When the Foreign Office gave the all clear for travellers to return to Lebanon, Explore wasted no time launching trips back to the fascinating country where the Middle East meets West.
While speaking to Explore’s Head of Sales, Ben Ittensohn during his trip Down Under last week, he told us that Explore initially added four Lebanon departures for 2019, which soon grew to nine due to customer demand.
Now they have added another 26 departures for 2020.
The 8 day Beirut to Beirut itinerary takes in the highlights of Lebanon; from exploring Phoenician and Roman history at Baalbek, learning about the country’s traditional wineries while walking through ancient cellars and eating fresh hummus with warm bread in the narrow streets of the souks.
“It’s an amazing itinerary and the food experiences are really incredible,” Ben said.
“We love showing our customers countries and cultures in ways that they have never experienced before.”
Explore’s Head of Sales, Ben Ittensohn
Ben said Explore’s “immersive small group experience” ethos is resonating with more and more travellers.
“We’ve seen a 19% increase in bookings since the start of the year,” he said. “It’s definitely growing segment.”
Ben said ultimately he had seen the most growth in walking, cycling and trekking tours.
“People want to get closer. They want a lot more immersion into local villages.”
As we reported on Monday, the UK company is increasing its presence in Australia.
Explore has a fiercely loyal customer base with 66% of people who travelled with them last year having already travelled with them before. One customer has even done 84 Explore trips.
“Once a customer takes their first Explore trip hopefully there is a long trail of commission there for everybody”.
Another perk for Agents is that if you want to take an Explore trip yourself you can get a 50% discount and a 30% discount for your travel companion.
- READ: CHATTING WITH EXPLORE: The UK travel company ramps up its presence in Australia
- READ: MOVERS & SHAKERS: Ben Ittensohn heads up Explore’s Sales & Customer Service