Insight Vacations Canada President Cris David with TripCentral.ca's
Paul Foster and Insight Vacations President John Boulding.
Travel Corporation of Canada president Jeff Element with Insight Vacations President John Boulding.
Insight Vacations marketing manager Andrea Theophilos with VisitBritain's Lynda Falcone.
Spain is an important Insight destination and the Tourist Office of Spain was a co-sponsor of the event. Representing Spain were Sara Sánchez and Laura Bujalance.
The elegant confines of Toronto’s Rosewater Supper Club made an appropriate venue for upscale escorted tour operator Insight Vacations to celebrate its best year ever, both in Canada and around the world.
An evening co-sponsored by the Spanish Tourism Board and VisitBritain featured live Spanish guitar and a tasty buffet that reflected some of Insight’s most popular destinations, with dishes ranging from bangers & mash to classic paella, vegetable tagine with couscous to burgers & fries.
On hand for the occasion was Insight’s Global President John Boulding, familiar to Canadian agents for his frequent trips to Canada and eloquent promotion of the Insight product. The vertically impressive Boulding is also the perfect illustration for Insight’s promise of up to 100% more legroom than its competitors.
Boulding, along with Insight Canada President Cris David and TravCorp Canada leader Jeff Element, welcomed representatives of Insight’s top-selling agency partners. According to Boulding and David, growing recognition of the lucrative rewards of selling escorted vacations is paying off for both sides of the partnership.
“The trade has really got behind us,” Boulding told Open Jaw. “They’ve realized the earning potential of selling our product and they appreciate the value we offer their clients. They are enthusiastically promoting our product and that is flowing through to the consumer.”
The strength of the loonie against the Euro, Pound and U.S. dollar is another factor in Insight’s 2010 success, which is continuing in 2011 with numbers up 11% to date over 2010’s record sales. With the Canuck buck at its highest level versus the Euro in a decade, “the world’s dollars are aligned in perfect harmony,” Boulding said.
“The Canadian consumer has a sense of confidence going abroad,” said David, and that confidence fits in well with Insight’s product positioning, which sits between competitive mass-market and luxury products. “There aren’t so many people at the very top end,” David says, “but there are lots of people willing to pay a bit more to get a lot more.”
Insight’s product continues to evolve, with the company now offering six distinct touring styles. Two of the newest are Insight Gold, a luxury product distinguished by exceptional hotel accommodations, and Select Choices, which offers an escorted touring format but leaves guests free to choose between independent sightseeing or optional group tours.
“Select has really succeeded in bringing in that ‘hybrid’ traveller who may not have considered escorted touring before,” says David. “With the flexibility Select offers more people are comfortable about trying it out. But once they’re on the tour we find many of them choose to come along on the group tours.”
Guests at the Insight launch learned of other new developments for 2011, including 25 new tours, a new series of optional guest lectures designed to give depth to a destination, and a selection of ‘tour flourishes,’ unpromoted surprises for Insight passengers, including things like tote bags, umbrellas, group photos and welcome drinks.
“It feels like we have the right product at the right time,” says Boulding. “And the numbers suggest that too.”
