Luxury tour operators under discussion

Luxury travel organizer with new ideas for distribution

09/14/2021 Author: CC editorial office Photos: CC editorial office Reading time: 3 Minutes

Participants on group trips will probably have to get used to being vaccinated or recovered. Tour operators such as Studiosus have announced their intention to adhere to the 2G rule. Others, such as G-Adventures, have also set up separate trips for vaccinated people only. But what about Famtrips? Will travel agency employees only be able to go on info trips if they have been vaccinated or have recovered? CC VIP spoke to Airtours, Dertour Deluxe and Windrose about their plans.
Compulsory vaccination is currently not an issue for the tour operators. "We are currently adhering to the respective country guidelines and regulations when traveling, which in most cases means the so-called 3G rule," reports Mike Lehmann, Director Dertour Deluxe. Airtours also wants to use the then applicable legal regulations as a basis when resuming the seminar travel program. "Whether our participants are vaccinated or not unfortunately has no effect on the planning of the Famtrip," explains Stephan Braun, Managing Director of Windrose Finest Travel. "In our high-class segment, we have to be able to assume that the project will be feasible for the high-priced travel elements." This planning certainty is currently lacking, but he hopes that "we will be able to launch a number of offers for expats to our exclusive destinations again in 2022."

Mike Lehmann

Windrose with Inspiration Magazine

To this end, Windrose maintains an even closer relationship with the travel agents than before, Braun continues: "Advice with the travel designers is provided individually and in direct exchange. We also offer support and training in the form of virtual customer evenings and, as far as possible during the pandemic, on-site information days, for example at FTI road shows or luxury trade fairs such as the Loop." He expects the release of the inspirational magazine "Finest Travel Magalog - Inspirations 2022" to provide an additional boost to bookings and inquiries for travel agency partners. The 76-page magazine will be sent to partners' customers free of charge.

Dertour Deluxe: Return of talk&dine

Dertour Deluxe is already planning live sales activities for 2022. "We are planning to launch the Travel Expert trip Deluxe in January/February and are still deciding on the destination, as well as a Campus LiveDeluxe trip and two to three smaller tours," explains Lehmann.

Travel agency employees can also look forward to the return of the Dertour Deluxe talk&dine events. Once the pandemic has eased further, these should take place at the end of 2021, or early 2022 at the latest, he confirms. The campus webinars for Dertour Deluxe are currently taking place almost weekly. E-learning and various LX podcasts are also being prepared. Dertour Deluxe also supports its sales partners with mail flyers, CRM e-mailings and, in the near future, window displays.

Airtours continues to focus on virtual dialogs

Airtours is not yet planning any specific famtrips. However, Director Steffen Boehnke promises that exciting seminar trips with selected luxury partners will once again be part of the sales promotion activities in the future. Until then, the tour operator will maintain contact with travel agencies through virtual dialogues with top sales partners. Boenke intends to maintain this format until the conditions for face-to-face meetings are possible again.