Travel is the Ticket for ICT

You are reading this at work when you could be at the beach. What’s up with that? We’re not picking on you. It is just a fact that a lot of Americans, and especially Kansans, do not use all of their vacation time. Or travel much or far when they do. That’s not good for the soul, or for our local air carriers. They rely on — we all rely on — full flights to keep airlines here, and to attract more.

Bookings at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport are at a record high, but the airport still sells fewer tickets than like-sized communities. So, we ask again, what’s up with that? How can we get people around here to take vacation, book more flights, travel more?

Our idea: Show them what they are missing.

The Campaign

The “Travel is the Ticket” campaign, launched at the top of the summer vacation season, is meant to inspire us all to remember that it’s a big world, so live a little.

We deployed digital ads featuring photos with people enjoying beautiful destinations with simple, but profoundly true headlines like “Travel makes you richer” and “You can buy some happiness.”

The campaign landing page highlights the benefits of taking time away from work, exploring new places and meeting new people. Photos from the edge of the world and the depths of the oceans inspire wonder.

The page also offers tips on how to make vacation travel affordable. You should check those out, but here’s a quick tip: Check “Hot Fares” on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Finally, the page includes more than a dozen travel pieces from Eisenhower AIR about destinations that are fun, easy and affordable to get to from ICT.

Get Inspired to Get Going

We’ve sort of become local experts on the subject of travel and its benefits. We launched Eisenhower AIR, the airport’s digital magazine, in July 2016. Quarterly issues highlight national and international destinations you can reach flying out of ICT and reasons to make you want to book your trip right away. The quarterly issues showcase national and international destinations you can reach from ICT, and reasons why you should go.

That’s a good place to start when you’re planning your next get away. And, look, we’re only saying this because we care — you should be planning it right now.