American Cruise Lines has planned a big season on the Mississippi for 2021; introducing two new modern riverboats, a brand new Music Cities cruise between Nashville and Memphis, fifteen new shore excursions up-and-down the River, all-private transportation on shore, and new enrichment programs on board. From late February through December, American’s new modern riverboats and classic paddlewheelers will ply the Mighty River from St. Paul to New Orleans. Read the rest of this entry »

Regular readers will be familiar with my 4-word mantra of ‘Travel less, See more’ which you’ll find resonates extremely well with clients who have been to Britain before. Being anglophiles, they will represent some of the pent-up demand you should be targeting for when planes start crisscrossing the pond.

While it is just 281 miles from London Heathrow to Penzance, it’s still a fair distance to travel especially if you’ve spent 8-11 hours flying through 8 time zones to get here, with jetlag still waiting in the wings. In a normal year, there are flights from LHR to Newquay (70 minutes). Hopefully services will be restored sooner rather than later.

Another option is taking the Heathrow Express to Paddington for a night in London before returning back to the station for an early departure, a 4.5-hour direct train ride to the cathedral city of Truro. The coastal town of Penzance is just 30 minutes further down the line. Letting the train, and the well-stocked buffet car, take the strain makes a great deal of sense for travel in both directions. Here come the conversation-starting tour suggestions.

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In over four years of writing a daily column for Travel Research Online, I have never done what I am about to do. (Don’t you just love the suspense.) Today, being Friday, this is as good a day as ever to try something new—Curve Ball Friday.

No, I am not going to write this article while riding an elephant naked down Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, Florida. (I’m just wondering after reading that last sentence, are you envisioning a naked elephant, or an old guy with no clothes on? Just wondering.)

No, I am simply going to share a few of my favorite quotes with you. A few words of wisdom that have me pausing in reflection before moving on. This is a first. I hope you will find it to be as exciting and worthwhile as I do. Read the rest of this entry »

Jennifer Walker has been hit by Covid-19 twice. No, she hasn’t actually had it herself. But two of her clients have — and she feels their pain.

Walker had two trips in the works for “senior ladies” when the coronavirus hit. One was supposed to sail Viking Ocean to Bali and Beyond; she died right before final payment. The other had a multigenerational trip to Hawaii booked for 2020, which Walker was in the process of moving to 2021, and was talking about a European river cruise for her anniversary. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes your next big adventure is only a short drive away. Hit the open road to explore America’s natural wonders and wide-open spaces, along with the local shops and restaurants that form the fabric of the community.

Best Western® Hotels & Resorts and American Tours International (ATI) are partnering to promote the American road trip holiday to travel professionals across the United States. Building road trip packages that feature some of Best Western’s most popular properties in iconic locations, ATI empowers travel professionals to capitalize on the current road trip travel trend that will continue into this fall and through 2021. ATI’s Drive America platform has been developed to allow travel professionals to easily book one of 120+ road trip packages or to design their customers’ road trip from scratch. By utilizing ATI’s Drive America platform, travel professionals can access Best Western’s lowest available rates for their customers while receiving substantial commissions.

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I receive emails every week that thank me for keeping hope alive, and enthusiasm flowing in a positive direction. After all, that is what I do.

Having always considered myself a realist, I have a few thoughts to share about “throwing in the towel.” And, make no mistake about it, the day is coming when those exact four words will enter your thinking process.

I fear the day when you are going to feel the full brunt of all your apparently useless efforts is coming, and you will want to call it quits and “throw in the towel.” This will not be the action of a sore loser, but as a conscious decision from a hard-working, good-intentioned entrepreneur Read the rest of this entry »

One of the many side effects of COVID on the travel industry is that the loss of revenue from tourists is causing trouble in places where the economy relies to some extent on tourism dollars.

The chain reactions set off by the cessation of a stream of income can have devastating effects on the lives of people all along those economic chains.

One of the areas where the loss of tourism revenue has particularly devastating effects is conservation in Africa. We are at a unique time in history where many of the world’s most magnificent species of animals are on the verge of extinction. A significant part of the efforts being made to protect them is funded by tourism companies. Read the rest of this entry »

Since you aren’t going on a vacation this year, this holiday season may be the time to upgrade your travel camera or smartphone. The leading companies, Canon and Apple, have ensured you’ll have devices to choose from that were only available to professionals as late as last year.

The newest consumer cameras have Auto controls that can evaluate a photo opportunity, decide in a fraction of a second what the settings should be, and produce flawless images when you click the shutter. The price of cameras with huge sensors – capable of creating poster-sized photos and photos of the proverbial “black cat in a coal bin at night” – has dropped sharply. A year ago, these cameras cost over $4,000. Now they are as low as $999. Read the rest of this entry »

Why is building a profitable business so difficult? This is an easy question to answer. And it has nothing to do with COVID-19 or the Internet.

