The fortunes of NRMA’s tourism and leisure division have recovered on the back of a streamlined product range, according to chief executive Brian Evans, as he acknowledged the business may have grown too quickly.
Speaking to Travel Today at Adventure World’s Senses of Asia and India roadshow, Evans claimed business was “trading the best it has ever been” despite a poor result in the last financial year.
Last July, the firm scaled back its Value Tours, Creative Cruising and Coral Seas brands, consolidating them under the Adventure World moniker. In addition, it is now focusing on five core programs – Asia and India, Africa and Arabia, Canada, USA and Alaska, South America and Islands and Beaches.
“In some ways, we had grown too fast and we didn’t have the infrastructure for that,” Evans admitted. “We had a lot of brochures for a lot of destinations, and really we weren’t capable of handling that volume.”
But he claimed focusing on five core programs was starting to yield results.
“We were also not capable of handling some of the niches we were in because you can spend a lot of time on a niche and some can be very profitable and some can just consume your time,” he said.
He referred to its ski product, saying ski consultants had been moved into areas such as North America to avoid the “highs and lows of a standalone ski business”.
Meanwhile, Adventure World executive general manager Andrew Mulholland insisted specialist brands Value Tours, Creative Cruising and Coral Seas would not vanish but would continue to exist within the five core areas.
For example, sales of Creative Cruising remained strong in Alaska, South America and Antarctica.
“For us, our future in cruising is more in that small ship, expedition experience in countries where we are strong, where we can add value with a land itinerary,” he said.
“You’ll see us use Coral Seas quite a lot and you may also see us use Value Tours in the future for different activities.”
While Mulholland admitted a tough economy, he remained “cautiously optimistic” regarding the future.
