Pat Rochon, National Sales Manager, Canada, Adventure Center; Jac McPherson, Sales & Marketing Executive, Tucan Travel; Sharmil Goswami, North American Sales Rep, Exodus; Georgia Spittler, Area Sales Manager, North America, Peregrine & Geckos; and Blair Smith, Director of Marketing, Adventure Center
Pat Rochon shows off the new Africa in Style brochure
Peregrine & Geckos' Georgia Spittler with Sharmil Goswami of Exodus
There are a lot of fun developments happening with Adventure Center. To start, the company moved into a new, funky loft-styled office on YTO’s Richmond Street about 6 months ago. The classic hard wood floors, rustic wooden beams and exposed brick walls were the backdrop for last week’s casual get together with select adventure travel partners – Exodus, Tucan, Peregrine and Geckos.
The U.K. based tour operator, Exodus, teamed up with Adventure Center recently to produce a brochure solely dedicated to cycling trips. “Cycling is growing faster in the Canadian market than in any other country,” said Sharmil Goswani, North American Sales Rep for Exodus. “It’s a great way of seeing the world.” And since Adventure Center’s National Sales Manager for Canada, Pat Rochon, is featured on the brochure cover along with his father, he naturally claimed bragging rights to the glossy new material.
Rochon is also quite proud of another new product… hot off the press and just launched in the 1st week of November is their Africa in Style brochure, which offers safaris for the discerning traveller.
Selling adventure travel may seem daunting to certain agents, which is why the Adventure Center’s CATS program to become Certified Adventure Travel Specialists, is highly recommended and gaining popularity. Out of the 9 Canadian cities where the CATS program was held this year, 8 events were completely sold out. “Adventure travel is the future and it is growing,” said Adventure Center’s Director of Marketing for North America, Blair Smith.
According to Rochon, agents who participate in CATS can confidently sell the product afterward. Because of its high demand, Adventure Center will introduce more CATS training sessions at the beginning of next year and hopes to cover cities that have not yet been visited or other areas that have shown increased interest in the program.
