TUNISIA specialist Wigmore Holidays has increased its commission rates for independent agents as part of its plans to boost its business through the trade.
The basic rate of commission has been stepped up from 10% to 12% with retailers achieving sales of £30,000 receiving 15%.
Launching its 2000 Aspects of Tunisia brochure, managing director Tijani Guetat predicted around 100 agents would be top earners by Christmas.
“Our business is split 50-50 between direct and trade but we want to increase the agent share to around 66%. They produce more steady business than direct.
“We also wanted to reward those who have supported us and give them better incentives to continue selling our product.”
The new structure will help boost passenger numbers from 3,500 to 5,000 in 2000, added Guetat.
New for 2000 is the resort of Bizerta, an hour to the north of Tunis airport, where the new four-star Bizerta Resort Hotel is featured.
Guetat said a new motorway being built between the airport and Bizerta will cut the transfer time by half.
“We would like to have included Bizerta before but it did not have hotels of a high enough standard,” he said.
Four nights’ half-board at the hotel costs from £349 per person.
Other new hotels in the programme are the four-star Royal Salem in Sousse and the four-star Tamerza Palace in the mountain oasis of Tamerza.
Pansea, a deluxe tented camp at Ksar Ghilane in the middle of the Tunisian Sahara, is also new – and is only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles – while a week-long archaeology tour previously only featured in a leaflet has been brought into the main brochure.
Meanwhile, Wigmore is considering launching programmes to Morocco and Dubai.
“Tunisia is a stable country but featuring only one destination is a 100% commercial risk,” said Guetat.
Wigmore has also become the latest operator to join the Association of Independent Tour Operators. Guetat said it was a perfect fit with the association.