Where the pros go
If you are anything like me, curiosity gets the best of you when you see a cover story that gathers the major players from an industry near and dear to me and you … travel (I make this presumption because you are reading a blog about travel). Working at Collette Vacations, I had the opportunity recently to read a Travel Weekly article that gathers the chief editors of the most popular consumer travel publications from Afar, the new kid on the block, to mainstay pubs like National Geographic Traveler and Budget Travel and USA Today, in one room for a roundtable discussion.
Before I even get through the first paragraph, I’m thinking, “What’s on their wish list for the coming year and does it match up with our product pros here at Collette?” I figure that both travel editors and Collette product and tour managers do a lot of traveling which elevates them to expert status in my book. They have plenty of contacts around the globe and they have their finger on the pulse of travel trends, so they would know what’s hot now, right?
Perhaps…
Like all conversations, this one meanders and veers in different directions so the list of destinations culled from their discussion might actually fall in the context of emerging or it could be a hot destination now or a destination they are dreaming of going to or one that they just got back from. No matter the category it falls in, the list is an interesting mix of places we have all been shouting about for a while now and some not even on most travelers’ radar.
Slovakia, Jordan, Lebanon, South Africa, Tibet, Finland, China, India, Ethiopia, Namibia, The Congo, Poland, Chile, Argentina, Oman, Patagonia, Tanzania, Kenya, Mexico, New Orleans, Tuscany, South Africa, Thailand, New Zealand, Scandinavia
At Collette Vacations we have over 125 tours to all 7 continents so odds are if you see something of interest on this list then we’ve got a tour that goes there.
But odds being odd, there are a few we don’t visit and one destination that we have just recently developed a new tour around for next year.
Can you guess which destination that might be?
I’ll blog about it in my next post.
After reading the story I felt like I’d been given the opportunity to look into the crystal ball of travel. But do the places they mention (which perhaps will show up on the pages of their magazines and newspapers) translate into consumer action?
Perhaps…
A quick glance at Collette’s top tours reveals what you’d expect – Europe, the South Pacific, National Parks – but dig a bit further and there is a few surprises, too. Let’s just say the “up and comers” are gaining ground.
posted by Melissa McKee
Collette Vacations
Tags: Collette, Dream Destination, Escorted Tours, Tour Manager
