WeTravel, a booking and payment platform, has recently released a Where to Go 2024 list outlining hot spots in travel for 2024. They’ve based the suggestions on bookings through the WeTravel platform. London, Ghana, Paris, and more. These recommendations are complete with popular activities from cruises to festivals, and museums to nature. Read the rest of this entry »

London is a city of history and culture, one of the most visited in the world. Yet, outside the city limits of this fascinating and rather large city are rolling hills of green around smaller cities that represent the varied paths of England’s past. The Cotswolds, and its rolling green hills. Bath, a city of Roman-era baths. Cornwall, where some still speak a Celtic language. These are all excellent examples of destinations outside the busy streets of London.

One of the reasons many attendees consider the USTOA Annual Conference & Marketplace the best travel conference of the year is because the tour operator members send their top people to the conference. It creates opportunities for unparalleled access to the heaviest movers and shakers of the tour industry. Because the tour segment connects and aggregates the products of all the other segments of the travel industry, the USTOA conference is a central connecting point for the entire global travel industry.

After Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, announced her plan for tax cuts, the value of the country’s currency plunged. Now the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the British pound is outrageously good for American travelers. The dollar is now worth about £.90. That’s almost one for one. Considering that the pound was worth around two dollars as recently as the 2006-2008 period, that means the dollar has more buying power now in Britain than at almost any time in memory.

Adventures by Disney this week announced new 2023 itineraries, including programs to Sicily and the British Isles. Their Private Adventures program, for groups of up to 12 guests, will return as well and will be available to book on May 13th. Read the rest of this entry »

With interest in UK-bound travel gathering pace, I’ve put together a collection of commission-generating ideas for you to offer your clients.

As some of them might have been hoping to go to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, entice them with a tour that includes the Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show at Wisley along with Downton Abbey and the royal garden at Highgrove House.

I’ve created a programme based around the hugely popular Jane Austen Festival in Bath (think of all those clients who are riveted by the many costume dramas on the TV) and a Girls Getaway which brings together a major Antiques Fair with London’s Markets.

Meanwhile, in Scotland Read the rest of this entry »

I’m always on the lookout for new ideas that will encourage you to keep Great Britain towards the top of the list of your must-sell destinations, and last Saturday’s ‘Excursions’ trade show at the Twickenham Stadium in London gave me a great deal of food for creative thinking. Organised by Tourism South East for the British domestic market, it showcased dozens of exciting travel experiences which when imaginatively pieced together produced several new ideas for clients flying or cruising in-or-out of the UK this summer. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re talking to a family about a visit to London during July and August, let’s add some hands-on, interactive living history experiences to their tailor-made itinerary. Our capital city becomes overrun with international visitors in the summer, and a very good case can be made for parking your jetlag in the English countryside so that they reach London, fully adjusted to Greenwich Mean Time.

The starting point for this family adventure is Royal Windsor, and the reason is very simple. Being less the thirty minutes from London Heathrow, access is easy and with the Castle opening at 10am, the Changing of the Guard at 11am, and the choice of Legoland or an afternoon cruise on the River Thames, the Royal Borough gets everything off to a very good start. Rested and raring to go, and with a focus on the south and east of England, let’s see what the region can offer. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m always on the lookout for living history experiences and new attractions that can add bubble, fizz and pleasant surprises to UK tours. This week, I’m introducing you to six of them that fit that requirement.

York’s annual Viking Festival has been moved from February to June, which means that many more of us can enjoy this mighty celebration of the city’s Nordic origins. This is then followed by the staging of the medieval Mystery Plays, a once in every four years event. In Manchester, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Bridgewater Garden is fast becoming one of the UK’s must-see gardens which, when coupled with the stunning estates in Cheshire and North Wales, will be of great interest to green-fingered customers. Meanwhile, in Liverpool, the brand-new theatre modelled on Inigo Jones’ cockpit-in-court 17th century masterpiece will throw open its doors in the summer.

Read on and let’s be creative about Read the rest of this entry »

This month, I’m privileged to be celebrating the seventh anniversary of my articles for Travel Research Online. Over this period, I’ve created an Aladdin’s cave of bright ideas for UK-bound travel, linked to major annual events and festivals significant anniversaries. If you click here, a quick speed read will reveal names you’ll recognise like Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, the Beatles, the Chelsea Flower Show along with tour suggestions for family travel, pre- and post-cruise extensions and Women Only travel. If you’re a real Brit enthusiast, keep reading because there are one hundred and twenty-three for you to look at, dating back to February 2015!

It represents a unique resource which you can use to create UK-travel experiences that perfectly match the interests, time frame and budget of independent travellers, four or five friends travelling together, families Read the rest of this entry »

With interest in travelling to the UK steadily growing, so are the number of ’email conversations’ I’m having with enterprising travel advisors who want to offer their customers some different aspects of their old friend Britain. Some of the customised travel experiences were hallmarked by a selection of the On Location visits highlighted a couple of weeks ago. If you missed them, you can see them again here.

