Don’t mistake Entire Travel Group for rail rookies. As Entire Travel Group Managing Director Brad McDonnell puts it at the launch of the company’s new Rail Journeys, and twice for good measure, “we are not the new kids on the block”.
He’s talking about the company’s rail expertise and not the ‘80s boy band, of course. But McDonnell could be talking about the band too (apologies to NKOTB fans) because Entire Travel has some real pedigree when it comes to rail experience. And this has underpinned Entire’s new Rail Journeys and its shiny accompanying brochure, which was available this week.
Speaking to guests at the official launch of Entire’s Rail Journeys, McDonnell flagged the masterminds of the new train travel collection – the Entire team members Greg McCallum, Zoe Condon and Sana Malihi – who were once the “brains trust behind the original program at Rail Plus”, a high-profile train travel business that became integrated into Rail Europe in 2016.
McCallum, Entire’s Sales and Marketing Director, was one of the architects behind Rail Plus’ success, its sales manager for “about a decade”. So a move into rail was hardly a departure from Entire’s area of expertise.
“There are 15 to 20 years of experience sitting behind this program within Entire Travel Group,” McDonnell said at the launch event.
“So about a year ago, we were starting to trade well out of COVID; we were looking at different things in our business and we thought – we’ve got an opportunity here.
“Our Canada division was going really well, with Rocky Mountaineer and Via Rail… and Greg approached Sana, who was a mother looking for a little bit of work – and that’s pretty much what we needed to do this program.
“So Sana set about and developed this program. We’re really proud to launch it with you tonight.”
And quite the launch it was. McCallum says he’s “not sure a ‘rail specialist’ dinner of this nature has ever been run before”. If it had been done before, it’s hard to imagine it had been done this well.
Under the chandeliers of The Tea Room at Sydney’s QVB – an apt venue given the luxury rail journeys ETG now offer – Entire was joined by its launch partners Rocky Mountaineer, Via Rail, Belmond, Golden Eagle Luxury Trains and Switzerland Tourism, as well as over 100 travel advisors and other travel industry representatives.
McCallum says the key objective of the night was to showcase the rail experiences available to agents’ clients and how to book them. It achieved this, in elegant surroundings.
For more information on the Entire Travel Group’s Rail Journeys brochures, click here.
ETG staged its first-ever agent events this year.
