Istanbul Tourist Pass
The problem.
Pass sales were riding on aggregator and OTA traffic. Margin was bleeding out, and the brand had no direct relationship with its buyers.
The strategic insight.
Travellers don't buy a city pass from an ad about the pass. They buy it from the itinerary the pass unlocks.
The method.
Repositioned the pass around ready-made itineraries, rebuilt the direct-booking funnel, and shifted paid budget toward intent-mapped audiences instead of generic travel traffic.
Brand reset · Direct-booking funnel · Itinerary-led content engine.
- 01
Dependency diagnosis
Read the margin problem as a demand problem: with no reason to buy direct, travellers defaulted to the marketplace that already had their attention.
- 02
Itinerary positioning
Reframed the product from a list of attractions into ready-made itineraries, so the pass could be chosen for the trip it enables rather than compared on price.
- 03
Direct-booking funnel
Rebuilt the path from ad to confirmed pass: clearer pricing, fewer steps, and direct-only reasons to buy placed exactly where the decision happens.
- 04
Retention engine
Framed the pass as the start of a relationship with the city rather than a one-off ticket, giving repeat travellers a reason to bypass aggregators permanently.
The verified result.
- Direct bookings are the margin metric — each one avoids aggregator commission.
- Loyalty signups measure whether the shift compounds instead of resetting each season.
- The aggregator dependency drop is the structural outcome the itinerary-first positioning was aimed at.
The forward play.
Roll the itinerary engine into Dubai and Rome city passes.