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11 August, 2023

Beyond Travel CEO on the brand’s successful post-pandemic bounce back

By Zach Havard

Beyond Travel has announced a tremendous post-pandemic comeback seeing it reach 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels with growth projected to double by the end of 2024.

The company is now firmly back and set to roll out a series of incentives for travel agents and promotions to capture customer bookings for destinations across Europe.

Commenting on the rebound, Michael Lavilles, CEO of Beyond Travel said, “Despite the unprecedented challenges, we were able to strengthen our market position by retaining our expertise in-house.”

“Where others cut, we kept.

“Our staff are the assets of our company so by retaining their knowledge and know-how this now pays handsomely because we’re not starting from scratch.”

In a time where digital interfaces are starting to take over more and more, Beyond Travel is a strong supporter of face-to-face communication. Agents working with Lavilles are highly encouraged to interact directly with the company’s qualified employees to get in-depth service.

“We are well known for answering phone enquiries within three rings, and our staff is able to provide detailed information about our products almost immediately,” Lavilles, said.

Product differentiation and the willingness to move on trends ahead of the curve gives Beyond Travel a competitive advantage.

“When other wholesalers refused customer requests for travel to non-core destinations, Beyond Travel made the decision to take a position that was in opposition to the norm,” Lavilles, continued.

“We’re one of the very few that said yes to travel agent requests, to develop product in destinations that were not core decades ago.”

Sri Lanka, Montenegro, The Baltics, Lapland and Iceland are but some of the more exotic destinations the company has been traversing for 30 years.

And agents love that about us and now we’re ready to invest in agents even further with famils, competitions and travel agent discounts becoming available to show our commitment to the trade. We also remain committed to our partnerships with AFTA and CATO too

The company’s robust alliances and one-of-a-kind solutions bolster the competitive edge that it possesses with unique product offerings across regions including cruising Croatia with exclusive boat charters, The Baltics, Scandinavia and Iceland.

“We can leverage our expertise and purchasing power on behalf of our clients, which ensures that they will receive a great service at the most cost-effective rate possible.”

“The ease of sale and strong partnerships we have built over many years, combined with our Signature Journeys, offer a unique product that is backed by our expertise and understanding of what a client needs,” Lavilles says.

Lavilles also discusses how Beyond Travel handled the COVID crisis and managed to keep its customer base intact despite the large number of cancelled trips and unpredictability.

“When it comes to credits and extensions, we have been generous. According to Lavilles, “we’ve kept a lot of our customers who are travelling either now or next year.”

“And when it comes to receiving refunds and credits, we have extremely solid agreements in place. The investment in goodwill bodes well with our customers and is added reassurance for our travel agent partners.”

Results of these measures are showing with the CEO discussing the encouraging growth numbers the company has witnessed during COVID’s aftermath, now recovery is in full swing.

“For the current fiscal year, we’re approximately 90 per cent of where we were pre-COVID. We expect to double our business by the end of 2024,” says Lavilles.

The company will be announcing new product and promotions in the coming weeks including savings for bookings by the end of September for winter in Europe 2023.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

Beyond Travel Michael Lavilles Pre-COVID vs Post-COVID wholesale