Sensational safari famil in Botswana

A lucky group of agents were snapped enjoying a safari famil in Botswana hosted by Bench International.

The group of agents first travelled to Botswana where they stayed at Ngoma Safari Lodge in the Chobe Forest Reserve before heading to Zimbabwe and staying at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and Elephant’s Eye, Hwange.

The agents enjoyed a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River, sampled a ‘boma dinner’, as well as heading off in search of the Big Five, on daily game drives.

The icing on the cake? Sitting around the fire after dinner at Elephant’s Eye, admiring a herd of elephants drinking from the swimming pool.

India Unbound Hosts Top Melbourne Agents in Sri Lanka

Melbourne-based tour operator India Unbound recently hosted six of Melbourne’s top travel agency owners and senior travel consultants for a week-long familiarisation in Sri Lanka. While Sri Lanka is seeing a surge in interest from travellers, many agents are struggling to sell the destination because they are yet to visit themselves.

India Unbound is an Australian tour operator that specialises in custom-made itineraries to India and Sri Lanka. The company ran the familiarisation without assistance from Sri Lanka Tourism so that it could create the ultimate program for its guests, run a tour that truly reflected the magic of Sri Lanka and highlight India Unbound’s expertise and preferred style of touring and accommodation in Sri Lanka.

“Our familiarisation tours are so important because they help agents understand enough about the destination to be able to work with us to create custom made itineraries for their clients,’’ said Lincoln Harris, founder and tour planner at India Unbound.

“In this sense, investing a week of their time to sample the destination invariable pays off with the types of bookings that will create repeat and referral business for agents.’’

India Unbound’s familiarization tour included Sigiriya, Madulkelle, Hatton, Yala National Park, Weligama, Galle and Colombo. Two staff members from India Unbound’s Melbourne office also accompanied the tour.

DIAMOND DAYS AND DREAM CATCHERS AT SPENCER TRAVEL

Penny Spencer is a renowned innovator, entrepreneur and mentor. Her office culture and staff-retention credentials are without peer. And little wonder when you learn that Spencer Travel staff receive a one-carat diamond to commemorate 10 years with the company.

The most recent recipient just this week was Angela Pattaro who holds a special place in the business according to Managing Director, Penny Spencer.

“Angela is the Mother of the office, always ensuring everyone is happy – the office is a better place for having Ange in it”, Spencer said.

“We have a lot of long-term staff. Some years back I wondered what we could do to reward them when they got to 10 years. The travel industry can be transient, so I wanted to put something in place to honour their loyalty to the company. I love diamonds, so the Diamond Club was born. With Angela’s induction, we now have 6 members in the Diamond Club. 10 years is a huge commitment to one company. One certainly worthy of a diamond”, she continues.

LATAM Airlines hosts agents on South American Adventure

To celebrate its new brand identity, LATAM Airlines is hosting a group of nine agents on an exciting tour of South America to experience the highlights of Peru, Brazil and Chile. Departing on the weekend Patricio Aylwin, Managing Director Asia Pacific, LATAM Airlines and Francisco Portilla, Commercial Director South Pacific, LATAM Airlines and agents from Consolidated Travel, Expedia, APT, STA Travel, Flight Centre AU & NZ, Adventure World and Bunnik Tours enjoyed LATAM Airlines’ premium business class offering on board their state-of-the-art Boeing 787-9, access to the LATAM VIP lounges and the warm hospitality of LATAM Airlines crew.

The itinerary has been carefully crafted to showcase each destination in an authentic and informative way, with the first stop in Peru’s capital Lima. The buzzing city is home to The Larco Museum, housed in an 18th century mansion, which is a must-visit for history buffs wanting to learn more about ancient Peru. Lima is also regarded as the foodie capital of South America, and the group will have the chance to taste test local flavours as part of the tour. The group will also visit two of South America’s most famous attractions; Machu Picchu, the lost Incan city set high in the Andes Mountains of Peru and the dense jungle and rich wildlife of The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest. The natural wonders continue, with a visit to Brazil’s Iguazu Falls and the trip will wrap up in Rio de Janeiro, host city for the upcoming Olympic Games, with tours of the city’s famous beaches and Sugar Loaf Mountain.

With the group currently in Rio de Janeiro follow this exciting adventure on Instagram via #IflyLATAM until 23 May.

Hong Kong Travel Mission excites in Sydney

Hong Kong Tourism Board and 37 Hong Kong has hosted over 150 Australian wholesalers and travel agents for asuccessful Travel Mission, it’s first in over a decade.

