In the world of travel marketing, the competition is everywhere: other travel agents, the big online agencies, and suppliers selling direct. All about you, the sharks swim.  The water is red with blood.  Everyone is after the same clients, and you want your share.  So you circle with the pack, waiting for another traveler to drop into the water. You hone your competitive advantages, distinguish yourself from the competition, and wait.

But just over the horizon is a vast blue ocean. Right off-shore, hard as it may be to believe, there is no competition. There is an entire blue ocean of uncontested market space.  Is that even possible?

Blue Ocean Strategy indicates that it is possible to create products and services in which a company can view the…

Don’t confuse procrastination with laziness. It isn’t. It can be thought of as fear in disguise. We often delay necessary tasks because they appear to threaten the status quo or demand some level of risk. And yes, I do realize that stepping out of your comfort zone is a recommendation easier said than done. It requires deliberate action and not just willpower.

A logical first step is to shrink the task. A mountain shrinks to a hill when broken into chunks. Instead of conjuring up the energy and creativity to “write the report,” I suggest that you turn your focus on “opening the document and coming up with one sentence.” If you have been following my writing over the years, you know I am big proponent…

It’s been a dozen years since Oceania rolled out a major enhancement to its group program. So it took the opportunity of this week’s Partner Preview Voyage on the new Oceania Allura to make up for lost time by announcing a simplified offering for groups of 18 cabins or more.

Oceania’s new-to-brand customers are well-traveled—primarily from Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and Royal Caribbean—and are ready for the kind of boutique experience a smaller ship can offer, senior director of business development Michael von Wittenau told the travel advisors at an onboard Town Hall. On a ship that holds just 1,200 guests, a “large group”—and all the attention and service that comes with it—is just 18 staterooms…