Andrew Tait moves to luxury Antarctica operator White Desert

White Desert has appointed Andrew Tait as UK and Europe sales manager in a bid to boost its trade sales.

Tait, who joins from Aurora Expeditions where he was senior business development manager, has already started in the role and spent two weeks in Cape Town to learn about the luxury Antarctica company’s operations.

White Desert was set up in 2005 and offers luxury camps in the deep interior of Antarctica, which need to be fully set up and packed down and shipped back to South Africa every season.

 “The UK is a focus currently for the company,” Tait told Travel Weekly.

“The company knows that there is so much more that can come out of the UK market, and they see it as pivotal to grow within the company.”

He added: “Me coming on board is to raise awareness of the product, connect with key partners in expedition and luxury travel and to help grow more bookings and get more British clients travelling to deep field Antarctica with us.”

Tait said the US is White Desert’s largest market “by far”, followed by the UK and he wants to “close the gap” through strengthening ties with the trade.

He added: “Our price point is looking at high net-worth or ultra high net-worth clientele, so there is a push on luxury, but so much is about pulling in true and modern adventurers as well to see that there is great value in our products as well.”

Tait said he saw polar and expedition styles of travel as “a big trend that is not going away”, and something that would be added “on regular rotation” for clients wanting bucket list experiences and big trips, in the same way as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and safaris are for clients.

While he saw White Desert sitting in a “traditional luxury” with the likes of concierge service and an “anything can be done” mentality, he stressed that he was “happy to speak to anybody in the UK trade” about the proposition.