General Manager – Fazal Baig

Travelpack specializes in long-haul destinations like India and Africa. And while it’s headquartered in the UK, its Mississauga, Ontario office makes Travelpack very much close to home for many Canadian travel agents. For this edition of Friday 5, general manager Fazal Baig talks about the company’s growth since its inception in 1981 and why Travelpack is tapping into the Canadian market.

 1. Travelpack is all about long-haul. What are the company’s areas of expertise, when it comes to long-haul destinations?

Baig: India and Africa are the most diverse and enchanting destinations in the world and they’re our long-haul destinations from North America. Travelpack’s destination specialists offer first-hand knowledge and expertise to our travel trade partners.

2. Travelpack has been around since 1981. How has the company grown over 34 years?

Baig: Travelpack has grown to be one of the UK’s largest independent travel companies specializing in tours, holidays and flights to destinations around the world. It started as a small agency. Today Travelpack employs over 300 staff globally with offices in the UK, India and Canada. A winner of many travel awards, Travelpack is proud to be leading the Industry in offering personalized travel services to its clientele.

3. Travelpack opened a Toronto-area office not too long ago. How important is the Canadian market to your operations?

Baig: North America has always been a dynamic market and Canada in particular has a lot of unexplored potential. The travel trend has always been positive, giving us many avenues to explore both internally and externally. Part of our strategy is to specialize in niche markets especially with Disability Tourism which we feel has huge potential.

4. What sort of incentives do you have for Canadian travel agents?

Baig: At the moment we offer agents 10% commission on all our tour packages except for our current Companion Offer on Kenya Safaris. We will be announcing our 2015 incentive program in the upcoming weeks.

5. What do you want agents to know about Travelpack, that they might not already be aware of?

Baig: We have many new and exciting programs planned for 2015, with the launch of our new Central America program offering exotic destinations including Panama, Costa Rica and Belize. We’ll also be announcing our Accessible Travel Program in the upcoming months.