Titan Travel may be a giant in the UK, but in Australia, it’s still a relatively unknown player. The multi-award-winning escorted touring company however hopes to change that – and is confident that with the help of local partner Ascend Travel Group, it will succeed in its first venture outside of the UK market.
“Coming out of COVID, it felt like the right time for the Titan brand to go international,” Titan Travel chief commercial officer Andy Squirrell told Karryon in an interview in Sydney.
“So we were looking at where we should start – and Australia to us felt like the right destination.
“We know that there’s a great touring market already in existence. And we were very keen to work with travel agents – they are very strong partners in the UK, and we know that the travel agent community and environment are really strong in Australia. So it just felt like a really natural first place for us.”
The business is also willing to put in the hard yards, like it does creating its products. Working with its mantra, ’Adventure Made Effortless’, the company now offers more than 100 escorted tours of all shapes and sizes to some of the world’s most desirable destinations.
“We’re the largest UK escorted tour operator. And we built that up through trust, through supporting them [customers], listening to them [customers],” Squirrell said.
“And we’re pretty sure that if we apply those same things to the Australian travel agents, we’ll get the same reaction and they’re really going to love the product.”
Launching with five per cent additional commission will help, as will Titan’s first Aussie roadshow.
The long game
The Briton has also been visiting travel advisors around Australia to get a feel of the marketplace and how Titan can best work with the trade.
“What we’re really conscious of is … we’re a new brand to Australian travel agents, Australian customers. So I’m expecting it’s going to take a little bit of time,” he remarked.
“We know travel agents want to sell with companies that they trust. So we want to build that trust, but I think we’ve got some great partners signed up.
“So really, the next five years are all about growing that, listening to the trade a lot. You know, what can we do better? What products do we not have that you’d like to see us have? How can we make the booking process easier? What do we need to do with documentation? It’s all stuff that we’ll have to learn as we go, but you know, we’re all ears.”
Local expertise
Helping Titan Travel feel its way into the Aussie market is Ascend Travel Group, which is led by travel industry stalwarts Julie Primmer and Lynda Wallace.
“Coming into Australia, we really wanted to work with people who were experts and really understood the agent community, the agent environment,” Squirrell said.
“This is our first move into an international market. So we wanted to partner with some people that we could really trust. And speaking to Julie and Lynda, it became very clear that actually they love the products.”
And according to the Titan CCO, Ascend have already done “a brilliant job in introducing the brand to the market”.
“So we have, I think, approaching 2,000 agents going through the signup process at the moment, which is amazing,” Squirrell stated.
“So lots of agents already signed up. And we’ve had our first bookings already.”
The Titan difference
On the Titan Travel value proposition, Primmer said, the company’s itineraries are different to what exists in the marketplace.
“They’re not specialised, but very unique and region-specific,” she told Karryon.
“If you want to go to Puglia for a week, they’ve got a great trip; if you want to go out on little boats in Catalonia, you can do that. So they’re quite specific, in that regard – that’s quite different to some of the other tour operators in Australia.”
Wallace added that Titan presented its customers “who have travelled many, many times” with “something different”.
“Because it’s not often that you get new and exciting products coming into Australia.
“And I think too, the duration … there are a lot of seven-day trips, or they can do five days. In Africa, for example, they’ve got trips that you can literally just go in, stay in a lodge, and explore … and they’re really reasonably priced.”
And significantly, Titan will deal only with travel advisors in Australia.
“Being trade-only just gives the travel agents the opportunity to know that they’re not going to have to compete with an online website, and we’re going to support the trade to be able to sell the product from consultation right through to closing the sale,” Wallace said.
To register with Titan Travel, head to its dedicated agent webpage. To check out Titan’s 100+ itineraries, head here.
