Baby Boomers may want to combine a cruise with land tours, families may want the comfort of organised itineraries without a group touring environment and sporting teams may want to travel together but have no idea where to start.
These three kinds of travellers may sound vastly different in age, travel style and desires but they have on thing in common – they’re part of a growing collective in travel looking for tailormade product.
According to Wendy Wu Tours‘ Managing Director Australia & New Zealand, Andrew Mulholland, there’s huge interest in bespoke touring among Aussie travellers right now, which Travel Agents should be taking advantage of.
In a Q&A with KarryOn, Mulholland said travellers want more choice in their travels now more than ever before but don’t want the pressure of doing all the research.
Image: Austin Ban/Unsplash
That’s where Travel Agents and companies such as Wendy Wu Tours step in with their industry skills and destination expertise.
Mulholland said consultants offering bespoke itineraries are giving their clients the flexibility to choose everything from preferred departure dates, specific dietary or transport needs and even activities whether it be a hot air balloon ride over Bagan, renewing vows on Everest, a gluten free food tour in a specific country or travelling by Donkey on the Silk Road.
The only downside to a tailormade product for Travel Agents, according to the Managing Director, is the time it takes to compile.
“Feedback from agents is that they are timepoor, but the market for bespoke touring is growing.”
Andrew Mulholland, Wendy Wu Tours Managing Director Australia & New Zealand
Image: Riku Lu/Unsplash
It’s for this reason Mulholland says the tour operator recently decided to renew its focus on tailormade travel and take a large portion of the work away from Agents.
“We wanted to support our Agents and meet that demand with a superior product,” he explained.
“Hence, we’ve invested heavily into staff training, additional team members and incentives to ensure a far superior tailormade product that we’re proud to shout about.”
Click here to read about Wendy Wu Tours’ renewed focus on bespoke touring.
Mulholland continued, saying that there’s high demand for tailormade itineraries across all countries, but particularly in India and China as well as Japan where language can often be a barrier.