Hi! I went on the Grand Tour of Italy and Sicily last Aug/Sept and loved the informative bulletin board prior to the trip. My experience was that only one other person on our tour had even heard of the BB (and that was only because her friend had told her about it)...but once I spoke of it several were interested and wished they too had known about it before their tour. It would seem more advertising of it's existence needs to occur. It would also seem most people just look at their particular tour in the brochure and do not read the rest of it... but I guess that will always be a problem. A loose-leaf page perhaps directing them to it???

the URL for the site is at the bottom of every page in the tour brochure. That is how I found it. Maybe it should be in red ink to make it stand out.

Dear Debralee and ZGordon,

Thank you for your comments.

You will be pleased to know that based on the valuable feedback we have been receiving on this board; we are already making changes to our 2010 brochure and tour documentation to include more information about the Bulletin Board which we hope will encourage more people to visit this site!

Please keep your great ideas coming....

Many thanks
John
Moderator

Hey Paul,
Do you know of A Dave Gaulton who used be Coach Driver for Insight & A Lillian Baker who was a Comintator 4 them . I did a UK Tour in 1987 with them.

Excellent points. I continued to be amazed at the level of commitment of the BB participants.

I've only been a member a few days and learn something different everytime I log on. As a matter of fact, we're planning our second Insight trip before we take our first one solely based on our BB experience.

Now my two seconds worth regarding possible ways to improve BB traffic/activity.....My Travel Agent did not mention the BB in any shape form or fashion. We quite possibly would have made our decision to travel with Insight sooner had she mentioned the existence of the BB when we were in the initial discussion or where/when to travel and with which carrier. Perhaps an incentive (or additional one) for agent referrals to the BB. This has most likely been mentioned before and if it has I just want to add additional support.

Just my thoughts. Thanks for providing this opportunity to share.

Hi John,

A few thoughts from a UK traveller ...

We had been on 6 Insight tours and never even travelled with anybody else from the UK let alone met anybody who mentioned the BB. We even went on the BB tour to Bavaria in 2008 without having heard of the BB .... booked direct with Insight following an accidental discovery of the BB from chums who live in Canada.

I signed up this month some 10 years after our first Insight tour that I could be involved in a small way with the development of the 2010 BB tour.

Insight maybe fail with their advertising .... perhaps you could produce a flysheet about joining in with the 'Insight family' and let the TDs hand them out to everybody who takes an Insight tour - no way will everybody be interested but more opportunity to do so will certainly be achieved.

Roger

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hornet,

I'm an old fashion type person and I like getting hard copy brochures so I can peruse all the tours at my leisure.
I also read the fine print.
I'm just looking at my copy of the Premium brochure for 2004 and at the bottom of every 2nd page is the following: Exchange news and views with Other Insight travellers on our Bulletin Board at: www.insightvacations.com

I found this board shortly after booking my 1st tour back in 2000, just because I wanted some information about the company that I was touring with. I don't visit the TA to make a booking until after I have made my choice based on the hard copy brochure. I try to know what I'm getting myself in for, before I get into it.

Hi Roger. Hope you and Angela are well.
Maybe the flysheet could also be part of the hardcopy brochures. There are still a lot of people out there who don't use the internet for research and I think the aim is to make people aware of the BB before they take their tour.

If everyone knew of the BB they could all do online registrations before they travelled. That would have to be a help for the TD?

Pauline

Hiya Pauline

I read about the tours in the brochure but look at nothing in detail apart from the itinerary and the price maybe.

Hey, Why don't you sign up for the Balkans, you and your camera will just love it. Did you know by the way that the pizzas in Dubrovnik are a whole lot better than those served up in Rome ?

Roger

This BB has been invaluable to me. I found it when we took the Grand Tour of Italy and Sicily. It really helped me decide to go to Egypt though, a couple of years ago. I had worries about the food there, but my mind was set at ease through this board. I got along fine there and was so pleased that the posters were honest that had advised me to go. We are now thinking about the Highlights of Europe Tour. So far I have not found anything about this tour on the BB. On both our other tours, I never found anyone else that had accessed the BB before the tour. I was on here nearly every day to get all the information I could. Maybe a bigger notice on the website about the BB would be helpful. That may be the first place people look for tours.

Loretta

Insight should maybe consider doing a half or whole page in the brochure promoting the website. I realize the website address is in small print at the bottom of several pages throughout the brochure but it is obviously not enough to encourage people to use it. Once potential travelers knew about the advantages/ benefits of the website and the valuable information on the Bulletin Board, including meeting your tour director that might encourage more people to visit the website.
Brenda