Odd Holiday Promotional Ideas for Tour and Activity Companies

Sometimes we need a little help getting our creative marketing juices going, especially when it comes to thinking up promotional ideas that will actually work for your tour company.

These sort of recognized holidays are more than just fun to talk about on social media. They give you a chance to reinvent your tours, attract past customers to come back for something unique or quirky, and boost your online engagement.

This list of odd holiday promotional ideas isn’t to necessarily recommend you try to do them all. Some may not fit your tour or activity business at all. Some might be exactly what you are looking for. Some will perfectly line up to increase shoulder and off-season sales, and some might fall in the middle of your peak season.

There is something for at least each month, or maybe an idea for a big yearly promotion.

Most of these holidays are more for fun than anything else. And they may not all be official, but people do recognize them and they are a great way to do something different with your tour company throughout the year.

Promotional ideas for odd holidays

Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution Day – January 17th

This holiday is fairly obvious. Barely two weeks after starting your new year’s resolutions, it’s time to ditch it. There are many creative things you can do with this holiday for a promotion, such as a Don’t Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution to be more active by coming out on our adventure tour promotion.

Singles Awareness Day – February 15

Set up a tour for singles to celebrate their singledom! Or a singles-mingle type of tour activity.

See our 8 ideas for Valentine’s day promotions for some more single’s day promo ideas.

Random Acts of Kindness – February 17

Your tour business’ random act of kindness could be a discount promotion or a donation to charity from all booking on February 17th.

National Day of Unplugging – First Friday of March

This year’s national day of unplugging will be March 3rd, 2017. Communities refrain from using phones, tablets, computers, and TVs for a 24 hour period, from sundown to sundown. It is a great opportunity to promote outdoor adventure tours and activities as an excellent way to spend the day making connections without the smartphone.

Folks use the day to do whatever they would like without being plugged in and many upload photos of themselves holding a sign saying “I unplug to ____” (yes, I get the irony here). This gives your business the opportunity to take photos or videos (maybe use a camera) of your customers expressing why they wanted to unplug and enjoy the day on your tour. Use the national holiday’s trending hashtag #Unplug for your social media posts.

National Puppy Day – March 23

A walking or hiking tour could offer a day to bring the puppies! Supply some doggie treats and bring some water for the additional guests. And of course, take lots of pictures for social media.

National Beer Day – April 7

Add some social beers to the end of your adventure tour or activity as a promotion to attract customers back. Cheers!

National Siblings Day – April 10

Create a promotion where siblings get a tour at a discount or in a package deal. Send this out to past customers on your email list and encourage them to share the amazing experience they had with their brothers or sisters.

National Pet Day – April 11

Like National Puppy Day, invite customers to bring their furry pets along for the tour (you may have to set up some restrictions such as must have leash or cage, and no tarantulas please). Of course, take lots of owner/pet pictures to share.

National Look Alike Day – April 20

This one might be a stretch, which is why you could offer a free tour to anyone who books with their doppelganger (look alike). Promote that if two, true look-alikes book together, they get the tour for the price of one (must be unrelated, and you can determine they are look alikes when they arrive).

Take picture of the two and ask how they found each other. Share over your social media channels with their meeting story.

Earth Day – April 22

Earth Day is widely recognized. Schools and businesses around the world turn off their power for a few hours to observe Earth Day. If your activity or tour is largely outdoor based, you might not even use power.

Promote a tour that can focus on the ecosystem and biodiversity in the area such as a whale watching company educating on the ocean and local marine environment, or a zipline company educating on the forest floor and treetop environments. These sessions can be recorded or streamed live on Social Media to share with your followers.

Create an online promotional series that showcases your company’s environmentally conscious efforts and minimal to zero footprint on the earth as a business, such as being digital and therefore paperless (not printing receipts, waiver documents), ensuring 100% recycling within the company, and using green and environmentally conscious products.

Lastly, donate a portion of Earth Day sales to the Earth Day organization or regreening efforts either locally or globally.

Thank a Teacher Day – May 2

Your wonderful tour guides and instructors likely have a lot of knowledge and a main component of their job is educating your customers throughout the tours and activities you provide. Give them a shout out on social media with their photos and thank them for all the knowledge they share.

National Scavenger Hunt Day – May 24

Turn your tours and activities on this day into a scavenger hunt. Promote booking in teams to compete in the scavenger hunt with a prize for those that complete the hunt or finish first.

National Doughnut Day – June 2

Promote your tours as providing doughnuts on this day!

National Best Friend Day – June 8

Offer a discount to people who bring their best friends. Similar to National Sibling Day, send an email out to past customers and invite them to return and share the experience with their bestie.

Take pictures of the best friends together and ask them how long they’ve been BFFs for. Post the photos on social media and celebrate all their years of best-friendom.

National Moon Day – July 20

Depending on where you live in the world (and what type of tours and activities your company provides), you may be able to have an evening or night tour and have someone explain some interesting facts about the moon (and celestial sky) during the tour.

National Cousin Day – July 24

Again, similar to National Sibling Day or National Best Friend Day, create a promotion for customers to bring their cousins on the tour with them and email it out to all your past customers. Take photos and ask the cousins to share a favorite memory or quality about their cousin and post it on social media.

National Book Lover Day – August 9

Promote a topical book exchange during your tour so book lovers can find new books to read and find new book friends to share them with. An arts and culture tour can request books in these topics and a family-themed tour can request children and family-friendly books to exchange.

Talk Like a Pirate Day – September 19 #TLAPD

As silly as it sounds, International Talk Like a Pirate Day may be one of the most popular “holidays” on Facebook and Twitter. Search through the “official” website to brush up on your pirate-speak, pirate songs, pirate names, and promote a Talk Like a Pirate Day Tour. Have all your guides and instructors take on fun pirate-y names and emphasize their aaarrrggghhhs.

You may be surprised by your customer’s enthusiasm.

International Day of Peace – September 21

International Day of Peace is a lot more serious that TLAPD. It is observed around the world as a day to honor commitments to peace above all differences. In respect for this day, the best type of promotions would be to recognize it on social media and offer donations to world peace efforts.

International Coffee Day – October 1

This one’s easy! Provide lots of free coffee on the tour and promote it to the coffee lovers.

National Candy Day – November 4

If coffee isn’t a popular choice, surely candy will be! Find some unique or international candies (or just the popular stuff) and promote a day of bottomless candy on your tours.

There is some pretty interesting history behind candy and how it came to be what is it today, which can give you some talking points along the tour to make the candy promotion seem more relevant.

World Kindness Day – November 13

Like International Day of Peace, World Kindness Day is a day to respect and not exploit. It is a good opportunity to show your company’s commitment to doing good by your customers, and people everywhere. A portion of your proceeds that day (or week) could be donated to The World Kindness Movement. Or you can arm your staff with a bit of petty cash to go out and do some good in the community.

For example, put money in parking meters that have run out, open doors for people carrying bags, and leave a card behind with kind expressions on them such as “you are important”. If someone appears to be having a bad day, hand them a card. Get your staff to snap some pictures, of their random acts of kindness to share online.

National Cookie Day – December 4

There are a lot of let’s-celebrate-this-food national days. Bake a couple batches of homemade cookies or just buy the good ones from the store and offer limitless cookies on the tour. If your outdoor activity company’s quiet month is December, it’s a great way to get some cookie fans out and your sales up.

National Bacon Day – December 30

Sounds odd, but the odder you get, the more attention you can get. Celebrate National Bacon Day by offering a tour that supplies bacon throughout. They could be made into candies, wrapped about meat or vegetables, or just strips on a plate. Bacon fanatics will love it as it is a novel concept.