NEWS AT THE TRAVEL CONVENTION


Scenic is new to Travel 2’s range


Gold Medal and Travel 2 to host mega-fam to USA


Gold Medal and Travel 2 will host their first joint mega-fam to the US next year. The trip will see 36 agents split into four groups that will explore California, Massachusetts, New York, Tennessee and Georgia. The agents will be reunited in Orlando on the final few days of the trip for a conference at which they will share their experiences. The trade-only operators, part of the dnata B2B UK group, have partnered with Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines to host the fam. Agents who book the most


Travel 2 targets peak sales with bigger cruise portfolio


Phil Davies phil.davies@travelweekly.co.uk


Travel 2 is expanding its cruise programme with a dedicated brochure to be distributed to agents ahead of the January peak selling period.


The company’s Cruise Plus


brand will include more cruise lines and the addition of ocean and river sailings in Europe, the Mediterranean and Scandinavia. Additional staff are being taken on and new dynamic packaging technology is being introduced to enable agents to create tailor-made holidays that include a cruise element. Travel 2 has been packaging


cruise for two years to long-haul destinations and now sees an


“We hope to convert agents who may have found cruise a little bit daunting to sell”


opportunity to enhance its offering in response to feedback from agents, according to sales and marketing director Gordon McCreadie. Cruise currently accounts for about £15 million in sales and is projected to grow by 25% by the end of 2017. Sixteen ocean cruise lines will


feature in the new brochure, including Crystal Cruises and Oceania for the first time, while Emerald, Scenic and Crystal have been added to the rivers portfolio. The 200-page brochure is to be


6 travelweekly.co.uk Travel Convention 2016


issued on December 16, supported by agent training and improved technology to have agents ready to sell at the start of the new year. The release of the brochure


will be preceded by a fam trip for 20 agents this month (October) to Asia in conjunction with Royal Caribbean International. The buying power of Travel 2


owner dnata would enable prices in the Cruise Plus programme to be as competitive or more so than rivals, McCreadie claimed. “We will enable agents to


dynamically package cruise along with low-cost carriers in Europe, with cover from our Atol,” he said. “We hope to convert agents


who may have found cruise a little bit daunting to sell. We will deliver packages as simply and straightforward as possible.”


holidays with the operators between November 1 and January 31 will win a place, with league tables showing performance published online weekly. One wild card place is also on offer. Gordon McCreadie, B2B sales and marketing director in the UK, said: “After the huge interest that we received in our first mega-fam to the Caribbean we are building on that success by offering even more places on our USA mega-fam in 2017. “Agents are always telling


us that first-hand experience of a destination is invaluable and we are confident that they will have a great time as well as gain a wealth of destination training and knowledge to share with their customers.” › Full details at travel2.com and goldmedal.co.uk


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