Wendy Wu unveiled its first worldwide brochure to the trade last night. After a successful introduction of sell-out tours to South America and South Africa earlier this year, the new 2017 brochure covers New Zealand, Australia, Namibia, Russia, the Galapagos, Peru, Ecuador, Patagonia and Costa Rica.
Wendy Wu, founder of Wendy Wu Tours, told TTG: “We are a specialist tour operator through and through. We used to be a specialist for Asia, and we have become a specialist for hand-held 24/7 service. What we are used to doing in Asia, we are now taking that to other destinations – the best sightseeing and the best service.”
Among the eight new worldwide tours is the 16-day Colours of Costa Rica from £3,790pp; a 22-day Grand Tour of New Zealand from £5,990pp; the 21-day Great Australian Adventure from £6,590; Islands and Incas, a 14-day tour combining the Galapagos and Machu Picchu from £5,490pp and Journey to the World’s End, a 16-day tour of wild extremes, from Patagonia to the Atacama Desert, from £5,490. There are also two Russia tours, one with a six-night river cruise along the Volga.
Commercial director Joe Sutcliffe told TTG: “When we launched our tours to South Africa and South America earlier this year, they were remarkably successful without too much promotion. This led to a firm decision to open up new destinations.”
All eight tours will be available on both an escorted group and private touring basis. There will be a limited number of group departures, and Sutcliffe urged agents to act quickly to secure bookings on these: “We do expect these to sell out in the next couple of months – but we will be ready to open up more departure dates if necessary.”
He also said the worldwide programme would continue to grow, based on customer demand: “We always ask out customers, where do they want to go? We haven’t touched North America yet and we can do more in South America and Africa definitely.”
All the tours are fully inclusive except for Australia and New Zealand, where customers can enjoy a few evening meals independently. Sutcliffe explained that all the Wendy Wu hallmarks would be present: expertise, authentic experiences and world-class guiding. “Sydney, Rock and Reef is a classic route, but adding Tasmania and unique experiences such as dinner on a tram in Melbourne makes it a more interesting and novel product,” he explained.