One of the most recent email exchanges was for a family looking for an imaginative countryside and London tour. They didn’t want to travel far, and what has emerged is an action-packed programme that starts in Royal Windsor, travels to Oxford before heading for London, where with jetlag parked, they will be able to get the maximum out of their four nights in the capital.

If this sequence appeals to you, discuss it with your clients and let’s start our own email conversation. Read the rest of this entry »

Although your anglophile clients have been unable to fly to the UK since the end of March 2020 (!), aspects of Britain have been appearing frequently on their/your TV screens with reruns of Endeavour, Morse, Lewis, Poldark, Doc Martin, Father Brown, Keeping up Appearances, Grantchester, Downton Abbey, The Vicar of Dibley, All Creatures Great and Small—along with a whole host of irresistible movies, dramas, and sitcoms.

They’ve done a huge job of waving the GB flag, and I think you’re missing a trick if you’re not talking to some of your frequent UK travellers about how you can customise a tour that blends together leisurely On Location visits for their favourite TV shows with other must-see visits to castles, stately homes, cathedrals, literary shrines all washed down with some memorable meet the locals, pub lunches and suppers.

Here’s a handful of travel-less, see-more suggestions for you to consider. Read the rest of this entry »

Bustling and colourful Christmas markets in historic settings, spectacular re-imaginings and illuminated trails around treasure-filled castles and stately homes, pretty villages and market towns in full festive mode, carol singers, sparkling and highly decorated Christmas trees all over the place, Glühwein, mince pies and ice skating outdoors at famous London attractions.

Welcome to what’s happening across England THIS MONTH and, bearing in mind that they are all annual events, let me sow some seeds for some bright ideas that can be gift-wrapped to generate valuable extra commission in the run up to Christmas 2022. Remember, everything here takes place each year. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are a frequent reader of my Agent’s Perspectives, over the past 19 months or more, you will have seen dozens of bright ideas that will appeal to clients interested in castles, gardens and stately homes, on location and bookshelf tours, and the visual and performing arts. This week, the focus sharpens on a short stack of imaginative ideas for Women Only travel, which hopefully might strike a chord with you. There are more themed tour suggestions in the works!

Read on and let’s release the potential for some Girls Getaways to Britain. Read the rest of this entry »

With transatlantic flight restrictions being lifted NEXT MONDAY 8TH NOVEMBER, it’s really encouraging to see that United is adding five new flights to London’s Heathrow, including two more flights from New York/Newark, additional trips from both Denver and San Francisco, as well as an all-new direct flight from Boston. Hopefully, this confidence-boosting step will see other carriers following suit in the not-too-distant future. With UK flight connections slowly but steadily being resumed, take a closer look at some of the festivals and events that can become the foundations for a customised tour in June and July. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few months, I’ve written a great deal about some of the English regions you may be familiar with; but this week, I’m sharpening the focus on a destination you may not have come across before.

Welcome to the ancient county of Dorset, a less well-known area of stunning countryside and coastal scenery that can be traced back to the time of the dinosaurs and the Jurassic period. It has inspired great writers like Thomas Hardy and, among many other must-see attractions, is also home to no fewer than four former winners of the prestigious Historic Houses/Christies Garden Of The Year Award.

Located just to the west of Southampton, creative tour planners can bookend a few nights here with a couple in the cathedral city of Salisbury and two more in Winchester, the capital of England in Anglo-Saxon times.

Read on, check out the three videos and begin to experience what the region has to offer. You’ll be very pleasantly surprised.

Read the rest of this entry »

I know that during November and December, thoughts turn to either staying closer to home or heading for sunnier climes. Given the pent-up demand for UK-bound travel among many of your anglophile clients, use some of these ideas to start conversations about spending a few days in the UK, either side of Thanksgiving.

Several of them might be tempted sampling their favourite single malts among other aficionados at the Malt Whisky Festival in northeast Scotland, while others (like me) will be attracted to the baroque tones at the Mozartfest in the Georgian city of Bath. Others will like the of combining great stately homes and castles imaginatively dressed for the festive season with gluhwein, bratwurst, and mince pies at Christmas Markets in historic settings. Families will certainly enjoy taking a spin in some pretty spectacular locations in and around London.

Look closely. Think carefully. Opportunities to sell these brilliant ideas have been missed in the past. Don’t let them happen in the future. With so much to choose from, let’s fine-tune your choice, add a few more bells and whistles, and gift wrap it for your customers. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of your anglophile clients will have read about the new RHS Bridgewater Garden in their gardening magazines. I’ve put together a short stack of touring ideas which show how a visit can be included in a number of different itineraries in the north of England and North Wales with an extension to Ireland.

Using iconic names like the Beatles, Beatrix Potter, James Herriot (as recently enjoyed on PBS) Harry Potter and Dracula, this stunning new garden could give you the key that unlocks some profitable new perspectives on your old friend Britain.

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