Why is Wendy Wu Tours going to start selling North America itineraries?
Gary King (GK): North America has been on the cards for a while. We’re so strong across Asia – the number one to China and number one to Japan over the past two years – and we’ve expanded the portfolio to nearly 50 destinations across the world.
When we look at going out west, across the Atlantic, we’ve got South America wrapped up and both Central America and Mexico, which we launched around nine months ago, are strong for Wendy Wu Tours. Costa Rica is one of the best sellers of our Latin America programme. So it makes absolute sense to fill in the gap above that – North America.
Our customers have been asking for quite some time. Pretty much every event we do with our customers, there’s always questions such as “Do you go to Canada?”’and ‘Do you sell America?” We take that into account.
In my role as Head of Trade Sales, on a weekly and sometimes daily basis, we have agents saying to us, “When are you going to start North America?”
We’ve got a fantastic rewards programme for our agents called the Wendy Wu Advocates. Within that, we’ve got around 150 of our most supportive agents across the UK and Ireland. They benefit every time they sell Wendy Wu Tours, and they’re constantly trying to do that.
The feedback from my team is that there’s an interested customer and they think they’re going to book with Wendy Wu Tours. They’re looking at China, Japan – or possibly Canada. It’s where we fall down a bit at the moment because we can’t offer that.
In terms of touring, both the USA and Canada are very popular destinations, so the time is right. There’s just been an incredible World Cup take place in North America, which is seeing huge demand. That means I think the timing is right for launching the teaser.
While we can’t yet talk about itineraries and places, what we can say is that we’ll be offering what Wendy Wu Tours is famous for – fully inclusive touring, the best touring guides in the world and authentic and unique experiences in North America.
Jayne White, our North America Product Manager, has been with us about one month so far. We are at the stage where we are talking to our customers and asking what they want. We’re involving agents in that conversation as well.
What steps are you taking to develop Wendy Wu Tours in North America?
Jayne White (JW): I’m busy working with partners at the moment to get a broad collection of really inspiring tours throughout the USA and Canada. It’s extremely exciting to be working with Wendy Wu and Wendy Wu Tours, and I’m looking forward to the launch.
I’m working to find the right partners to work with me to produce the very best tours that Wendy Wu Tours can offer: that is, inspiring tours with lots of immersive experiences and meals included. We’re still working on the finer points for more inclusive itineraries than most of the other escorted tour operators offer – that is tours with a “difference”.
How can agents stay informed of what’s happening?
GK: There will be launch events towards the latter part of this year. For now, agents have been contacting our trade support team and registering their interest in our North America tours. Agents will be the first to know!
Each agent who contacts us from today onwards is being put into a ‘VIP club’ for information as soon as we can share it.
We have a great team on the road. We have a team of eight Business Development Managers (BDMs] on the road across the UK and Ireland who are already planning the schedules for November and December, including training events and promotional events with customers.
We have thousands of very loyal Wendy Wu customers who book via our agents and we communicate through the agents to those loyal customers. We’ll be inviting them to events to get the news as soon as we can share it.
I think North America brings a new opportunity for us. We have a big focus out of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Dublin, Manchester and Newcastle: we offer flights with zero supplements. This fits perfectly within our strategy of growth through the regions outside of London, which remains our biggest hub.
Look out for more details towards the end of August, early September.
Why will clients book with Wendy Wu Tours to North America when you don’t have an established footprint there?
GK: This, for us, is about getting consistency across every country and every destination that we go to and ensuring that every customer comes back with positive feedback.
It’s about unique experiences, fully inclusive touring and having the best tour guides in the world to lead and share their country with you.
This is very much about going to a destination and ensuring that you come back knowing everything there is to know about it and feeling like a local yourself. We want people to experience it that way through our itineraries and tour guides who feel proud to share everything about how life works in that destination.
