A fam trip, short for familiarization trip, is a travel trade marketing trip that a tourism board, hotel, tour operator or other supplier hosts for travel advisors, buyers or travel media. The guests try the destination or product firsthand, with the host paying some or all of the cost, so they can sell it or write about it with confidence.
You can meet the term in an invitation from a tourism board, hotel or cruise line. You can also meet it on the route of a group that stops at your tour, attraction or hotel. A fam trip is not a site inspection, which a planner books around one event, and it is not a trade show.
Key points
- A fam trip lets people who sell or write about travel try a product before they recommend it.
- The host shows its overall offer; a site inspection checks venues for one specific event.
- A small tour, attraction or hotel on the route can prepare as a stop, with a card for before and after the visit.
- After the visit, use the partner register to track inquiries traced to named guests. These show sales interest, not whether the visit covered its costs.
What is a fam trip?
A fam trip is a trip a host plans so that travel sellers and travel writers can experience a product before they recommend it. The host can be a tourism board, a hotel, a cruise line, a tour operator or another supplier. The guests are travel advisors, trade buyers or travel media.
“Fam” stands for familiarization. It has nothing to do with a family vacation.
Four nearby terms are easy to mix up with it:
- Site inspection: a visit a planner books around one specific event. A fam trip is driven by the host and shows the destination’s overall offer, as Converve’s guide separates a fam trip from a site visit.
- Trade show: buyers meet many suppliers in one hall. On a fam trip, the buyers travel to the product itself.
- Press trip: when travel media join a fam trip, the host pays but does not control what they write.
- Incentive travel: a trip given as a reward. A fam trip is a sales and marketing trip for the people who sell travel.
How a fam trip works in practice
From the host’s side, a fam trip has four parts:
- Goal and guests. The host decides what it wants the trade to sell and whom to invite.
- The route. The host builds a program of stops: hotels, tours, attractions, meals.
- The visit. Guests try each stop the way a traveler would.
- Follow-up. The host and each stop contact the guests afterward.
A small tour, attraction or hotel can be one stop on someone else’s route. The group may spend a morning with you, and the host owns everything else. The card below is for that stop.
The fam trip stop card
Before the visit
- Show the experience as it is sold. Run your normal product, not a special version. An advisor sells what they saw, so it has to match what their clients will get.
- Prepare the selling facts. Hand each guest a short sheet: how to book, the cancellation terms, your travel agent commission and the booking deadline. Our Travel Agency Specialist’s working method starts from a similar list: “Identify traveller preferences, party, dates, destinations, budget, accessibility, booking status, suppliers, cancellation terms, commission, agent role and deadline.” Answer the lines that concern your product.
- Agree hosting terms if media come. Settle who pays for what, in writing, before the day. Our Travel Tour Operator & DMC Specialist puts it plainly: “Familiarisation trips require hosting terms and editorial independence.”
After the visit
- Enter each guest in a partner register. Our Travel Trade Partnerships Manager sets the rule: “Maintain a CRM or partner register with contact owner, commitments, next step, issues and renewal date.” One line per guest:
| Line | What to write |
|---|---|
| Contact owner | the person on your team who follows up |
| Commitments | what you promised the guest, and what they said they would do |
| Next step | the next action and its date |
| Issues | questions you could not answer on the day |
| Renewal date | when you review the relationship |
- Count inquiries traced to a named guest. Set the counting window before the trip, not after it.
Converve’s guide measures a whole fam trip four ways: the share of qualified guests, supplier conversations per guest, inquiries traced to a named guest within a set window, and cost per inquiry. It adds that media impressions measure the journalist version of a trip. For a single stop, inquiries traced to named guests are a practical starting measure.
An illustrative example (not a real business)
A small whale-watching company is a stop on a tourism board’s fam trip for travel advisors. It runs its normal morning trip, not a special version, and its skipper hosts the group.
Each advisor leaves with a short sheet: how to book, the cancellation terms, the commission and the season dates. Afterward the owner adds each advisor to the partner register with a next step. Over the following weeks, the owner tracks the inquiries that name an advisor from the trip.
Why a fam trip matters for travel agencies and their suppliers
For an advisor, a fam trip turns a brochure into something seen and tried. That firsthand knowledge is what they bring to a client’s questions about the product.
For a supplier, the visit is a sales meeting with the people who will quote you. An advisor who leaves without your booking route, terms and commission has seen your product but cannot easily sell it.
Counting is the hard part. A full group at your stop feels like success, yet our Travel Trade Partnerships Manager warns that “a partner’s claimed reach is not proven bookings.” Inquiries tied to a named guest are evidence you can check.
For a trade-focused stop, track inquiries traced to named guests rather than attendance alone. For a media-focused stop, assess the resulting coverage while respecting editorial independence.
How to get started with a fam trip
- Ask the host for the program. Who is coming, when, and for how long at your stop.
- Fill in the stop card above before the day: the selling sheet, hosting terms and the counting window.
- Follow up with each guest on the date your register names.
How we help. The Travel Trade Partnerships Manager helps destinations, hotels, attractions and operators find, evaluate and manage commercial and promotional partners. For destinations, the Destination Marketing Expert can draft “a co-op partner toolkit, creator brief, event-led plan or FAM trip outline.”
The Travel Tour Operator & DMC Specialist creates partner briefs grounded in verified inventory. On the advisor side, the Travel Agency Specialist helps agencies advise travelers and manage suppliers. The Travel Trade B2B Newsletter Generator drafts a trade newsletter with a place for “Upcoming events or FAM trip details.”
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Frequently asked questions
What is a fam trip?
A fam trip, or familiarization trip, is a hosted trip for the people who sell or write about travel. A tourism board, hotel, cruise line, tour operator or other supplier invites travel advisors, trade buyers or travel media. The guests try the destination or product firsthand, so they can recommend it with confidence.
The host covers some or all of the cost. In return, it hopes for sales from advisors and buyers, or coverage from media that stays the writer’s own.
Are fam trips free, and who pays for them?
A fam trip can be free or discounted for its guests, because the host pays for some or all of it. The host is the tourism board, hotel, cruise line, tour operator or other supplier that runs the trip.
Read the invitation to see what is covered and what you would be asked to provide at your stop. When media come, paying for the trip does not buy control of what they write.
What is the difference between a fam trip and a site visit?
A site visit, also called a site inspection, is a visit a planner books around one specific event, to check that a venue or destination fits it. A fam trip is driven by the host and shows the destination’s overall offer to advisors, buyers or media.
Converve’s guide to fam trips separates the two this way. Put simply, the planner sets the agenda of a site visit, while the host sets the agenda of a fam trip.
How do buyers get invited on a fam trip?
The host decides who comes, so an invitation starts with the host. If you are an advisor, ask the tourism boards and suppliers you already sell whether they run fam trips. Tell them which clients you would sell their product to.
If you are the host, decide what makes a guest qualified before you send invitations. Converve’s guide counts the share of qualified guests among the measures of a fam trip, so the guest list shapes the result.
How long do fam trips usually last?
The host decides the length from the itinerary: one city or resort fits a short program, while a route across a region takes longer. The invitation gives the dates, so read it before you accept.
If you are a stop on the route, ask the host how long the group will spend with you. Then fit your normal experience into that time, rather than squeezing in a special version that clients cannot book.
Sources
- Converve, guide to fam trips, checked 2026-10-19.
