NEW ORLEANS --
Viking River Cruises, after 10 years in the market as a specialist
in river-based journeys, said it will launch Viking Tours, a new
collection of ground packages to begin in January.
Brochures will be
in travel agents' offices as early as July 9, and the associated
Web site (www.vikingtours.com) will be operational at the same
time, the company said.
Viking officials
made the announcement at the annual Vacation.com conference here
June 27. Viking already is a preferred supplier for Vacation.com
agencies and for a number of other consortia, as well.
The 2008
wide-ranging offerings will consist of 10 ground packages of nine
to 15 nights and encompasses 25 countries.
Touching all
continents except North America, key destinations are Antarctica,
Argentina, Australia, Burma, Chile, East Africa, Egypt, the
Galapagos, India, Scandinavia and southern Africa. Extensions cover
Bhutan, Cambodia, Dubai, Iceland, Jordan, Peru and
Thailand.
Ted Sykes,
president of Viking Tours, said Viking River Cruises branched out
into ground programs in response to client requests and because it
believes the ground programs will be a productive source for
subsequent cross selling to the river cruise business.
He also said Viking
perceived a gap in the market for high-quality products that fall
between the top-of-the-line offerings and the trips created for the
cost-conscious traveler. He said he would characterize the Viking
product, priced to be inclusive, as deluxe rather than luxury, and
he referred to the tagline in the Viking brochure: "Exploring the
world in comfort."
Sykes said Viking
guarantees it will operate every departure listed in its brochure,
adding it shows "only 60% of the dates we have. ... I'm that
bullish I don't think we have enough dates; I think we'll
oversubscribe this."
Consumers who buy
and pay in full by Aug. 31 will receive a $500 discount ($1,000 per
couple). Base commissions are 12% of the brochure price for tours,
5% on full-price air and 10% on travel insurance.
To
contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Nadine
Godwin at [email protected].