Jeri Clausing
Responding to post-pandemic demand for what it calls risk-free travel products, the Travel Corporation is making it easier for advisors to tap into and sell the many and often exclusive experiences developed by its global network of destination management companies (DMC).
While better known for its guided travel brands, which include Luxury Gold, Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises and Evan Evans Tours, the Travel Corporation also owns a dozen DMCs that operate as ground handler for its brands.
And this week, the Travel Corporation unveiled a white label product to help advisors customize and sell products from those ground operators under their own brand.
Jeri Clausing
ALG Vacations executives have just two words for those considering summer trips to the Caribbean: book soon.
With demand for travel surging, airfares rising and some cruise lines repositioning from U.S. ports to the Caribbean, ALG Vacations president Ray Snisky and executive vice president Jacqueline Marks say inventory could get tight, fast. International airfares are starting to get really high, and they re going up, Marks said during an interview at ALG Vacation s recent 500 Club Silver reward trip in Punta Cana. And it s not like they re going up $20, $30 at a time. They re going up $50 to $100 at a time. And they rise so fast.
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Alex Zozaya, executive chairman of Apple Leisure Group, being interviewed at the WTTC s Global Summit in Cancun. Photo Credit: Arnie Weissmann
A few weeks before ALG Vacations first big in-person meeting, I got an email asking me what color lanyard I d like.
Green meant good with hugs and pre-Covid practices. Yellow meant OK with talking but not touching. And red meant totally keep your distance, or to put it more bluntly: back off.
At the World Travel & Tourism Council s (WTTC) Global Summit, a larger, mostly indoor event held just a few days ahead of ALG s meeting, much more formal protocols were in place, including mandatory rapid testing on arrival, regular temperature checks and a daily health questionnaire.
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ALG Vacations recently held its first in-person, post-pandemic reward trip meeting for advisors, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where president Ray Snisky said bookings have surged 30% or more over 2019 levels in recent weeks. Senior editor Jeri Clausing sat down with Snisky during the 500 Club Silver trip to talk about the uptick in travel and the challenges still ahead.
Ray Snisky
Q: It sounds like demand for travel is really picking up.
A: Dramatically. I d say really in the last eight weeks. It has been an incredible display of pent-up demand, consumer confidence. Vaccinations have built a lot of confidence. At this point, what we are seeing is people in destination . who are seeing and experiencing how spectacular and specific and precise the protocols have been. I think that is one of the greatest testimonials.
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School supplies and other necessities donated by advisors on ALG Vacations 500 Club Silver reward trip are loaded for delivery to 2nd Mile Missions in Punta Cana. Photo Credit: Jeri Clausing
Jeri Clausing
One of the silver linings of crises past and present has been the boost they give to the travel industry’s social give-back programs.
And while such efforts have become largely mainstream across luxury and upscale travel companies, it’s always eye-opening to see what a huge impact even the smallest of donations can make for local charities in impoverished and developing countries.
I was reminded of that last week in Punta Cana, where during ALG Vacations’ first advisor reward trip since the start of the pandemic, executives Jacqueline Marks and Scott Wiseman delivered a hefty load of school supplies and other necessities from the advisors to 2nd Mile Missions.