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As part of a new ‘paper lite’ sales strategy Bales is launching one printed brochure for 2010/11, the ‘Inspirational Journey Guide’. This covers all of the operator’s 36 destinations and replaces the six regional brochures Bales have produced in previous years. This is estimated to save 35 tonnes of paper – equivalent to the weight of three double-decker buses.
This change follows research conducted with both Bales’ clients and agents which showed an overwhelming preference to use the web to research travel and access detailed itinerary information. The changing customer profile also means that Bales’ sales are now dominated by tailor-made travel bookings, making up 70% of business.
The brochure covers ideas and suggested itineraries for the 36 worldwide destinations Bales operate to (sub-divided into Egypt, Arabia and Morocco, Africa, India and the Subcontinent, Canada and Alaska and the Orient) as well as introducing the operator’s 47 Classic and Select Online Journey Guides which give extensive details on the intricacies of each trip and can be viewed in full at balesworldwide.com/journeyguides.
Iain Fenton, Bales Worldwide sales and marketing director comments, “We wanted to take this brave step to demonstrate how we can deliver the highest quality information online for our clients without being weighed down by endless brochures whose price and products soon become out of date.”
The lead in price for the ‘Inspirational Journeys Guide’ brochure is just £545 per person for the new 5 day ‘Short Break in Cairo’ itinerary including return flights, transfers and 4 nights accommodation at the historic Mena House, Sofitel El Gezirah or the Villa Belle Epoque – Cairo’s first boutique hotel.
In line with the industry the majority of prices for the 2010 programme have remained static or have decreased by an average of 3%.
“We expect some clients will still wish to take advantage of our service to order printed journey itineraries by phone or email, however we really hope the trade helps us to embrace this change. With an estimated 180 million brochures produced each year in the UK we want to do our bit to cut this down,” added Fenton.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
