COSMOS’ recently- appointed general manager USA and Canada, Graham Mumford, is to spearhead new product development for the company’s escorted coach-touring programme.
Mumford, who joined the company at the beginning of last month from The American Dream group, will also be responsible for introducing more bolt-on options to escorted itineraries.
Cosmos Coach Tours managing director Paul Jolliffe said: “We wanted to strengthen our product management and Graham brings experience and knowledge of North America to the Cosmos programme.
“We will still concentrate on our core escorted touring business, but more than 40% of our clients are now booking tailor-made options either before or after their tour. These include such add-ons as city and resort stays, rail excursions and cruises.”
Jolliffe added that the range of tours in the brochure had more than doubled in the last five years to around 40 for 1999, partly due to demand from repeat clients. Examples of the six added this year include an Old South tour, the US Rockies, and California twinned with Hawaii.
The new Rockies escorted itinerary includes a day-long Zephyr Train journey from Denver to Salt Lake City in Utah. The 17-day flight-inclusive package costs from ú1,395 and offers add-on options of three nights in San Francisco, from ú189, or three in Las Vegas from ú115.
An increase in the number of daily tour departures in the May-September peak period also means that some tours can be combined and more bolt-ons offered.
Jolliffe said: “The marketplace is getting more competitive and to maintain our market leadership we have to become more modular in our approach.
“However, we will never discount our brochure prices, and agents need to ensure that their clients are aware of exactly what they are getting in their itineraries. It is disappointing to see that some operators are stripping out essential ingredients of a tour simply to compete on price.”
He said the average Cosmos booking was ú1,200, and up to 17 different elements could be featured in one 10-day tour.