Insight Into Luxury
Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold celebrated their 2019 Europe and Britain launch yesterday (Oct. 18) in Toronto, with guests receiving an Insight Experience – a cooking demonstration – and Luxury Gold dining experience at Estia restaurant.
Special guests included Brett Tollman (left in top photo), CEO and president of The Travel Corporation, and Ulla Hefel Böhler (c) , CEO, Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold.
Speaking with PressToday, Böhler noted that this year’s Insight program features 96 itineraries in Europe, and a range of 70 authentic “Insight Experiences.”
“We get up close and personal to the destination and introduce you [our guests] to local characters,” she said. “We go deeper into the destination, it’s more immersive.”
For example, at the Book of Kells in Trinity College in Dublin, Insight groups are given a tour by a professor of the college, who also studied there.
Insight Vacations’ 2019 Europe and Britain collection features with 96 journeys – including three new trips to Scandinavia and Greece.
In addition, the tour operator has enhanced several other itineraries, including its Jordan Experience with a visit to the Iraq Al-Amir Women’s Cooperative, an Insight Cares and TreadRight project, Israel Discovery with a new Dine-at-Home lunch experience, and Easy Pace Malta with visits to Valetta and Mdina.
A tip for agents from Brad Ford (right in top photo), president, Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold in Canada, is to book early as many of these programs sell out early. Not only do clients get what they want, but they can also take advantage of special early booking bonuses, such as 10% savings for those who book and pay in full by Jan. 31.
“As the Europe Specialists for the past 40 years, we highly value our loyal travel advisors and our goal is to help make 2019 their best booking year ever with our ‘Insight Difference’ by offering clients incredible activities, meaningful interactions and the best value across our 96 European premium guided journeys,” said Ford. “We have already seen a significant increase in advanced 2019 bookings and we anticipated client demand by highlighting special times to visit certain destinations such as festivals with the locals including the Venice Carnival, Bastille Day, Oktoberfest, Edinburgh Tattoo and Christmas Markets.”
New for next year is a Northern Lights of Scandinavia tour, a 10-day Country Roads Journey that begins in Helsinki.
“We show our guests the insights, not just the sights,” said Böhler.
Yesterday’s luncheon also included the launch of Luxury Gold’s new 2019 worldwide magazine featuring 55 luxury guided journeys, which offer VIP experiences with the emphasis on “personalization and exclusivity.”
Personally curated by The Travel Corporation chairman, Stanley Tollman, Luxury Gold is a collection of exceptional travel experiences unlike any other including the exclusive Chairman’s Collection, offering a rare opportunity to meet legendary locals such as Princess Anita von Hohenberg at her Austrian castle to making music in Nashville with Grammy Award-winning musician, Charlie McCoy.
“We’re bringing back the golden age of travel,” said Ford. “We’re taking guests on a journey beyond the ordinary.”
Böhler noted that luxury is not all about marble and gold taps, it’s about money can’t-buy experiences.
“For the 2019 edition of our Luxury Gold magazine, we are continuing to share inspiring stories from our tastemakers, 17 individuals who are passionate about travel, food, wine, art, music and history,” she said. “These tastemakers stories are a great selling tool for our amazing travel advisors and are opportunity to refine their knowledge on our exceptional experiences with this shareable content.”
Tollman noted that with the price tag of some of these journeys, it’s a good opportunity for travel agents to earn healthy commissions.
(https://www.insightvacations.com, https://www.luxurygoldvacations.com/ca)
