Designing Alaska Land Tours Pays Off for New Jersey Agent

After developing and marketing custom tours to Alaska, New Jersey travel agent Jeff Sturman now finds that Alaska travel has grown to represent a third of his agency’s annual business.

Sturman, co-owner of Edison-based Best Cruises, offers exclusive “private label” tours that pair cruises on the major cruise lines with a land portion that he customizes for clients. The tours are marketed through the agency’s Cruises to Alaska web site.

Jeff and Ruth Sturman

Customized land portion
While Sturman said he doesn’t consider himself a tour operator in the literal sense, he noted that “we do operate tours in a way.”

“We put together a cruise portion and a land portion of a program” he explained. “And we customize the land program with visits to destinations, like Anchorage, overlooked by the cruise lines, lengthier excursions to key Alaska sites like Denali National Park, exclusive dinners and other inclusions.”

Princess operates both the cruise portion and Sturman’s land tour on longer programs. On shorter programs, Sturman pairs a cruise by Celebrity, Royal Caribbean or another major line with his custom land program that he has a local Alaska company operate.

Importance of a niche
Sturman and his wife Ruth established Best Cruises, an Ensemble agency, 19 years ago and began selling Alaska about 15 years ago. The agency, which has a staff of 15, is a member of the Alaska Travel Industry Association and the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Alaska travel, including the agency’s custom tours in combination with a cruise and the cruise lines’ cruise/land programs, represents about a third of the agency’s $6 million to $10 million annual business. General leisure travel accounts for the remainder.

“If you don’t have some kind of niche you’re in a lot of trouble,” Sturman said. “Whatever your thing is, you have to have something that’s special to you.”

Filling a gap
Sturman, who had personally travelled on cruise/land programs from Princess, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and other lines,
began developing Alaska tours to fill what he believes is a gap in the cruise lines’ programs.

“Although I did them all, there were always things that were missing,” he said. “The itineraries were not as consumer-friendly as they should be. They were set up more to make the suppliers more money, but were not necessarily the correct itineraries.”

For example, the cruise lines don’t offer any time in Anchorage beyond a night on arrival or departure, Sturman said.

“Many of their itineraries are geared to stays in the cruise line’s lodges. The lines don’t have any lodges in the city so guests are staying in hotels and whatever they spend has nothing to do with the cruise lines. Yet Anchorage is a great part of the Alaska experience.”

Sturman’s tours usually include two nights in the city to visit attractions like the world-class Anchorage Museum, the Alaska Native Heritage Center Museum, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and, just south of the city, the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail which offers stunning scenery and wildlife encounters.

“When we develop our custom tours we make sure we hit these spots,” Sturman said. “We offer an in-depth experience, a very upscale, inclusive experience with a knowledgeable guide. They’re like Tauck tours.”

Partners, not competitors

Sturman said the cruise lines don’t view his tours as competition but as a partnership. His company, after all, is using their product even though he has customized it.

Still, there are challenges, Sturman noted.

“As this business has grown it has started to interfere with the regular programs the suppliers have in terms of their normal logistics,” he said. “When there weren’t a lot of people on my programs it didn’t matter but now that the response is greater we’re battling for space a lot of the time.”

However, the situation has not threatened the agency’s relationships with the cruise lines, he added. “I know what their capacities are. I can’t ask for what doesn’t exist and I don’t ask for things that are unrealistic.”

He looks for solutions by changing ships, changing departure dates and possibly adding departures, Sturman said.