Collette's Bucket List Worthy Trips

If there’s one thing Collette has learned during its 102-year tenure as a travel provider, it’s that bigger isn’t necessarily better. That’s why a key focus for the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-headquartered company is its small group Explorations product, where trip sizes range from 14-24 travellers, opening the door to more intimate opportunities in a destination.

Collette president Jaclyn Leibl-Cote says being able to cater to experiential experiences gives travel agents the potential to grow their client base.

“There aren’t a lot of small group tour operators, barely any that are preferred or in the travel agent space – a lot of them are direct-to-consumer organizations that sell a lot. That’s a huge opportunity for travel agents to take market share from those direct-to-consumer companies and be able to see and have happy travellers who want to come back because it’s a great in-depth experience,” she tells Travel Courier. “You can really find new customers that they can have as repeat customers who are going and doing this more experiential type of travel that they didn’t even realize existed.”

Whether it’s walking through remote lush green jungles of Costa Rica or leading a dog sled team across the snowy landscape in Finland, the itineraries provide access to unique places and intimate experiences larger groups may not be able to access.

“The exotic destinations are a likely match for that, but also people are looking for smaller groups in the guided travel space so expanding in Europe is definitely something that makes sense for us,” she adds.

As for the role of travel agents, she says they are the key to help clients decipher all the available options and to match them with what best suits their needs and interests. Read More.