What is your yield

A recent news article on the yield in New Zealand tourism industry makes interesting reading.

Some of the key points are below:

New research scoring the tourism industry on its profitability has labelled it a cash cow with a lack of business savvy.

But the research, based on the return on investment from tourism businesses between 1999 and 2003, has shown a casual attitude to business profitability resulting in mixed yields across the sector.

The average yield for all New Zealand businesses surveyed was 5.7 per cent return on investment, and tourism businesses varied from earning a lot to losing money.

Typically the difference was in individual business practice, with many businesses simply not understanding more than visitor numbers and total revenue.

What is interesting is the wide range of yields and the fact that a lot of businesses do not know their financial yield on investment.

So how can you increase your yield.

First - know what your yield is so get a good accounting system and measure the investment you have made into the business.

Here is some ideas:

• Ensure your accommodation, tours, etc are full - this is where having a good online booking system helps.
  
• Have you set your price correctly?
  
• When did you last increase your price?
• Do you book onward tours/accommodation/rental cars - if you do then negotiate a commission with the operators.
• Have a good accounting system to make sure you have collected all money's owed.
• Track advertising effectiveness - if a method of advertising isn't working then discuss with the company you are advertising with. If they can't come up with some ideas then drop it.
• Ensure your site is Search Engine friendly

I would interested in your ideas for increasing your yield. So post your comments below.