Tucan Travel sees the pitfalls in trying to be all things to all travellers. “Sure, we can add 20 more countries to our already 70, but this would mean letting someone else run the tours for us. And … we don’t want to compromise the quality control aspect,” says Tony Perdomo, Director, North America, Tucan Travel, in this edition of Friday 5.

1. Tucan Travel has been around since 1987, but for any agents who might not be familiar with the company, what do you want Canadian travel agents to know about Tucan’s destinations, travel styles and overall trip experience?
“We are Latin America specialists offering both group adventure tours as well as being able to customize any itinerary in this region. Sure, we can add 20 more countries to our already 70, but this would mean letting someone else run the tours for us. And since we are all about quality over quantity, we don’t want to compromise the quality control aspect just for the sake of adding more trips in our brochures.

“Speaking of which, we have a ‘Worldwide Adventures’ program that caters to all ages, and an ‘Adventures for 20s & 30s’ lineup that limits the age to 39, and together these cover the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Antarctica. Our passengers find our trips to be great value for quality, and they love having the opportunity to travel with like-minded travellers from around the world who prefer to immerse themselves in the local culture.”

2. Tucan Travel opened its Toronto sales office this past spring. What sort of outreach have you been doing with Canadian travel agents, to tell them all about Tucan?
“To spread the word we released some press releases as well as having both myself and our Western Canada BDM Crystal Cornthwaite doing many in-house trainings with agencies across Canada. At the same time we ran three fams to Peru in August and September, where 45 agents (19 Canadians) got a first-hand look at one of our bestselling destinations. We are also about to launch some webinars to showcase our best brochure to date. Also we will be attending the Outdoor Adventure Shows early next year.”

3. How is the Canadian market performing for Tucan?
“Canadians are constantly looking for an alternative to the all-inclusive staple, and they’re catching on that even though we’re not a five-star operator, the service we deliver appeals to them more than having access to 100 channels in the room … or eating your weight at the buffets. They are intrigued by the thought of staying at locally-owned, centrally-located properties (no chains), seeing the countryside by riding safe, local transport (both public and private) and getting insights from the local guides. We know that adventure travel is on the rise and we are happy to be an option for them.”

4. What are some of the most-requested destinations from the Canadian market?
“Canadians have been loving Peru since day one, but in the last three years we’ve seen many come on our Central America tours (especially Costa Rica), Colombia, Vietnam, Patagonia and our Eastern European tours through the Balkans. We launched new trips to Iceland this year, and we expect this to be well received by our ‘Maple Leaf baggage tag’ friends.”

5. What can agents look forward to from Tucan in 2017?
“Like I mentioned earlier, we’re introducing upcoming destinations like Iceland and even unique hiking tours in Romania and Bulgaria. We’ve also just introduced North America into the regions that we cover.

“We are looking to open on Saturdays to serve the Canadian market better.

“We always strive to host more and more fams each year so that agents can see first-hand what a great product we deliver.

“Our customer service will be among the best in the industry as we are always hiring seasoned and experienced travel professionals.

“We are expanding our team, and I just brought Crystal on to represent Western Canada; this will enable more in-person agent visits.

“We are very excited about our growth and I am sure that 2017, our 30th anniversary, will be our best year yet!”