultural tasks which could enhance its financial feasibility. In the case of a new robot with a robotic arm installed and additional sensor capabilities (e.g. laser and LIDAR scanners), a new user interface should be developed, following the taxonomy guidelines, and experiment with other teleoperation equipment. In terms of user interface technologies, with the emergence of new sensor technologies and 3D cameras improvements, it would be worthwhile to develop user interfaces with augmented reality capabilities to investigate their effect on situational awareness of operators when using tele-robotics. Finally, it would be interesting to apply the proposed framework of the levels of autonomy to other related work in human-robot collaboration research (i.e. search and rescue robotics) including switching between collaboration levels.

Adam Łajtar , Grzegorz Ochała

Rebecca O'Sullivan (苏蓓) , Christina Marini , Julia Binnberg

This volume brings together two Graduate Archaeology at Oxford (GAO) conferences held in 2015-2016 to present the work of early-career researchers from across the globe. The papers cover a range of periods and regions, but all share the focus of bridging boundaries, whether these are theoretical, methodological or geographic. Some contributors traverse traditional divisions between subjects by integrating computational approaches with early excavation data or archaeology with historical sources to produce 'thick interpretations' of the past. Several papers approach the past as a bilateral process, examining how people shaped and were in return shaped by their interactions with the world around them. In addition, many authors have directly tackled the modern political divides that influence our research. Building on a strong tradition of novel approaches and interdisciplinary methods, these proceedings present current research on directly tackling issues of division head on.

Natalia Loizou

The educational reform which started in 2007 in Greece brought many changes in the content of primary education. According to the philosophical background of the primary national curriculum, educational aims follow the guidelines of European educational commission. The general purpose of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Sport and Culture, is the acquisition of skills that meet the social, economic and technological challenges of our time, so as students will be able to adjust and follow rapid changes. One of the goals of Greek primary education is mutual respect towards different cultural identities. Curriculum is the main “vessel” of educational reform and school textbooks consist a very important part for curriculum development. Therefore, the history curriculum, as well as history school textbooks are not expected to shape and reproduce negative attitudes, superstitions, enemy images and stereotypes. The present study aims at the exploration of the primary school history curriculum, in order to determine in what degree its content and goals are consistent with the European educational policy for history teaching. In addition, the study will examine the image of Balkan neighbor as seen through the history school textbooks.

Adam Łajtar

zahariade mihail

Ntina Tzouvala

The financial crash of 2007-2008 brought words like 'capitalism', 'capital', and 'socialism' back in vogue. However, the discipline of international law remains to reflect systematically on its relationship with the ways in which wealth and power are produced and distributed. This thesis examines the relationship between international law, imperialism and capitalism through historical lenses, arguing that the diffusion of capitalist relations is a core function of international law. Analysing the nineteenth-century 'standard of civilisation', I contend that transforming (semi)colonised polities into centralised, territorialised states operating as guarantors of capitalist relations of production was at the core of the concept. Extraterritoriality in Japan and the Ottoman Empire serves as a case study to verify this statement and to highlight the transformative functions of the 'civilising mission'. The Mandates System of the League of Nations established a system of partial internationalisation of this transformative process, while attempting to safeguard the long-term interests of capital through the introduction of limited forms of welfarism. My thesis then argues that decolonisation assumed the form of national statehood due to the transformative functions of nineteenth-century international law. Therefore, the attempt to push for a New International Economic Order was both a challenge to contemporary international law and a reaffirmation of its role in promoting capitalist relations on a global level. These reformist attempts did not succeed, however, and a new model of capitalist accumulation, neoliberalism, became hegemonic after 1990. The quantitative expansion and qualitative refinement of international law during that period was intrinsically linked to the neoliberal aversion to democratic and mass politics. The neoliberal reconstruction of Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion is interpreted in the light of this reality. In so doing, my thesis highlights the ongoing synergies between international law and capitalist expansion.

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