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“Don’t try and do Australia in one go. Look at a client’s interests and build an itinerary around that” Sally Cope, Regional General Manager, Tourism Australia When Australia closed its borders in March 2020 we decided to keep shining a light on the destination. We’ve been busy creating new video assets and engaging with agents through training, to try to keep the destination alive and get clients planning their big trip to Australia next year, when the country will reopen. In the next few months we will be launching a new platform for our Aussie Specialist programme, complete with
dynamic information, new training modules and new stories to share. We have now opened up a travel corridor with New Zealand and I think that’s going to be the way forward with other countries.
Australia’s classic trips My advice to a first-time visitor would be “don’t do it all at once”. Australia is a vast country so look at a client’s interests and build an itinerary around those. The classic itinerary usually starts in Sydney or Melbourne before heading into the outback to see Uluru and touching on some of Australia’s indigenous culture.
Then head up to Queensland to experience some of our wildlife by hiking in the Daintree forest or diving the Great Barrier Reef. Repeat travellers will usually explore deeper into the country in search of our wine regions, which are often not too far from the gateway cities. Hiking in Tasmania is also popular for repeat visitors, while others traverse the country by rail and do Perth to the East Coast on the Indian Pacific. The pandemic has made us really aware of the value of travel and we’re finding that people are looking to taking longer and more meaningful trips. tourism.australia.com
“We’re seeing a trend for upgrading and booking multi-centre trips” Simon Garrido, Head of Trade Partnerships, Sovereign Luxury Travel After the first green list announcement we saw a big spike in bookings to Portugal, including Madeira. The ending of the travel ban also seemed to instill some confidence in clients booking our Greek and Spanish destinations. We’ve been a luxury tour operator for nearly 50 years and we continue to cater to the higher-end market. Customers seem to have more disposable income to splash out on a luxury holiday but
there’s still some hesitation because of the uncertainty. We’re seeing a trend in people upgrading their stay. For example, many will decide to have a pool villa or pool suite instead of a standard room in a resort.
The perfect itinerary Perhaps people are realising they may have to spend a bit more time around the hotel so they’re making sure they are going to be comfortable. They are also booking longer stays, which could suggest many clients are taking testing into consideration. We’ve noticed that trips are being extended into a multi-centre stay, such as a
city break in Italy twinned with time on the Almalfi coast. We have introduced new destinations, like the Far East and the Indian Ocean. We added Grenada in the Caribbean and are trying to update our portfolio with destinations that may be opening up, whilst still making sure they fit with our brand principles. From day one of the pandemic we’ve kept the communication going with our agent partners. We continue to post offers and incentives on our Travelopia Facebook groups and will keep rewarding our partners for booking with us. sovereign.com
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