CONFERENCE Phil Nuttall, Paula Nuttall


and John Warr (all centre) and delegates on board MSC Virtuosa


Travel Village Group conference: Agency hosts 140 delegates at its first forum. By Josie Klein


Travel Village to revive tours range T


ravel Village Group is set to revive its adventure and tours offering, as the company declares it is


“time to get back to normality”. The agency launched adventure


and tours prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 before being forced to put plans on hold when the pandemic hit. But in an interview with Travel


Weekly at the firm’s first conference, held on board an MSC Virtuosa sailing from Southampton to Rotterdam and Cherbourg, chief executive Phil Nuttall vowed it was time for the


company to move past the pandemic, and drive business forward by giving its agents scope to offer more types of holidays to customers. He said: “It’s time for us to


bring adventure and tours out of hibernation and revive that section of the business. It’s still early stages but we are really excited about it.” Managing director John Warr,


who was global sales director for touring specialist Wendy Wu Tours from 2014 to 2021, said Travel Village Group will start training its agents in adventure and tours to grow


Agency vows 2023 conference in Cyprus will be ‘even better’


Travel Village Group’s second annual conference will be held in Cyprus. Managing director John Warr told agents and suppliers the 2023 conference is likely to take place in November or December and will be “even better than this one”. The agency has secured accommodation with


Constantinou Hotels for the duration of the event. Chief executive Phil Nuttall said: “We are really


looking forward to next year’s event in Cyprus. We have learnt a lot from our first conference and there are some things we can probably do better next time. “We will need to follow up on this year’s event


and see how far the business grows as a result. “I’m excited to see the outcome and plan to make next year’s conference even better.”


their confidence as part of the move. “I have seven years of adventure


and tours experience, so I know the business,” he said. “We are missing a big chunk of people who book their ocean and river cruises with us, but then go on and book their tours somewhere else. We need to take advantage of that market as we are barely scraping the surface of it. “Our next steps are to invest in


training our agents in adventure and tours so they build their confidence and are comfortable selling; run a marketing campaign with our existing


AGENTS’ VIEWS


Kirsty Van Wyk “The conference was engaging, with a good mix of suppliers, several of whom I have started


relationships with as they matched my luxury business model. This was the first opportunity to form in-person connections since Covid.”


Gill Williams “The networking sessions were informative, and gave me options to offer clients. I met with several


suppliers, and we have good activity planned for 2023. It was also fantastic to be able to see colleagues and operators face-to-face, something we have not done for such a long time.”


Heather Ascroft “To meet suppliers and form connections is what our industry is all about. Travel Village Group is


proactive and moves with the times, and it’s a huge positive that we are expanding into the adventure and tours arena.”


Wendy Haines “Often at conferences you only get five minutes to speak to suppliers, but by having the whole weekend


I was able to make proper connections and learn about their products, which I can now take to my clients. It was also wonderful to celebrate us all surviving the past two years.”


customers about the new sector; and speak to experts to get some steer on how to maximise our success.” Director Paula Nuttall said:


“There is so much opportunity for our agents, who are still firefighting after two years of schedule changes and administrative difficulties. “It’s time for us to move out of


this situation so our sellers can take a breath and start looking for new opportunities.” She added: “It’s time to get back


to normality now – we need to after the past two years.”


10


9 JUNE 2022


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURE: Richard Williams


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