Peregrine entices travellers away from coach touring firms
Peregrine is attempting to entice travellers considering taking a coach touring holiday to instead try one of its small group itineraries by convincing the trade that they offer a “smarter way to see the world”.
New research undertaken by the adventure travel company, part of the Intrepid Travel Group, shows that one third of travellers that had done a “mainstream” coach tour as well as a Peregrine trip, general manager Steve Wroe revealed.
Those in search of excitement or “bragging rights” should not be too difficult to sway, he told Travel Today.
“The price point is competitive with a coach tour but you’re in a small group with more access to see things that you would never see with a big coach tour,” he said.
“We’re getting the message out to agents in Australia that this is a viable alternative to a coach tour.”
In order to do this, Peregrine is keeping an eye on the marketing activities of coach tour operators such as Insight Vacations and Trafalgar as is “piggybacking” by using the same media channels to communicate its own message.
The push represents part of a new strategy for Peregrine which seeks to find new ways to grow revenue for the 36 year old brand.
“We’ve been around for so long in terms of the product life cycle – we’ve gone through the steep growth phase so now growth is steady without being stratospheric,” Wroe admitted. In the last financial year, Peregrine’s revenue grew 10% on the previous year.
The company has also introduced a number of new, “off the beaten track” itineraries to its program in a bid to “spice things up” for its loyal customer base.
“We need to keep innovating and putting in weird and wonderful trips to keep people interested,” he said.
New itineraries have been added in destinations such as Azerbaijan, Algeria and North Korea, and although adventurous, are careful to cater to the requirements of its baby boomer clientele which has aged over time.
“There are two kinds of adventure – adventure by activity and by destination,” Wroe explained, adding that Peregrine’s new itineraries take customers to unusual parts of the world but still offer a higher quality of hotel than may be found on other trips to similar destinations.
However, it is the “bread and butter” destinations across South East Asia and Europe that are expected to appeal to the coach touring converts.
This financial year, which began in October, is looking “really strong” with Wroe forecasting revenue growth of 20%.
“It’s either because the coach touring message is flowing through, or because we’re seeing lots of interest in those obscure trips,” he said.
Its Treasures of Turkey tour remains its best-seller, with Vietnam and Peru also proving popular. Notably, Myanmar has experienced a recent surge in popularity putting it in third place prompting the firm to add two new itineraries in the destination.
“When a destination comes online, we tend to just have one mainstream trip then we start putting on more off the beaten track itineraries as product matures.”
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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