Known for luxury and exotic destinations,
Abercrombie & Kent is anything but kids stuff -- until now.
A&K, which
has been bowled over by increasing demand for family travel in
recent years, is accommodating that demand with new
products.
To grab the
interest of younger clientele, A&K has launched AKAdventureCrew.com, a glitzy, welcoming Web site
designed for kids whose families have booked them on an A&K
tour.
With an
interactive animated figure as a hostess, the site enables kids to
choose from among 200 electronic postcards, learn basic phrases in
foreign languages or play games. It also gives them information
about the destination they will be visiting, including such
kid-friendly details as pictures of what the food will look like.
The sites soundtrack is the friendly, exotic sound of Putumayo
World Music.
Children booked
on the tours also receive an Adventure Crew DVD and a Club Kit -- a
backpack full of goodies.
So who
put the kids in A&K?
According to
A&Ks director of media relations, Pamela Lassers, the market
just took off. 
Between 2004 and 2005, the
company experienced a 30% increase in bookings that included
children under 18.
And the trend
continues. The family departure of Explorer II to Antarctica on
Dec. 19 is sold out. Demand for family travel to the Galapagos
Islands exhausted all the available cabins on the 13 family
departures that had been scheduled, so four more were
added.
But most of the
increase, surprisingly to A&K, was not in the departures the
company designated as family holidays but in independently booked
groups.
The biggest
change in the last five years is the increase in the number of
families traveling on tailor-made trips versus the small groups, or
what we used to call Family Holidays, said Lassers. We still have a
small family brochure, but where the growth has been is in the
tailor-made product, which can be completely customized for family
groups.
Lassers said that
more than 50% of the families traveling in 2006 booked tailor-made
itineraries. Families are also traveling farther afield.
It used to be the
U.S. and Europe, with Italy No. 1, said Lassers. We didnt get many
going on safari or to the Galapagos. Now it is much more
adventure-focused. Parents are looking at educational value. They
ask us about the qualifications of the guides. The site allows kids
to have a virtual experience of what it was like in Egypt long
ago.
One customer
described the effect in an e-mail to A&K: Our youngest daughter
was moderately interested in the family tour to Egypt until she
received her kit with a DVD for the Club. We were so thrilled in
our daughters sudden interest in our vacation. She is very excited
now, having chosen her own kit, and has been telling the family
information on the sightseeing ... shes learned from the Web
site.
Launched in
March,
the Adventure Crew is for kids
ages 6 to 14 who are booked on an A&K trip. All receive the Web
address for the Adventure Crew and are invited to the site to take
a personality test to determine which of three styles of kits will
be sent to them: an Explorer Kit, a Sports Kit or a Conservation
Kit.
Each has a
different color backpack; an A&K introductory DVD; a light-up
pen; a travel journal; a disposable, waterproof camera; playing
cards; and some other items that vary among the three
kits.
Many of the kids
have apprehensions before traveling to these far-away destinations,
said Lassers. We are trying to personalize it for them, familiarize
them with what it will be like, address their concerns.
Since the site
went live in mid-March, it has received 600,000 hits, Lassers
said.
To contact
reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to [email protected].