Tully Luxury Travel Uses Canada's 150th Anniversary To Impress Clients
by Doug Gollan /Fogo Island is one of two bespoke trips the company created to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary next year. Photo: Timothy Neesam
To celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary next year, Toronto-based Tully Luxury Travel is creating two bespoke trips for its clients, one to the Rockies and the other to Fogo Island. Travel Market Report spoke to its COO Jason Sarracini about what motivated the retailer to put these journeys together, and how he is hoping it will impact business.
TMR: Is this the first time you've created a trip around something like this—a national anniversary?
JS: Yes it is. Lonely Planet just named Canada its #1 country to travel in for 2017.
TMR: Have you done anything else close to this before?
JS: We are constantly curating bespoke experiences. We currently have a dedicated trip to India for women in March 2017 led by one of our senior travel designers. But this is the first time we have designed this kind of experience. It’s about access and exclusivity. We’ll have more of them to announce soon.
TMR: How did the idea come about?
JS: We were brainstorming about Canada’s 150th and wanted to do something truly unique. Soft adventure is in high demand right now, and there is no better place than the Rockies. If you can walk around your dinner table, you can heli-hike in the Rockies. Secondly, is there a better story than the Fogo Island Inn? It defines a sustainable project, and It’s won every hotel award possible. We want our guests to experience the best of Canada next year.
TMR: Are there plans to do more trips like this in the future?
JS: Absolutely. What we are working on is pretty exciting!
TMR: In addition to selling the trips, do you see any other benefits accruing to Tully Luxury Travel via PR, awareness, leadership, etc.?
JS: I believe these type of trips display leadership in terms of bespoke travel curation. Luxury is defined today by experience, and we look to be leaders in terms of experiential travel, whether that be a cruise, safari or trip to the Rockies.
TMR: Any other comments?
There has never been a better time to be a travel professional and to be able to build these incredible trips for our global clients.
