Incredible Journeys will attend this week’s Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers (Atas) conference, after joining the organisation to promote its B2B touring products to agents.
About 400 delegates – including more than 250 travel agents – will attend the two-day Atas Conference at the British Motor Museum near Warwick (November 1-2).
Incredible Journeys is part of the dnata Travel Group family of B2B brands and its membership of Atas comes as Sherwin Arends has joined the group’s B2B team as touring product and commercial manager.
Arends said: “Atas provides excellent opportunities for us to engage with stakeholders within the adventure and touring sector. Being an active member will allow us to collaborate with suppliers and to engage with agents who are passionate about touring.”
More: Dnata recruits touring product and commercial manager
The operator is seeing more enquiries from agents whose customers are requesting complex itineraries, he added.
“Our dedicated touring sales team has access to a wide range of suppliers and products, so we’re able to support those agents in making their customers’ dreams for an incredible journey – with Incredible Journeys – a reality,” said Arends.
“It’s clear that in a post-pandemic world, travellers want to truly immerse themselves in destinations by not only visiting key sites, but also going off the beaten track, meeting locals and travelling sustainably while supporting local businesses and communities.
“Our partners are committed to highlighting this so that they are providing travellers with memorable experiences – and when combined with the skill and expertise of our teams in building complex itineraries around those experiences, we believe there is immense potential.”
Being a member of Atas means the brand can showcase the “amazing” depth of product in the Incredible Journeys programme, he added.
“Touring is an exciting space which lends itself to a range of travel experiences,” said Arends.
“We’ve seen touring take massive strides in appealing to such a wide range of travellers and we are keen to showcase the diversity of experiences on offer.
“Incredible Journeys has a tour for every kind of customer and our expert sales team can match the right tour to the right customer.”
Itineraries include independent touring, escorted touring, small group journeys, self-drive trips, rail journeys and cruises.
From November, there will be a dedicated sales team that can combine multiple products on a tailormade basis, or combine multiple tours through third-party partners under the one booking, which provides financial protection.
Arends said the team has “exciting” marketing plans and will be developing more touring products in the coming months.
Support for agents includes a range of online tools and a marketing hub featuring brochures and a content library, plus incentives and a Farebank Rewards section.
“We’ll have various competitions and fam trip giveaways over the coming months so watch this space,” added Arends.
“We’re very excited to be exhibiting at the Atas Conference this year and we look forward to meeting agents at our Incredible Journeys stand.
“Incredible Journeys are here to support and develop agents’ business with this sector, and help grow the awareness across the independent agent community.
“We would love to tell agents more about our exciting plans at Incredible Journeys. We’re also giving away a few fantastic prizes and we can’t wait to meet you there.”