In a recent episode of the Balancing Tourism Podcast, Low Season Traveller’s founder Ged Brown sat down with marketing strategist Emma Valahu for a conversation that cut straight to the heart of one of tourism’s biggest blind spots: what happens before a traveller books.

For an industry obsessed with arrivals, bookings and bed nights, Emma’s perspective is a refreshing jolt. She argues that the most overlooked, undervalued and commercially powerful part of the travel experience is the long stretch of anticipation, research and decision‑making that precedes a trip. She calls it the pre‑journey journey — and it’s where most travel brands are currently losing 99 per cent of their potential customers.

What followed was a conversation that every DMO, tour operator, hotelier and travel founder should hear.

The Pre‑Journey Journey: Where the Real Magic Begins

Emma’s central idea is simple but transformative: the travel experience doesn’t begin at the airport. It begins the moment someone starts imagining a place.

“The thought process and preparation start way before they get on the plane,” she explained. “And that phase is part of the joy. It’s where excitement builds — but it’s also where people need help cutting through the noise.”

Ged agreed immediately. Like many travellers, he finds the research phase intoxicating — the culture, the stories, the logistics, the dreaming. Yet most travel brands treat this period as an afterthought.

This is where Emma’s work sits: helping experiential travel companies guide travellers through that early stage with clarity, trust and genuine value.

Why 99% of Website Visitors Disappear

One of Emma’s most striking claims is that almost all website visitors vanish without a trace. Not because the product is wrong — but because the website experience is indistinguishable from everyone else’s.

“If you look at ten safari websites,” she said, “they all look more or less the same. Slow‑motion videos, black‑and‑white hero images, lists of camps and itineraries. Eventually they blur into each other.”

The problem isn’t just aesthetic. It’s strategic.

Travel founders often tell her, “Our website is just a brochure — we don’t rely on it for bookings.”

But as Emma points out, that mindset is precisely why the website fails to convert.

If a site is treated as a static brochure, it will perform like one: passive, forgettable, and unable to capture the people who are already showing interest.

The Myth of “More Traffic”

A common misconception in tourism marketing is that low bookings mean a lack of traffic. Emma argues the opposite.

“You don’t have a traffic problem,” she said. “You have a capture problem.”

If 99 per cent of visitors leave without engaging, then doubling traffic simply doubles the number of people who disappear. The real opportunity lies in converting the visitors you already have — turning anonymous browsers into warm, nurtured leads.

This is where Emma’s email‑based nurturing systems come in.

From Passive Browsers to Active, Engaged Travellers

Emma helps travel brands build what she calls “lead magnets on steroids” — not the tired PDFs or generic checklists that sit forgotten in downloads folders, but short, educational email journeys that genuinely help travellers prepare.

Typically delivered over five days, these sequences:

• answer real questions
• address objections
• build trust
• deepen anticipation
• and position the brand as a knowledgeable, human guide

“Nobody else is helping them in this way,” Emma said. “So you become the company they remember — the one they feel connected to.”

Once that connection is made, the likelihood of booking increases dramatically.

Seasonality: A Missed Opportunity for Deep‑Travel Audiences

For destinations and operators wrestling with seasonality, Emma’s approach is particularly powerful.

Low‑season travellers tend to be more curious, more intentional and more culturally motivated. They want to understand a place more deeply. They enjoy the preparation phase.

This makes them ideal candidates for a nurturing‑based approach.

A well‑crafted pre‑journey sequence can:

• explain what makes the low season special
• address misconceptions (“everything’s closed”, “the weather’s terrible”)
• highlight rituals, nature, tranquillity and local life
• help travellers prepare meaningfully
• and build confidence in choosing a non‑peak period

In other words, it turns seasonality from a challenge into a strategic advantage.

Social Media: The Industry’s Other Blind Spot

Emma also sees major missed opportunities in how travel brands use social media.

Most accounts simply replicate their websites: glossy images, trip announcements, and a relentless stream of “book now” posts.

“People don’t need more choice,” she said. “They need deeper reasons to travel with you.”

She argues that social media should be used to:

• show the humans behind the brand
• share traveller stories
• reveal behind‑the‑scenes moments
• articulate values and ethos
• build community, not just visibility

And she believes LinkedIn — the world’s largest social platform — is dramatically underused by the travel industry.

“Billions of people are on LinkedIn,” she noted. “They all travel. But travel brands barely show up there.”

For companies willing to be early movers, the opportunity is enormous.

Transforming a Website from Brochure to Engine

Emma’s advice for travel brands is refreshingly practical.

You don’t need to redesign your entire site. You don’t need to remove the hero image. You don’t need to overhaul your brand.

You simply need to add one thing: a compelling offer of help.

Not “Sign up for our newsletter”.

Not “Get 20% off your first booking”.

But something that solves a real problem or answers a real question.

For example:

• “The five mistakes travellers make when planning a safari — and how to avoid them.”
• “Your essential guide to travelling in Iceland in winter.”
• “How to choose the right trekking route for your fitness level.”

Placed prominently — not buried in the footer — this becomes the gateway to a deeper relationship.

From there, the nurturing begins.

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

When travel brands drive people to a dedicated landing page offering this kind of value, opt‑in rates can reach:

• 20–30% as standard
• 40–50% when the offer is exceptional

Compare that to the 1–5% typical of generic newsletter boxes, and the difference is staggering.

This is how you build an owned audience — one that is warm, engaged and aligned with your ethos.

A Call for Courage — and Humanity

Throughout the conversation, a theme kept resurfacing: the courage to be different.

Travel brands often fear standing out. They fear being too personal, too opinionated, too human. But sameness is the real risk. Sameness is what makes travellers forget you.

As Emma put it:

“I would far rather book with a company I feel I’ve got to know — one that shows its values, its personality, its humanity — than one that just lists trips like a brochure.”

In a world drowning in choice, differentiation isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity.

The Future Belongs to the Brands Who Guide, Not Just Sell

The travel industry has spent decades perfecting the art of showcasing destinations. But the future belongs to the brands who guide travellers through the messy, emotional, exciting process of choosing.

The ones who help people prepare.

The ones who build trust long before the booking.

The ones who understand that the journey begins months before the plane takes off.

Emma Valahu’s message is clear:

If you want more bookings, don’t chase more traffic.

Capture the people already knocking on your door — and walk with them on the journey before the journey

See Emma Live at the Tourism Seasonality Summit

For those who want to go deeper into this thinking — and understand how to apply it inside their own organisation — Emma Valahu will be delivering a keynote on the pre‑journey journey at the Tourism Seasonality Summit, taking place 17–18 May in Rimini.

She’ll be unpacking the full methodology, sharing real‑world examples, and showing tourism leaders how to turn seasonality into a strategic advantage by nurturing the right travellers long before they book.

There are early booking offers currently available, making this an ideal moment for destinations, DMOs and travel brands to secure their place. Find out more and book your place here.

If the industry is serious about building resilience, reducing reliance on peak seasons and attracting deeper, more intentional travellers, this is a conversation not to miss.