The new event format had one-on-one contracting meetings and a fun afternoon walk-in networking event where guests were pampered with massages and a scrumptious candy buffet.

Eight lucky trade partners walked away with fantastic prizes, including Melanie Day from Scenic Tours and Jan Bracey from MTA Travel who won the two major Hong Kong trip prizes thanks to HKTB’s airline, hotel and attraction partners.

Hong Kong Tourism Board Regional Director Australia, Andrew Clark said “the event was a great success, with plenty of business discussed and contacts made – plus everyone had a little fun as well.”

TravelManagers Celebrate Partner Supplier Total Holiday Options National Tourism Award Win

Total Holiday Options (THO) has been awarded the National Tourism Award for Best Inbound Tour Operator and Destination Management Company.

The prestigious awards were presented in Delhi to THO Managing Director Amaan Khan and Anita Thomas Director of Sales, by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India.

“Our reputation is based on providing world-class quality services to our customers and their clients. This is a great honour for us as an organization, which would have not been possible without the support of the TravelManagers Australia Team,” said Khan.

TravelManagers’ Executive General Manager, Michael Gazal praised Khan and his team for achieving such an honour.

“TravelManagers couldn’t be more proud of Total Holiday Options winning this award. They are consistently outstanding at what they do. Their hard work, dedication and commitment to service is exceptional. Our personal travel managers are one hundred percent confident to promote THO, knowing the experience from booking through to that delivered to ourclients will be the very best. This trust is of upmost importance to our personal travel managers,” said Gazal.

Korean incentive win brings trade to Sydney

Sydney has again been successful in winning another exceptional Nu Skin Enterprises incentive following the success of the Nu Skin Greater China Success Trip.

Business Events Sydney (BESydney) CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith, confirmed her team had beaten fierce international competition to host the Nu Skin Korea Success Trip in 2017.

“We are proud to host this event, which will provide a forum for education, information and research for the top distributors of Nu Skin products worldwide,” said Ms Lewis-Smith.

In 2017 Nu Skin Korea, a direct selling company focused on the personal care and nutritional supplements market, will bring approximately 1,400 of its most successful distributors to Sydney for a five-day reward trip.

“For Sydney and NSW, the success of winning this incentive event creates strong opportunities for trade. Our research indicates that one third of all overseas delegates say they will return to Sydney for another business event. Repeat business is testament to Sydney’s ability to deliver time and time again,” said Ms Lewis-Smith.

Mike Keller, General Manager of Nu Skin Korea, said, “Nu Skin Korea confirmed Sydney as the perfect destination to celebrate the achievements of many of our Nu Skin Korea entrepreneurs. We selected Sydney as the destination for our 2017 incentive trip because of the world-class facilities, restaurants, warm and welcoming culture, and its many iconic tourist attractions.”

Agents explore the South Pacific with Celebrity Solstice

Bronze Traveller’s Choice award winners were treated to an eight night South Pacific adventure in April, aboard Celebrity Solstice hosted by Celebrity Cruises.

The winners visited beautiful Lifou in the Loyalty Islands as well as the Isle of Pines and Noumea in New Caledonia. The agents were also treated to Celebrity Cruises’ signature service excellence and fine wine and dining.

Hosted onboard by WA District Sales Manager for Celebrity Cruises, Bron Milsom, highlights included snorkeling in the crystal clear waters of Lifou, dining at fine French restaurant Murano (twice!) and watching the cocktail masters at work at the Solstice-Class favourite, Martini Bar.

Travel Counsellors aims to go from ‘Good to Great’ at annual conference

The annual conference for Travel Counsellors Australia kicks off today and will be attended by agents from all over Australia.

Taking the Travel Counsellors brand from ‘Good to Great’ is the focus of the conference and with inspiring guest speakers sharing their knowledge over the course of the weekend, the team are guaranteed to receive plenty of motivation and inspiration.

With Travel Counsellors agents operating from home offices located all over Australia, this conference gives the network of home working agents a chance to connect with each other and head office staff in person.

Running from May 20-22, the conference also gives suppliers and partners a chance to meet and mingle with agents and head office staff, share ideas and celebrate in each other’s continued success.

David Hughes, Managing Director of Travel Counsellors Australia believes that this year’s conference will be Travel Counsellors’ best yet.

“With directors from the UK visiting, it gives us an opportunity to share with them how well we are performing and introduce them to the incredible team we’ve built in Australia…This conference is an important part of our growth plan, as we’ll be celebrating our significant achievements as well as setting clear intentions for where we want to be in the years to come,” said Hughes.