TORONTO — You can never accuse The Travel Corporation (TTC) of resting on its laurels. Following a highly successful summer 2018 season, its Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold brands are already gearing up for 2019 with brand new brochures, both of which are being called their biggest collections yet.

Speaking to Travelweek at Toronto’s launch event yesterday, Insight Vacations’ CEO, Ulla Hefel Böhler, said that the company’s product offering has never been better after 40 years of business. Highlighted in its 230-page Europe & Britain 2019 brochure, Insight will travel to over 40 countries on 96 journeys and offer more than 70 Insight Experiences, which are characterized by authentic dining, stylish accommodations and small groups sizes.

New for next year is the 10-day ‘Northern Lights of Scandinavia’ itinerary, which includes a meet and greet with the owner of a husky farm, visits to Akershus Castle and the Royal Palace in Oslo, and a stay at the glass-roofed Aurora Village in Ivalo for the chance to view the Northern Lights from the comfort of one’s own bed.

Scandinavia, said Böhler, has always been popular for Insight during the summer months, but the company is now pushing it as a winter destination, too, that offers much more than just the Northern Lights. And because there are limited departures for ‘Northern Lights’, Böhler anticipates that it will sell out quickly.

This is all the more reason for agents to push for early bookings, said Brad Ford, President of Insight Vacations. “We’re telling travellers to not wait because you run the risk of not getting the journey of your choice,” he said. Insight’s Early Booking Bonus includes 10% off and runs until Jan. 31, 2019.

Also expected to sell well next year is a new 10-day Greek Island Hopper tour (“a great standalone itinerary” according to Ford), the newly enhanced ‘Jordan Experience’ (now featuring an overnight in Wadi Rum and a visit to the Iraq Al-Amir Women’s Cooperative), as well as Egypt, which Böhler said is making a big comeback for the company.

“We’ve been seeing so much business to Egypt, and we’re excited to say that numbers are finally coming back,” she said, adding that during a recent trip to the country, she was amazed by the sparse crowds and short lineups. “It’s much less crowded than it was before, now is definitely the time to go.”

Luxury Gold, which also offers Egypt, is anticipating another stellar year with its brand new Worldwide 2019 brochure. Featuring 55 itineraries (up from 48), the brochure offers “the best of independent travel and guided vacations,” said Brett Tollman, CEO of The Travel Corporation. The brand, a collection of high-end travel experiences that has been personally curated by TTC chairman (and Brett’s father) Stanley Tollman, was launched five years ago to bring back the golden era of travel.

“My father’s vision for Luxury Gold came about after seeing the success of Red Carnation Hotels and Uniworld (TTC’s high-end hotel and river cruise brands). He thought, ‘Why not do the same for land offerings?’” he told Travelweek.

In addition to upscale accommodations, gourmet dining, and 40-pax maximum group sizes (with some select journeys capping at 16 and even less, now with its new Group Travel and Bespoke Journeys department), Tollman highlighted Luxury Gold’s Travelling Concierge as one of the brand’s differentiating pillars, whose sole duty is to customize trips to create a unique experience for each client.

With such elevated touches, he described Luxury Gold as “the best of two worlds” (a hybrid of FIT travel and guided touring), and went so far as to put the brand above competitors A&K and Tauck. The difference, he said, is that Luxury Gold is much more agent focused.

“We don’t do consumer marketing, we rely heavily on our agent partners,” he said. The company’s personal guarantee is to never steal a customer, which is backed up by its Travel Wallet program. According to Tollman, 90% of its business is repeat clients who go back to the travel agent to book. “For the other 10% who come directly to us, we’ll still pay full commission to the original agent, even if they had nothing to do with the booking.”

And with Luxury Gold packages priced anywhere from $8,000-$10,000 – times two per booking – “the commissions are amazing,” he said.

Another value to agents is client testimonials, which are posted to TTC’s websites via third party platform Feefo. Clients are encouraged to provide post-trip feedback via email, which is then posted “with no interference from us,” said Tollman. “Consumers want validation from other consumers. By reading these reviews, they can book with 100% confidence.”

And although the volume of bookings for Luxury Gold is nowhere near that of Insight Vacations’, there’s room to grow, he added.

“Even though our numbers are still relatively small, we’ve grown exponentially over the past five years,” he said. “There’s plenty of capacity to grow further, which is why we need agent support.”

For more information go to insightvacations.com and luxurygoldvacations.com.