Roger Hawke knows how to tap into his company’s mature customer base in Cornwall – by offering convenient holidays from their doorstep.
Newell’s Travel provides cruises out of Falmouth and flight packages from Newquay as a result of its relationships with suppliers that offer holidays from the region.
But the 11-branch travel agency also has its own coach operation, Truronian Coach Holidays, offering home pick-ups for clients going on UK and European touring holidays, which include escorted breaks.
And more recently, the agency has begun to capitalise on the popularity of escorted touring by tapping into another form of transport – rail.
Despite the enduring popularity of coach tours, Hawke is seeing growth in escorted rail tours as it offers another convenient, hassle-free way to travel, and allows customers an easy holiday to see lots of different destinations in one go.
Roger, who has worked in the travel industry since the age of 16, says: “A lot of our coach tours include a rail journey and we recognised that these were always very popular so we knew our customers would be interested in escorted rail holidays, such as Great Rail Journeys. It’s been a natural progression for us to sell escorted tours and our bookings are going from strength to strength.”
The escorted tour also fits well with Newell’s Travel client base of mature customers who already enjoy coach and cruise holidays, he adds.
So what is it about the escorted touring holiday that clients love?
According to Roger, not a lot beats the convenience and trouble-free elements of an escorted tour for many of his company’s customers.
He says: “Although we do still sell a lot of air holidays and people will travel the 300 miles to fly out of Gatwick, equally, there a lot of
people who want to have their hand held, want a guide and want to
enjoy a stress-free holiday by going on an escorted tour. The numbers
will only increase.”
Part of the attraction of rail touring holidays is the whole experience of train travel, he adds.
“People want an experience and a train journey provides this. Not everyone wants to lounge on the beach, so a holiday where they are taken from place to place is ideal,” he says.