It became glaringly obvious to me over the years that most people are still not practicing the simple art of marketing with any degree of consistency. Because there was (is) so much print on the subject, people were not being introduced to the finer (simple) points of marketing in a fashion that is being taken seriously. Read the rest of this entry »

Leading travel market research consultancy Longwoods International recently released a study showing that some 58% of Americans planning fall travel would choose to travel on a road trip. Continuing to ride the road trip trend through this fall, AmericanTours International (ATI) has partnered with Travel South USA to develop and market road trip packages featuring the Carolina and Georgia coasts – perfect destinations with exhilarating outdoor experiences for travelers this autumn.

ATI’s partnership with Travel South is in collaboration with Visit North Carolina, Discover South Carolina, and Explore Georgia, who together are aiming to inspire travel professionals to plan their clients’ next road trip journey to their stunning coastal destinations. Read the rest of this entry »

Halloween is just days away, and perhaps never in the history of travel have I felt our industry bearing a higher level of fear. Coronavirus new cases are on the rise. The federal government has failed to agree on a new stimulus package at the time of this writing. And the earliest we are likely to see widespread distribution of vaccines is the latter part of 2021.

Some of the fear about our businesses is legitimate. Take the stimulus package. The economy needs a boost, especially the travel industry. The slow growth we are experiencing is not enough to sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs that are barely hanging on, let along bring back the tens of millions of jobs lost due to the precipitous drop off in travel. Read the rest of this entry »

My latest audible book “listen” is a book by Greg McKeown title Essentialism. It is about understanding what is essential while discounting the rest. I listen to a chapter every night while lying in bed ready to call it a day. When I heard the phrase, “Are you protecting your assets?” I sat up and made a note to myself immediately.

It has been said by many people, in many ways, that YOU are the product in a service organization. YOU are the true differentiating factor. YOU are the reason in a me-too industry people select you as their service advisor. Read the rest of this entry »

As the closest departure point to Antarctica, and the world’s southernmost city, this destination is known as The End of the World. Ushuaia sits at the edge of Argentina, its backdrop part of the monolithic Andes mountain range. A lesser known destination in Argentina, Ushuaia is removed from the life most people know – but keeps nature at its doorstep for the traveler to witness.

Ushuaia, meaning ‘deep bay’ in the indigenous Yaghan language, lies between the Beagle Bay and the Martial mountain range. It looks out from the tip of Tierra del Fuego Island, or Land of Fire, named so by the arriving Spanish settlers when they saw the fires of the indigenous people along the coasts. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have been reading any of my daily articles over the last four years, you know I have a penchant for the “analogy.” (Comparison; similarity; equivalence between independent parts; a form of reasoning.) 

Today’s idea came to me while I was climbing to my roof to replace a few loose shingles torn by a recent windstorm.

You probably never stopped to focus on it, but ladders are potentially dangerous constructs. Notice how many “warning” labels are glued to the sides of your ladder. Just like Jim Croce recommended in song “not to mess around with Jim,” I’m telling you not to mess around with ladders. (But I digress.) Read the rest of this entry »

As the travel and tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit during this crazy lockdown, the 5 Day Travel Agent Social Media Challenge has restored a hope many thought they had lost. I was honored to host this epic event online for agents across the globe. We had agents tuning in from Malta, Spain, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, United Kingdom, USA, and Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

As Senior Vice President of Global Business, Christian is responsible for strategic global partnerships and new business development. In this role, he delivers exceptional service to Collette’s travel partners. He is also responsible for leading the business and growth efforts in our international offices located in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada. Christian joined Collette in 2007. He holds an MBA from Babson College and a Bachelor’s degree in business from the University of New Hampshire. 

Active in the local community, Christian serves on the board of City Year Rhode Island. He is an avid sports fan and is passionate about team sports, especially youth activities. In his free time, Christian can be found spending time with his wife and three children. Read the rest of this entry »

When travel comes roaring back. You had better be prepared. While no one is beating down my doors right now; if experience is any teacher, travel will take off once this pandemic is in our rear-view mirror. You can be sure your competitors will be ready. But will you?  Here’s what you can do to make sure you have a piece of that pie when it is served again! Read the rest of this entry »

“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”

― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

I am a believer in action. So many times in my professional career, I have been faced with tough decisions, typically arising out of a crisis of varied sorts. The Gulf war in 1990, 9/11, SARS in the early 2000’s, having to start a career over in 2004, the real estate crisis of 2008, Covid-19 in 2020.

It isn’t like I had a real choice. In 2004, I actually, for a short time, contemplated giving up on the travel industry and going back into law. I was 47 and, fortunately, nobody in the small town I was living in at the time wanted to hire a middle-aged attorney. Read the rest of this entry »

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As travelers look forward to exploring the world again, Crystal is updating its Crystal Confidence 2.0 program to extend the no-money-down deposit window until January 5, 2021, for new and existing bookings. Crystal Confidence 2.0 is combinable with the company’s Easy Book program, which offers reduced deposits of just 15 percent (normally 25 percent) and waived admin fees. For departures through the end of April 2021, final payment has been relaxed to 60-days prior to first date of service. Read the rest of this entry »