Avanti Sets its New Course
经过大卫·科格斯威尔(David Cogswell)/
This year, Avanti Destinations, a specialist in independent travel, has undergone new leadership following the retirement of founder Harry Dalgaard, last summer. Taking over the helm is Paul Barry, who bought 50 percent of the company in 2014, then took over as sole owner and executive chairman last January.
Meet the operator
巴里在旅游行业有35年的历史, beginning in 1983 when he took a job as a reservations agent with British Rail in New York. Three months later, he joined Travel Bound/GTA, where he worked until 1990, rising to the position of general manager. In 1990, he co-founded Europe Express, a specialist in FIT travel in Europe, and a direct competitor to Avanti.
巴里(Barry)在2005年将欧洲快车卖给了第一选择假期,并一直担任总裁兼首席执行官,直到2008年。然后,他从该行业中断,观察了一项非竞争协议。2012年,他跳回了这个行业,收购了Caradonna Adventures, a specialist in scuba dive and adventure travel, and two years later, took an equity stake in Avanti.
巴里(Barry)在Avanti的好时机接手。巴里说:“ Avanti正处于已经成长很多的阶段,它期待着未来的巨大增长。我们已经是市场领导者,我们正在寻求在世界上许多主要国际目的地的独立旅行中提高我们的领导。”beplay银行卡
Avanti’s advantage, as independent travel has grown in popularity, is that it provides travel agents with an efficient, reliable system for easily piecing together custom vacation packages — without having to call each individual hotel for each night’s booking, and then having to chase down the commissions from the individual hotels.
目的地专业知识
仅通过旅行社出售的Avanti旨在成为零售业务的兼职,为旅行社提供了在各种各样的地方的目的地专业知识的即时插件。巴里说:“如果特工不知道特定的目的地,我们这里有人这样做。”“因此,代理商不必花那么长时间才能整理一个包裹。”
其内部旅行顾问的教育和经验水平是该公司价值主张的主要组成部分之一,因此Avanti对其内部顾问的持续教育进行了大量投资。
“We are increasing the education within the company and the staff,” said Barry. “Sixty-two of our staff will be traveling in the next three months to experience Avanti destinations. Most companies have reservation agents, we have travel consultants. It’s not the same. It’s very different.”
Avanti’s historic edge
Avanti was founded in 1981 by Harry Dalgaard. The company’s edge was a proprietary booking software called Tourgate. While most tour operators approached independent travel via systems designed for group travel that were modified for individual travel, Tourgate was designed specifically for FIT travel — and, as such, it was structured to allow for multiple access points to different car, hotel, air and ground services functions. The system gave Avanti a good head start in servicing the growing independent travel market.
No assembly required
One of the innovations since Barry took over the company is the newAvanti Journeysproduct, which consists of pre-assembled packages that combine some of the most popular components into air-inclusive packages that can be purchased without having to assemble the parts.
The Journeys product line gives agents a baseline package to work from that incorporates the company’s experience in the destinations, the expertise of its product managers and travel consultants and the accumulated history of clients traveling to those areas.
可以自定义多末期软件包以匹配客户端的偏好。Barry说:“ Avanti的旅程突出了我们作为样品包装包装的一些合适产品,因此我们的代理合作伙伴可以看到我们服务的多个国家 /地区的各种产品。”“很多人自定义他们创造自己的假期。”
Stopover privileges
Avanti has used its contracts with airline partners to provide not only the price advantage of net rates, but also the ability to break up the air component into separate pieces that allow for stopovers along the way. “With contracts we have with airline partners, we have stopover allowances either in Europe or in the U.S. that are not available to the normal published arena,” said Barry.
Expanding product offerings
With the addition of Avanti Journeys, the company can provide anything from a fully inclusive package to the simplest post-cruise, three-night trip with transfers and private sightseeing.
“We provide a full range of FIT services in all the major destinations that we offer,” said Barry, “which is what makes us a great resource for the travel trade today. We provide expertise at the end of the phones to put that independent customized package together. And we do it in a quicker format than if agents were to try to book the individual components separately.”
Avanti began offering European destinations in 1981, expanded to Latin America in 1990, and to Asia in 2015. As a new market, Asia is showing the highest growth rate by percentage, but Europe is still, by far, the majority of Avanti’s business. Europe accounts for about 80 percent, while Latin America is 13 percent and Asia is 7 percent.
Continued growth in Europe
巴里说:“亚洲为我们做了巨大的工作,但它仍在增长。”“百分点,这对我们今年来说是最大的增长,但欧洲对我们来说仍在增长。”
As a mature destination, Europe is growing in a different way. “Some of the core markets, such as Britain, France, Italy and Germany, have not grown as much as some of the newer or emerging markets, such as Iceland or Croatia. We are also seeing strong growth in Portugal, Poland, Scandinavia and Scotland. The smaller secondary markets are growing the most, percentagewise.”
In the established destinations of Europe, Avanti is expanding beyond the most heavily touristed sites. “This is where Avanti’s advantage really comes into play,” said Barry, “in getting you to secondary and tertiary destinations, and small villages as well as roaming around the countryside. In Europe, it is possible to connect to nearly everything by rail.”
在欧洲,现在美国人比在拉丁美洲或亚洲更舒适地独立旅行。巴里说:“在欧洲,回来了几次的人不再去主要城市了。”“他们要去乡下探索。”
Avanti is working with local DMCs to expand its offerings of experiences and activities, such as cooking classes, drinking establishment tours, wine or vodka tastings, and other kinds of experiences that help clients immerse themselves deeply in the destinations.
Booking farther out
Avanti目前看到预订交货时间有所增加。巴里说:“去年同期,2019年的预订已经增加了40%。”“现在还早,但是我们接到了大量的电话。预订已经被存入,所以这是2019年的一个非常令人鼓舞的迹象。新的预订在本赛季初真正出现。早期的迹象非常好。”
早期的书的一个原因是得到最好的旅游guides. “We do a lot of private flights and guides, etc.,” said Barry, “and there is only a limited number of tour guides. If you want to get the best guides, don’t book 60 days prior, or you won’t get the best tour guides. You need to book in advance.”
Avoiding overtourism
As travelers look to go beyond the crowded tourism sites, especially at peak season, new destinations are being developed. “We are creating deeper offerings within countries we already service,” said Barry.
最近的关注问题一直在越来越多。巴里说:“世界在旅游业上变得更加夸张,因此,越来越多的人来到欧洲和世界各地。但是,在所有主要国家,无论是意大利,法国还是英国,都有某些地区尚未探索美国人,您可以在没有人群的情况下获得这些国家的经验。因此,例如,在意大利,普利亚(Puglia)是一个新兴的,正在增长的目的地,但它并没有遭受超级旅游的困扰。因此,这更像是20或30年前的旅游业。”
The same is true of parts of England, such as Devon and Cornwall. “We are working to develop more product offerings in those areas,” he said, “to offer a new type of experience reflective of an aspiration of getting to know the locals, to experience the country without being surrounded by tourists.
“For those who do wish to go to the major cities, we have a lot of private arrangements, so you can avoid the maddening crowds. We also have special arrangements through which you can go in at certain hours to certain tourist sites. We have those options for individuals as well as small family groups.”
步步高升
“ Avanti”是意大利语的意思是“前进”或“来吧”。事实证明,这是该公司的准确描绘,因为它在独立旅行中铺平了道路。现在从事了将近40年的业务,Avanti决心继续以其名字持有效果。