Adventure World will expand its First Footprints program to include Asia in 2013 as its Pacific Island itineraries continue to perform “exceptionally well”.
General manager product and marketing Neil Rodgers attributed the strong performance to an effective advertising campaign and the ability of the trade to recognise it was “not your typical Fiji” product.
“We’re planning to bring a much bigger range in 2013,” he promised.
A full Indonesia program is also on the cards to be supported by a “Beyond Bali” campaign, in response to agent demand.
Meanwhile, a major India campaign is expected to launch in August or September to help the destination bounce back from a period of decline in the wake of terror attacks.
Rodgers expected interest in the destination to start to pick up this year.
“India has already started to show growth in enquiries,” he said.
But the Middle East continues to be “really hard”, Rodgers admitted. However, bookings lost to Egypt and elsewhere in the region were being mopped up by destinations such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, he said.
The focus for the wholesaler is now to drive up the number of nights travellers are spending in the region, which currently average around four.
Adventure World’s standout destination over last year was unsurprisingly North America on the back of the strong dollar. Canada showed the strongest growth with a 30% increase in passenger numbers while the US climbed between 15% and 18%. Texas performed particularly well with the launch of the new direct air service to Dallas Fort Worth.
