TORONTO — Marking the launch of its Sun & Fun, Cruises and Winter Europe catalogues for 2016-2017, Transat now becomes the all-encompassing brand name for this Canadian tour operator.
As of June 1, Nolitours and TMR Holidays will be phased out. Transat will also stop selling its Discoveries Collection tours in South America, Asia and Africa and will focus on destinations served by Air Transat.
The move will result in job losses; yesterday Transat A.T. confirmed it was eliminating 78 positions. Some 66 positions will be eliminated when the Toronto call centre closes Sept. 12. Another dozen jobs will be lost in sales and marketing departments in Montreal. Meanwhile 63 jobs at the cruise call centre in Montreal will be converted to more all-purpose positions.
At last night’s Transat event in Toronto, VP National Sales & Commercial Denise Heffron said “it’s time to move to one brand. The name Transat resonates well within our industry and with consumers and this will make it more efficient for our marketing in Canada.”
Transat will be offering all-inclusive packages to 34 destinations in Florida, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America and South America in the 2016-2017 season. With 565 hotels on offer, including 50 that are exclusive to the tour company, Transat gave a shout-out to partners Decameron Hotels & Resorts and Azul Fives by Karisma.
Transat Commercial Director Nicole Bursey explained the new flight additions for the 2016-2017 season, including the return of flights from Toronto to Managua, Nicaragua and Cartagena, Colombia, and Montreal to San Salvador, El Salvador. Additional flights include Halifax to Fort Lauderdale, Vancouver to Los Cabos, and Quebec City to Roatan. Webinars will be offered to travel agents to assist in selling these Latin American options to clients.
Transat’s collections are also seeing new hotel inclusions, with the Luxury Collection featuring eight new hotels (32 in total) and the Distinction Collection also featuring eight new hotels (45 in total). Bursey explained that The Solo Collection and Adult Collection have been very successful and have earned great satisfaction rates with customers.
For its Cruise Collection, Transat has 13 cruise partners, offering over 60 itineraries, 17 destinations and will be increasing its options in Cuba to twice weekly in the winter season with Celestyal Cruises. Cruises are now offered in the form of packages, including roundtrip flights and transfers. Bursey explained that Transat’s cruise packages make it easy for travel agents to add pre- or post-tours, especially for clients choosing ocean or river cruises in Europe.
New this year is a Super Early Booking Promotion for travel between Nov. 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017. Book any south package by June 30, 2016 and a deposit of only $100, and clients will receive price drop guarantee, the ability to modify dates up to three hours before departure, $50 future travel voucher and an upgrade to Option Plus, plus the agent can earn 10X BonBon rewards.
Transat catalogues will begin shipping to agents starting May 30. Meanwhile the new 2017 guided tours program in Europe and sun destinations will be featured in the new guided tours brochure, which will be launched in September.
