Personalisation takes ‘touring’ into a whole new suite of customers, says Trafalgar chief executive Gavin Tollman
I was intrigued to read Abta’s recently released 2020 travel trends report and I was particularly pleased to see “touring getting the personalised treatment” highlighted as a key trend for the year ahead, especially with our Costsaver brand highlighted as a player that is going from strength to strength in this space.
Today at an accelerating pace, numerous forces are reshaping the business landscape, it is understood that our ability to sculpt the future is minimal. To be successful, one must adapt to these forces and leverage them to your advantage. Acting on emerging trends helps companies to capture market opportunities, test risks, and spur innovation.
The opportunity to make guided travel personal is something we have focused on extensively within The Travel Corporation and has been a guiding light for me within Trafalgar and Costsaver. Now, it is rewarding to see the industry identifying this as an opportunity. For me, the success of trend analysis hinges on the basic principle of “what you put in is what you get out”. It is therefore critical to ensure that our sector moves forward in line with consumer demand and by putting the customer first – there will be significant rewards for both agents and operators.
There are key two ways that I feel we’ve led the charge in this evolution towards making travel personal. The first has been a fundamental shift in our approach. We no longer take out “groups”, but rather like-minded travellers from around the world, always with a desire to bring their travel dreams to life the way they want and expect them to be. This is how we recruit and train our Travel Directors too. They are not just local experts or logistics co-ordinators – it is much more than this. They are friends, psychologists and even magicians sometimes and we ensure that our team treats each guest in this way.
Last year we took this one step further with the implementation of our MTP (My Travel Portal) software which has further enhanced our ability to personalise the guest experience. With guests using it to tell us in advance of their interests, dietary requirements, birthdays or other milestones and reasons for travelling, the Travel Director can make each guest feel special based on their needs and what they’re looking for out of the experience. But it’s key that this technology facilitates and strengthens, not replaces, the human touch at the point of delivery. From assisting with marriage proposals and celebrating anniversaries, to even seeking out the ancestral homes of our guests, we’ve honestly been able to make dreams come true, and your clients won’t ever forget it.
Secondarily was the launch of Costsaver in to Europe a number of years ago, which was a radical rethink of the sector, as it took the ‘building block’ approach to group travel, busting the myth that guided travel is regimented, or lacks flexibility. We put the experiences in the hands of the traveller with the focus on “Essentials by us, Tailored by you”. This opportunity to essentially create guided independent travel surpassed all our expectations, enjoying double digit growth year on year in the UK and globally, and we quickly expanded our programme in to North and South America and last year in to Asia. We’ve since seen other brands follow suit and I welcome the healthy competition as I think there is room for us all to thrive and grow in this space.
The potential of this important trend gives so much opportunity for agents because it takes ‘touring’ into a whole new suite of customers. It’s a model that works for someone that has perhaps been sceptical about a group holiday before, a challenge amplified by the overwhelming choice that consumers face today. It’s the perfect holiday choice for couples, friends, families or multi-generational combinations who want to travel together but enjoy different experiences in the same destinations, and it also works for solo travellers that would like some level of companionship on holiday, but also want to do their own thing.
Not only is the audience there, and growing, but it is such a quick and easy for the time-poor agent to close a sale, with confidence. The itineraries are carefully crafted, so agents don’t have to spend time preparing a tailor-making a package. And in this world where personalisation is king, guests can be assured there is still plenty of room to make their holiday their own.
So my advice to agents is to come with us on this journey to make travel personal, because the earning potential is huge.
Podcast: Trafalgar chief executive Gavin Tollman