Avanti Highlights Group Travel Growth with New Advisor Webpage

Group travel is on the rise, and travel advisors should be taking advantage. 

That’s according to Avanti Destinations, a wholesale tour operator that sells exclusively through travel agents. The company expects a 30% increase in custom groups business this year and has created a webpage of 10 group itineraries to inspire travel advisors. 

“Not only do advisors make more income on an itinerary for 10 or more passengers than they do for couples or individuals, without needing to do 10 times the work, but when a group has a wonderful experience, the same group is highly likely to return to that advisor, not only as a group, but also as independent travelers. As many advisors tell us, there is a growing trend towards people wanting to share their travel experiences with other people,” said Ricarda Haeger, director of group sales and operations. 

Avanti’s average group size for custom groups itineraries is 18 travelers with a typical maximum of about 32 people. An average group trip is eight days, and most include two or more destinations. 

On Avanti’s new Groups webpage, advisors can view group itineraries to places such as Japan, Spain, Chile, Ireland, London, and more. Many trips are themed around an interest such as golfing and sightseeing, wine tours, or cider tours. They can also be incentive business trips, where companies bring their top performers to a destination. 

Haeger explained that there are two kinds of custom groups: pre-formed and affinity. Pre-formed is “where the members know each other, have a firm idea of where and when they want to travel and what they want to do – these pre-formed groups search for a travel advisor to make all the arrangements,” Haeger said.  

“The other kind of group, affinity groups, accounts for far more of the business and takes some work on the part of the advisor to find, inspire, attract and motivate group members. But getting to know your local community, schools, organizations, teams, and clubs will yield very worthwhile results,” she added. 

Advisors can learn more at avantidestinations.com/groups.