Avanti Rides High into 2020
经过大卫·科格斯威尔(David Cogswell)/
Avanti Destinations, the “travel agent’s travel agent,” is having a good year, with business up 20% year-over-year. And the company is continuing to expand its already broad selection of destinations and activities in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Avanti is also expanding its staff, hiring new employees, and going to great lengths to make sure employees are getting the travel experiences they need to do their consulting jobs effectively.
“We’ve increased our training of our in-house consultants,” Avanti’s President Paul Barry told Travel Market Report. “We are a travel company and we want them all to share and feel that passion, the enthusiasm for places they themselves experience.”
This year, 125 out of 160 employees are traveling, and that applies not only to the travel consultants, but to support staff as well, to spread the enthusiasm and the joy of travel throughout the Avanti community.
Expanding destinations
The company continues to expand its destination coverage. In 2019, Avanti has added a number of new destinations that are available for booking now and some that will be available in 2020.
New destinations that are available for booking now include St. Petersburg, which can be visited visa-free by Americans using a special three-day visa allowance. St. Petersburg was introduced as an add-on to Baltic destinations such as Helsinki, Finland; and Tallinn, Estonia.
还提供新的摩洛哥,作为西班牙的附件;和蒙古,作为中国的附件。
2019年第三季度,Avanti宣布将在2020年增加澳大利亚,新西兰和南太平洋。该公司还在亚洲增加了更多目的地。beplay银行卡尽管亚洲的增长率很高,但欧洲仍然占其业务的80%。
季节性的扩展
Avanti从旅行季节本身的扩展中受益。巴里说:“我们看到季节性扩展到肩部季节。”“这是由定价和超级旅游驱动的。我们还看到旅游业蔓延到各省。”
Many of the most popular destinations are suffering, ironically, from too many tourists. Destinations are struggling to find ways to deal effectively with the problem.
意大利旅游业正在尝试新的方式管理旅游业,以遏制过度旅游的问题。意大利的三大城市(罗马,佛罗伦萨和威尼斯)在意大利的所有游客中获得如此高的比例,以至于主要的旅游景点被游客淹没,造成人满为患和交通问题,有时会导致网站本身降级。
这些城市不希望更多的游客。为了卷入一些溢出并在全国范围内传播利益,意大利旅游业正在协调努力,以促进三巨头以外的地区,包括普利亚,皮埃蒙特,翁布里亚和西西里。
尽管大多数美国人仍然去意大利,法国,英国和德国,但巴里说,欧洲的旅游业正在超越受欢迎和标志性的目的地。beplay银行卡巴里说:“过去在流行旅游业的“边缘”的地区增加了旅行,例如希腊,冰岛,克罗地亚,葡萄牙和斯堪的纳维亚半岛。人数增加正在前往这些地方,他们看到了增长的趋势。
Avanti is also seeing growth in a variety of other areas globally, including the Setouchi region of Japan, Wales, Finland, and South Korea. Avanti is working in partnership with the respective tourism offices to promote those destinations. Within the destinations, Avanti is promoting second-tier destinations, such as Finland beyond Helsinki.
Besides an expansion of the destinations that Avanti offers, the company is also adding to the activities it makes available in the destinations. It is a response to increasing demands from travelers for more specialized, customized travel packages and unusual experiences, as the traveling public evolves and travelers broaden their travel horizons.
“我们超越基本的、标准的产品,”said Barry, “and we’re expanding our offerings of experiences, including such things as bear watching, ice fishing, glamping in a deluxe tent over the River Kwai in Thailand, staying under a translucent dome in Colombia, and stargazing in the Atacama Desert in Chile.”
Barry说,Avanti看到要求定制的客户持续增加,通常包括以前看起来很奇怪的请求。
Avanti’s new agent portal
Another big step for Avanti in 2019 has been its new travel agent portal, which was introduced last January. The upgraded technology is more flexible than the previous system. It is more interactive and gives travel agents more control over their own bookings. It allows an agent to start a booking online, fill in many of the basic details, and then call the office for help to complete it.
巴里说:“代理商可以用他们想要的东西铅笔,然后与我们的一位内部顾问通电话。”提高的灵活性导致了Avanti在效率和生产力方面的飞跃。
The new booking system makes it possible to track a booking after it is made to see its current status. The system can be operated in one of two different modes, a guided mode for new users, and an expert mode for the more experienced that provides more power and options.
Initially, there was a learning curve for travel agents with the new system, but now the majority of Avanti’s agent partners are over the hump and use of the online booking system is double what it was last year. The company provides training for travel agents via webinars or one-to-one training.
The new system has been deemed a success, with up to 2,000 agents a day logging in. It has created a “huge change” in the way the business operates, and has reduced the necessity for calling in.
Beefed up operations
Avanti通过加强了目的地支持服务来加强其运营部门,并有助于解决旅行问题。在欧洲,代理商可以达到紧急联系电话,以解决可能出现的问题。
“We’ve expanded our operations department and our support services,” said Barry. “We are more pro-active about managing and anticipating problems.”
Expanding group travel
Avanti has also grown its group travel business. Previously, the company only handled groups of up to about 15 people. Larger groups were “turned away.” But starting late last year, the tour operator brought in new experts in group travel, and is now doing a brisk business with closed groups, special interest groups, affinity groups, pre-formed groups, sports groups, and families.
此外,虚拟工艺使用的不断增加ogy has led to a compensatory trend of people wanting more engagement. “People are looking for more contact now,” said Barry. “Social media isolates.” Social media addiction leads to a need to break away from the screen world and experience real, hands-on engagement. Avanti is seeing the effects of that trend in its booking patterns, requests, and the increase in group travel.
随着人工智能和虚拟技术的不断增长,Avanti注意到旅行趋势,反映了旅行者需要平衡高科技体验与高接触体验的需求,并越来越多地将“离开网格”视为一种吸引力本身。