Brands under The Travel Corporation umbrella are launching a groups week today (Monday) to inspire agents around the potential of the sector.
Touring brands Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Costsaver and Luxury Gold will share training videos, ideas, sample itineraries, and other trade support tools to help agents attract group bookings in a post-pandemic travel world.
The initiative follows the successful ATAS Virtual Touring and Adventure Week, during which keynote speaker and Trafalgar chief executive Gavin Tollman encouraged agents to pivot and turn the challenges of 2020 into opportunities for 2021 and beyond.
TTC’s family of brands sees an opportunity in groups of varying formats, be they a private bubble of 12 or more booking out an existing itinerary exclusively, or a bespoke trip geared towards a particular interest or passion.
The group’s experts will be helping outline tailor made itineraries at a time when many agents have limited resources to dynamically package trips themselves.
Tools will be available via a new on UK agent-facing website www.thetouringhub.com.
The brands have added a smaller group option of 16–28 travellers to its existing portfolio and have introducted a wellbeing director to their on-the-road team for the additional reassurance of guests and agents.
TTC’s special groups team has created bespoke itineraries across a range of interests and sectors including sport, health and wellbeing, military history and battlefields, art, food and wine, gardens, schools, religion, technical, cruise or incentives.
UK and Ireland business development director Rachel Coffey said: “We know that there is pent-up demand for consumers to travel with their extended family or friendship groups, having missed spending time with them this year.
“We also know that during this time, many people leaned in their interests even more, be that cooking, gardening, art, music, wellness and more.
“Our groups department has huge expertise in putting together bespoke itineraries across a variety of destinations and at varying price points, so we can really support agents to fulfil that growing desire for people to travel together in their interest groups.
“We’ll do the research and hard work in piecing it together so that agents just need to focus on closing the sale with their clients.
“We really want to be the solution to our valued trade partners in these difficult times, and our message is that anything is possible.”