As you read through this issue, I’ll be sailing the Danube with Viking River Cruises, but there’s a spin to it—I’ll be doing it with my 13-year-old daughter. That onboard review, which will focus on whether you should start thinking outside the perennial 55+ demographics when selling river cruises, will appear in a future issue of Recommend. But, we’ve got river cruising covered in this issue, too, with the Cruising the Rivers of Southeast Asia feature that appears on page 14. Look at the stats in that lead paragraph, and if you aren’t selling this product, you need to ask yourself why not. As AmaWaterways’ Kristin Karst says, “Things are opening up and the world is starting to see Asia as the next big thing. The potential for this market is huge. It’s ideal for the client who is very open, is a little bit experiential, and wants to see the world. People also find river cruising convenient because their accommodations travel with them—they only have to unpack once. They have twice as much leisure time to explore on a river cruise.”
In this issue, we’re also highlighting top city picks, both here and abroad: San Francisco; Paris & Eze; and Bogota. The latter is one of South America’s hottest destinations right now, and what we did with this piece is put together a handy 2-day getaway itinerary that you should feel free to photocopy and hand right over to your Bogota-bound clients.
online offerings
On recommend.com, we’ve got Q&As with AmaWaterways’ Kristin Karst, as well as Tom Markwell, managing partner, sales & marketing for Haimark Ltd., a new river cruise company that’s covered in the Cruising the Rivers in Southeast Asia article. We’ve also got a 2-part interview with TRAVELSAVERS’ Nicole Mazza, in which she discusses the importance of travel agents, as well as the importance of joining a consortium such as TRAVELSAVERS.
Additionally, online you’ll find lots of agent incentives and bonus booking commissions, as well as information on new hotel openings, up-to-the-minute package offerings and destination stories—Berlin, Montreal— that we just can’t squeeze into these pages.
—Paloma Villaverde de Rico
E-mail me at [email protected]
guatemala specialist program
The new Guatemala Specialist Program, available online at edu.recommend.com/guatemala, focuses on the country’s main tourism destinations, including Antigua, Lake Atitlan and the Western Highlands, and offers information on the myriad activities—from cultural to active—available in the country, as well as special interest vacation options and how to best sell Guatemala to your clients.
Once you’ve read through the specialist program, and answered the 20-question exam, you’ll be a Guatemala Specialist Program graduate and receive a certificate.
Visit edu.recommend.com/guatemala.
let’s get social
Hang out with us @Recommendmag and facebook.com/recommendmag. And if you want to see what our editors are up to away from the office, follow them @Paloma_RecMag, @EdWetschler, & @LaneMN.
