When it came to portraying the US as the ultimate
cross-country touring destination, it took an Englishman to provide
the template so many others would follow.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic, North By Northwest
– which ties trains, planes and automobiles into an audacious
romantic thriller – is the film the US department of commerce
should have chosen for its recent movie-themed ad campaign. The
tagline said it all: ‘the Master of Suspense presents a
3000-mile chase across America!’ Who could resist trying to
follow in the hero’s footsteps?
It’s a tempting proposition but it can be difficult to
know where to start – this is where being a good travel agent
comes in. In any Hitchcock movie, the drama stems from the thrill
of the chase. In North by Northwest, much of the action is played
out on the rails – from the moment Cary Grant and Eva Marie
Saint meet in a sleeper carriage, to the ‘subtle’
closing shot of a train entering a tunnel.
Your clients may be more used to flydrives, or escorted coach
tours, but it is still possible for travellers to recreate the
glamour of 1950s America by booking long distance rail travel on
the US passenger network, Amtrak.
Amtrak’s general sales agent in the UK is the
Staffordshire-based Travel Bureau, which offers agents commission
of between 8%-12.5.%. These days, Cary Grant’s frantic
journey from New York to Chicago would cost £170. That buys a
roomette with bunk beds, or your client could just opt for a seat
for £79. With a journey time of 18 hours though, upgrading to
a full bedroom for £342 might be preferable – and
certainly more suited to a romantic break.
Rail travel doesn’t have to be expensive – the
Travel Bureau recommends Amtrak’s £220, 30-day rail pass
for those on a budget. On the whole though, touring is a
premium-priced product and a good source of commission for
agents.
Coaching tends to dominate the tour operator market. As Cosmos
Tourama sales director Peter Traynor explained: “Rail travel
in the US isn’t particularly passenger oriented –
freight takes priority so it’s hard to structure dedicated
rail tours. It’s not like Canada with VIA Rail or Rocky
Mountaineer.”
One exception is the American Orient Express, a privately owned
rail company featuring tours such as the Pacific Coast Explorer,
from Seattle to Los Angeles and the Antebellum South, from New
Orleans to Washington DC. Agents receive 10% commission on all
bookings (see sample product box right).
Cosmos Tourama’s average selling price for a US package is
£1,400 – this includes flights, accommodation, the
services of a tour director and most meals. Traynor pointed out the
key benefit of touring breaks is that they are immune to the threat
of potential clients packaging it themselves.
“You can’t lose selling an escorted tour. There are
so many elements clients can’t package themselves any
cheaper,” he added.
Thomson and Jetsave head of North America, Alberto Boeri, agreed
touring breaks can benefit an agent’s bottom line, and also
stressed perceptions are changing – coach tours are no longer
just the domain of the grey market.
“It’s not a cheap holiday, so it may not attract the
20-something market, but you do see 40-plus customers moving from
self-drives to escorted tours,” he said.
“Often people try it for a few days, enjoy it and book for
longer next time.”
The key selling point of an escorted tour over independent
travel is that it ties in a certain number of icons and attractions
and, unlike a flydrive, requires no effort on behalf of the
passenger.
Operators agreed the Canyonlands of the west continue to draw
strong visitor numbers, but New England also holds its own,
particularly in the autumn for fall foliage tours.
“It’s the icons that keep people coming back,”
said Traynor.
“The Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood,
Niagara – about 75% of the tours in any programme will
feature one or more of these.”
Traynor added 20th century attractions are also growing in
stature, and helping to attract a younger clientele – the
over-30s instead of over-60s. Popular culture is a strong draw
– last year the Elvis and the Southern Sounds tour was one of
Cosmos Tourama’s best sellers.
If music is the current craze, operators would also do well to
consider movies as a source of inspiration.
No-one showcased icons quite like Hitchcock. Take North by
Northwest – it raced between New York and South Dakota, via
the prairies of Illinois, to a climax on top of the
presidents’ faces carved into Mount Rushmore. If anybody
wanted to theme a tour around that, be grateful the title was
changed at the last minute – it was nearly called The Man in
Lincoln’s Nose. Try putting that in your brochure.
