Fam extravaganza
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Explore is giving agents the chance to win one of 30 places on three fam trips next year. Agents can win a place on the first of these by making a booking before December 15 and for every booking you make you will be entered into a draw.
Next year the company is introducing two programmes – Active and Discovery. The first offers more physical challenges, and the latter provides cultural, wilderness and wildlife adventure holidays.
Explore has also introduced Solo Traveller Tours after it found that more than 50% of its customers travel alone. explore.co.uk
Adventure goes mainstream
The Adventure Company hopes to help agents tap into the ever-expanding adventure market with the launch of its new agent-friendly brochure.
The small group adventure specialist has taken 30 of its most popular worldwide and family trips and developed a 60-page A4 brochure – called Thomson Adventures – that will be distributed to all Thomson and First Choice shops this month.
The trips are designed to capture the imagination of the first-time adventurer and cover popular destinations from Croatia and Egypt to Nepal and Peru. adventurecompany.co.uk
Brief encounters
Dragoman is continuing to challenge the misconception that it only offers epic, overland adventures by including more shorter trips in its 2011 programme.
There are new two-week trips including Music and Magic of Mali, and a Damascus to Cairo trip. Plus a new seven-day Rio Carnival Superior Package, a luxury version of its best-selling carnival package, which includes four-star accommodation, seats in the Sambadrome and the chance to take part in the parade.
Other new highlights include two trips in Brazil, a return to overlanding in Colombia and an overland trip along the Silk Road from Istanbul to Beijing. dragoman.co.uk
More snow on show
Exodus has launched its 2010-2012 Polar Expeditions Brochure, featuring itineraries to Antarctica, Spitsbergen and the Arctic Circle.
The 12-day Spitsbergen Explorer itinerary starts from £4,139 including flights, with departures in June and July, 2011. Passengers will see polar bears, walruses, Arctic foxes and huge colonies of seabirds during the 24 hours of daylight. exodus.co.uk
Far-flung adventures
Gap Adventures has developed new ‘Canada Goose’ snowy adventure itineraries for 2011, including destinations as far flung as Nunavut, Canada and Patagonia.
The trips take travellers to a range of destinations across Canada, Finland, Sweden and Argentina to spot polar bears, go on reindeer safaris, stay in igloos and ice hotels, and encounter the cultures of the far north and south. gapadventures.co.uk
African adventures
Tucan Travel has launched 40 new tours in East and southern Africa, with durations ranging from nine to 73 days. Highlights include the Great Migration, mountain gorillas, Namibia’s sand dunes, Zanzibar’s beaches and the Nile.
The new tours will operate from March 2011. Bookings made six months before departure will qualify for a 5% discount. Most departures are guaranteed, and tour prices include most park entry fees, transport and accommodation. There are no local payments on arrival and no compulsory single supplements. tucantravel.com
