STRONG sales have prompted Italian specialist Citalia to expand its programme for 2000 with the addition of new hotels, destinations and tour itineraries.
Despite a dip in sales during the Kosovo crisis, the operator has seen bookings increase by as much as 50 % in some areas. Head of sales and marketing Alyson Playford puts the strong performance down to a new sales strategy which resulted in 22 new commercial agreements with travel agencies bringing the total to 42.
“We took a lot of time to look at which agencies do business and which were the weak areas. As a result we focused particularly on mid-range miniples and spent a huge amount of time sitting down with them. It really paid off,” said Playford.
Escorted tours have seen the most impressive growth, up by 49% on last year, prompting the operator to add three new itineraries to the programme starting at £925 for eight days on the Opera and Lake Garda Tour. An Italian Lakes Tour and the Rome and Sorrento Tour are also new.
Hotel capacity has been increased in the most popular areas of Amalfi, Sardinia, Lake Lugano and Tuscany while Puglia, located in the ‘heel’ of Italy, has been introduced to cater for clients after destinations off-the-beaten track. A section featuring Roman and Tuscan beaches is also aimed at those after typically Italian beach holiday and is marked with an ‘Italianissimo’ sign, a new feature in the redesigned brochure which denotes destinations renowned for their gastronomy or offering old-fashioned Latin hospitality. Roman and Tuscan Beach holidays start at £639 for seven nights at the three-star Auora. All prices in the section include car hire.