OPERATOR NEWS YOU CAN USE
Wendy Wu urges trade to use its China visa service
Juliet Dennis
juliet.dennis@
travelweekly.co.uk
Wendy Wu Tours is warning the trade about new fingerprint visa requirements for China after being granted a temporary exemption from the entry laws.
Legislation that came into force
last month means any British passport-holder between the ages of 14 and 75 visiting China must have their fingerprints taken when submitting a visa application. As a result, customers have to visit a Chinese consulate in person as part of the visa application process. There are consulates in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. According to the operator, people are having to wait for up to four hours for their visa. Wendy Wu Tours is understood
to be one of “very few” companies given an exemption to the new rules. It is urging agents to get in touch in the next month, so their customers can avoid the process. The exemption means Wendy
Wu Tours can process visa applications for agents’ customers,
Enable Holidays provides transfers to four UK airports
Accessible-travel specialist Enable Holidays has teamed up with driving and companion service Driving Miss Daisy to provide a door-to-holiday adapted-transfer service for customers. Enable already offers
adapted-taxi transfers between its destination airports and
ENABLE HOLIDAYS: Adapted-taxi service through Driving Miss Daisy
26
travelweekly.co.uk 25 October 2018
Back-Roads Touring trials tasters for agents and their customers
Back-Roads Touring is to trial ‘taster tours’ in the southeast for travel agents and their clients. The pilot, over the next two months, is intended for agents to bring along customers for a VIP experience to introduce them to the small-groups touring brand. The half-day tours will include afternoon tea at a boutique hotel and a presentation by the operator on its range of itineraries. The operator caters for
WENDY WU: Fears China’s new visa regulations will affect bookings
“We want agents to tell customers thinking about a trip to China. This service will help them close sales”
without the need for fingerprints, until December 3 for travel up to the end of December 2019. The cost is £310 per person. The operator has also launched a ‘visa-only’ service for the trade. Agents with clients booked or planning to go to China – even
if no booking has been made or a booking is with a different operator – can use the service. Applications must be made to Wendy Wu Tours by November 26. Founder Wendy Wu said: “We
want to help agents and want them to tell customers who are thinking about a trip to China. This service will help them close sales.” Wu added that she feared the
visa regulations would slow growth in visitor numbers to China. Last year about 660,000 Brits visited China, and the operator has lobbied
against the new visa requirements.
wendywutours.co.uk
holiday accommodation. The new partnership means adapted transport with personal assistance can be offered from a customer’s home to one of four UK airports: Glasgow, Bristol, Southampton and Bournemouth. Enable Holidays managing
director Lynne Kirby said: “We are constantly looking at ways to enhance our customers’ holiday experiences, and this is a great way of taking the hassle out of getting to the airport. Driving Miss Daisy is equally committed to the needs of
mature travellers and offers tailor-made tours in the UK, Europe and Asia, with tour sizes limited to 18 holidaymakers. UK business development manager Lockie Kerr said: “The buzzword in travel at the moment is ‘experience’, so I wanted to try something different from a typical in-store event. “With the advantage of having
a number of our premium Mercedes mini-coaches and tour leaders based in the UK, we’re able to provide a taste of what it’s like to be on one of our small-group tours, while also educating customers on the range of tours available in Asia, Europe and the UK.”
backroadstouring.com
disabled travellers, which makes it the perfect fit for us.” John Overdijking, regional sales
and key account director at Driving Miss Daisy, said: “We specialise in enabling people to live their life to the full, irrespective of disability or personal challenges. That includes experiencing amazing holidays. Our unique home-to-holiday taxi service means the holiday starts and ends in their living room.” Enable Holidays hopes to extend
the service next year.
enableholidays.com
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