Recommend March 2011 - (Page 8)

agent speak 2011 guide to latin america This issue includes a guide to Latin America, so we asked you (on Facebook): “What’s your favorite destination in Central or South America & why? Here are a couple of the comments we received: I would vote for Panama. Why? From a travel agent’s perspective as well as a traveler, this small country has so many different opportunities to offer. Panama has history, art, a perfect place for nature lovers and adventurers, a popping nightlife, casinos, great shopping, and plenty of leisure to go around. And most of all, let’s not forget the Panama Canal, one of the Great Wonders of the World. I lived in Panama for several years while in the U.S. Army and I know its beauty from the jungles to the city. If your customers are looking for anything that does not include snow, Panama is a perfect destination. Visit Recommend magazine’s Member Education Center and take the Panama Specialist Course. It is very informative and worth the effort.—Terry Kaas PURA VIDA! Costa Rica! Rainforest, cloudforest and beaches—oh my.... Beautiful scenery, proud people, so much to experience.—Dena Yaeger U notes editor’s worthy information Love this magazine. Read every issue and pass articles on to clients.—Cathy Worthington Every travel professional should have a subscription to this magazine!—GoodLife Grouptravel Unless you’ve spent the last couple of months on Mars, you’re more than aware of the difﬁculties in Egypt and the Middle East over this time period. But despite all the news coming out of that region, it can still be difﬁcult to accurately address what the situation is regarding travel there. As of press time, the U.S. State Department had still not relaxed its travel warning to Egypt and yet ﬂights are ﬁlling up again and many U.S. tour operators are booking vacations, including IsramWorld, which has its own ofﬁce in Cairo. According to Ady Gelber, owner and CEO of IsramWorld, “Within hours of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, IsramWorld’s Egypt’s reservation phone lines started ringing. Agents were calling to inquire about reinstating Egypt bookings they’d cancelled a week earlier. New inquiries started to come in—not hundreds, of course, but a dozen or more. Requests for IsramWorld Egypt brochures started again after 18 days of silence,” he says. “Our ofﬁce in Cairo is open and operating at full steam, and the staff of IsramWorld Egypt is preparing for a bright future. IsramWorld was the ﬁrst U.S. tour operator to combine Egypt with tours to Israel in the wake of the Camp David Accords, and in the ensuing decades we have grown into one of the largest U.S. operators to Egypt...the only U.S. operator with its own ofﬁce and its staff on the ground in Cairo,” he adds. Moira Smith, Goway Travel’s general manager for Africa and the Middle East, is also conﬁdent bookings will be back up this month, especially because of better pricing opportunities that are sure to be available to kick-start travel. “What we’re seeing is people are willing to start moving forward,” she says. “We’re not seeing a huge inﬂux of calls just yet, but I certainly expect that by peak season it will be business as usual.” In terms of pricing, Smith says Goway will deﬁnitely be offering some pricing incentives to get things going again. “In fact, speaking with some suppliers, there’s a huge move of all the suppliers to get together in conjunction with the tourism boards to see what they can do to motivate and generate more business to Egypt. So I think that will be very positive for our customers.” And, while the U.S. travel warning to Egypt is still up, many other Western nations have dropped theirs, including Germany, the U.K., Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. And keep in mind, no USTOA tour operator would ever agree to send one of your clients into harm’s way, something that might be a good idea to mention to clients who may be considering a trip to Egypt. As Gelber points out, “None of us knows where the future will take us. But Egypt’s glories have survived 5,000 years of extraordinary history, and they will survive the current weeks’ extraordinary events.” With that in mind, this month’s “Exploring Antiquity” feature—which was planned before the crisis in Egypt and the Middle East began—is indeed one to earmark as it covers tour itineraries in Egypt, Israel and Jordan, as well as Nile River cruise opportunities. In the coming months, we’d also like to hear about your experiences booking travel to Egypt and the Middle East—write to us at agentspeak@recommend.com. next month You won’t want to miss our 2011 Guide To The Caribbean, The Bahamas and Bermuda, a complete compendium of travel attractions, festivals and resort vacation opportunities in the region. We’ll also take you Down Under to Australia and New Zealand and on some culinary tours of Latin America, plus a whole lot more. Until then and as always, have a great read.—Rick Shively Responses, opinions and comments are welcome at agentspeak@recommend.com. Recommend reserves the right to edit letters submitted to Agent Speak. 8 march 2011 recommend.com http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend March 2011

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk
Tour Talk
Disney Dream
Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico
Baja Airventures
Central Gems of Japan
2011 Guide to Latin America
The Tastier Side of Central Japan
Ireland With Brian Moore International Tours
Exploring Antiquity: Egypt, Israel & Jordan
Sailing Into Antiquity on the Nile
Florida's Ever-Changing Hotel Landscape
Riding North America's Rails
Small Ships in the Old South
Turks & Caicos Keeps Expanding
St. Lucia—Beyond the Pitons

Recommend March 2011