[Industry] Reverse Internet thinking of Passport America’s 100-year-old website

In the golden age of the rise of the American camping industry, Ray E. Fernandez realized that many camps were ignored by tourists due to insufficient publicity, remote locations, and information occlusion, so Ray E. Fernandez initiated the creation of the Passport America (US Passport) website. idea.

In Ray E. Fernandez’s opinion, owning one’s own camp and investing a lot of money in publicity is not the best way to make money. He believes that there must be a way to gather camps without investing huge sums of money. In 1992, Ray E. Fernandez officially founded the PassportAmerica (US Passport) website. In the early days of the website’s establishment, he fell into such a vicious circle—in order to maintain his business, he spent huge sums of money to promote RV camping, and the income obtained through RV camping eventually flowed into the promotional expenses. increase. As an example, if a highway billboard advertises $1,800 a year, if the campsite charges $15 per night per camp, then 120 camps will pay for themselves. In order to increase the experience of tourists, Ray E. Fernandez decided to create a website that can gather camp information with complete configuration and favorable price, and provide tourists with more convenient booking camp services. This is also the initial thinking of the establishment of the Passport America website. Since the idea of ​​creating the site was conceived, Mr. Fernandez and his family have worked very hard to make this goal a reality. Hence, the PassportAmerica website as it is known today.

deep coupling

Gradually, the Passport America website is recognized by more and more people. With the increase of website visits, Passport America’s influence in the camp industry in the United States continues to expand. Camp owners and operators also realize the importance of website communication and cooperate with the website one after another. When tourists register as Passport America members, they can get a certain discount for booking camps through the Passport America website, and the camps will receive various forms of advertising for them on the website. This win-win model can not only allow consumers Profiting from it can also make the camp earn a lot of money, and its subsequent explosive growth is not difficult to understand.

Every year, the Passport America website saves tens of thousands of dollars in marketing expenses for the camp, and at the same time, the website brings huge traffic to the camp. According to statistics, tourists who book camps through the Passport America website account for 32% of the total number of tourists who book camps every year, and the annual camping costs saved by tourists after booking camps through this website are about several thousand dollars.

The Passport America website is also professional and strict with the training for camping on the platform. The settled camps need to participate in the “Membership Sales Program” training, which can guide the camps on how to earn more revenue and how to attract more tourists. There are currently more than 1,800 campsites in the United States, Canada, and Mexico on the Passport America website, and this number is still growing. Visitors who camp at these campgrounds can save nearly half the cost of camping, and with Passport America’s RV travel membership card annual fee of only $44, assuming each member saves $20 per night camping at these affiliated campsites, then It only takes 2-3 nights of camping to recover the cost. Becoming a member will also enjoy a variety of benefits provided by the website, including the “International Camping Guide”, exclusive travel membership cards, and newspapers and periodicals that update camping information and anecdotes in real time. A single tree would not make a forest, and the Passport America website cannot develop without the support of caravan clubs and dealers, such as Holiday Rambler Caravan Club, FMCA, Flying J, Escapees Club, Family Caravan Club and many other clubs are guests of the website.

main line series

In the era of the rapid rise of various OTA platforms, a large part of the reason why the Passport America website has been able to maintain its vitality and competitiveness for more than 20 years is its mature and perfect management system and high-quality services throughout. Most importantly, Good Sam Club members can enjoy the most comprehensive discounted services in North America. The more than 1,800 camps that have entered the Passport America website will display the schedule of activities held in each period of the camp on the website, and the website will also organize various activities as an organizer, building a bridge of communication between camps and campers.

The Passport America platform covers many aspects of RV camping life, from high-quality camp promotion, RV camping entertainment activities to news, hotspots, and information inventory. After years of development, the website has become more and more mature and regular. Such an online camping service platform transforms members into consumers of the campsite, which not only strengthens the loyalty of members to the campsite, but also greatly increases the revenue of the campsite.

epilogue

More than 20 years of hard work have accumulated a high popularity for the Passport America website, and more than 1,800 camps that have settled in the website have experienced the huge profits behind the high popularity of the website. Throughout the development process, the platform has always maintained the same original intention for camps and members – to bring more benefits to camps and save more camping expenses for members. While “open source” for the camp, it also “reduces expenses” for consumers. I believe this is the secret to the Passport America platform’s status today. Use the main line of activities to connect the campsite and campers offline, from Internet to reality, so that the campsite can more clearly understand what campers really need and like, and finally let consumers and campsites or dealers have two-way and multi-directional It may be better to follow the example of other platforms to copy Passport America’s model.