As a veteran of more than 40 international cruises, I used to turn up my nose whenever someone suggested that I sail from domestic ports. The only exceptions I ever made were a cruise to Iceland from New York City; a repositioning cruise to Japan that left from Seattle; one to South America that departed from Los Angeles; and two from Miami that sailed to Europe.

I reasoned that, if I was going to kill a night flying from LAX to a departure port and have an after-dinner drink and a Zolpidem tablet after dessert, I could just as easily wake up in Europe, Asia, or Australia as on the east coast of the US. Honestly, you don't notice the difference—especially if you fly Business or…

by Richard Earls
Wednesday March 30, 2022

This week, TRO SMITH is paying homage to Jay Conrad Levinson's "Guerrilla Marketing", a manual for street-level marketing focused on achieving the maximum impact for the least capital expenditure. With the slim margins of travel consulting, guerilla marketing is particularly well suited for travel agents.

But how does a guerilla travel agent advertise? With a small advertising budget, it is difficult to compete in mainstream media. But why "shotgun" your advertising in the first place? With some selective advertising, you can stretch your visible marketing further than you might…