Seven ways to fill places on your school trip

So you’ve researched your options and your school trip has gone the green light – great! Now the next step is to persuade your students, and their parents, of its value. This is an important part of the school trip process because maximising take up can reduce the final price, especially for groups travelling coach.

Here are our top tips to launching your trip and getting students and parents on board.

1. Choose an itinerary to educate, excite and inspire

In our experience, the most successful tours offer a balance of educational content mixed with more fun excursions. There has been a lot of debate recently about parents’ attitudes to funding school trips which are considered ‘extravagant holidays’ which is why we always seek to ensure there is genuine educational benefits to our trips. Voyager’s specialist team will recommend a balanced range of educational and memorable visits for your tour.

2. Consider your dates

If budget is a big hurdle for you, be sure to take advantage of autumn/winter/spring deals so that you can offer the best value to your students and get the biggest uptake possible!  Not only do these periods provide more choice and better value, but there are also educational benefits to taking a trip in the Autumn and Spring terms which will last throughout the school year.

Some Year 7 teachers, for example, plan a trip in the Autumn term to encourage students to coalesce as a group and work better as a team. While others will organise a language immersion school trip in the Spring to build students’ confidence and interest in the subject before making their GCSE options.

Check out off-peak school trip deals

 3. Plan ahead

Try to organise your tour plenty of time in advance. This will give parents more time to summon money for the trip and give them the chance to pay in smaller installments. In addition, there will be more availability for accommodation and flights meaning that you will have more choice.

Most groups start planning at least a year in advance, but the more expensive tours can be booked over two years before departure!  A holding deposit will ensure your group’s space on the tour whilst enabling flexibility to add more students at a later date.

Tips on how to reduce the cost of a school trip

4. Avoid clashing with other trips

Work with other departments to avoid launching your trip at the same time as any other trips planned within your school. Competition can be fierce amongst school tours and friendship groups will tend to stick together, so try to advertise your tour before anyone else. Plan a trip earlier in the school year to make your residnetial stand out from competing tours.

5. Promote and advertise

Host an engaging presentation for both students and parents. Include exciting visuals, an itinerary breakdown, and a Q&A session to address concerns. Consider inviting a guest speaker such as a teacher or student who went on a previous trip to share their experiences. Read how we can help you promote your school trip.

6. Get parents involved

Ask for support from PTA groups, school newsletters, or parent WhatsApp groups to spread the word. Parents often look for enriching opportunities for their children, and these networks can help boost interest and registration.

To make sure that your tour has maximum exposure we can provide personalised school posters, parents leaflets and parent presentations in our teacher resources area to spark parents’ and students’ interest and get enough numbers to make the trip viable.

 

7. Don't fret if you don't get the numbers you hoped for

Too many or too few – don't despair. Some years demand outstrips supply and some years for whatever reason there is just not much interest in a tour that was oversubscribed the year before. Talk to us and we will always see what can be done so that you don’t disappoint any students. You can also combine with other subjects to open your pool of students and increase numbers – we can provide you with two carefully planned separate itineraries to work alongside each other to ensure both educational focuses are met and your students get the most out of your learning aims!

We're here to help you get your trip off the ground. For help launching your school trip, promotional materials, packing lists and travel guides, just get in touch.