It’s been five months since Troy Ackerman (pictured) started as Total Holiday Options (THO) gm ANZ and he says he has big plans for the company which he believes is underestimated in this market.
Ackerman wants to see some serious growth from New Zealand. He says the company should be doing a lot better than it is given its size and the quality of its offerings. But he believes there’s a need to educate the trade, who he notes can be overwhelmed by all that THO offers.
“The company has been doing really well, but having come in with an outside perspective, we could be
doing a lot better,” he says. “I think we’re underestimated sometimes because there’s this perception we’re a small business.”
Small it is not. Globally THO is carrying 220,000 passengers a year, with 48 physical offices in specialist destinations and more than 600 dedicated staff. “It’s a significant operation by any measure,” he says.
. . . The Range
To get New Zealand where it should be, Ackerman is ‘going back to basics’ and focusing on highlighting to agents what exactly THO offers, saying at the moment no one really has ‘the full picture’. “We do small group tours, private escorted tours, large group tours and specialise in the Maldives,” he says. “We specialise in 12 different countries across Asia and the Indian Pacific and we are the DMC in all of those countries as well.”
The latter, he says, is among THO’s big points of difference: by owning and operating its own destination management companies, Ackerman says the Kiwi trade has the ability to be able to work with an in-country operator, but with the reassurance of working with an accredited New Zealand based wholesaler.
Small group touring also gets a special mention from Ackerman, who is well versed in this particular space, saying THO’s offerings are one of the industry’s biggest secrets. “I’m super impressed…it’s certainly one to look at and one that’s probably undervalued in terms of overall offerings.”
. . . Action
To get these points across, THO is this month launching a campaign to update agents on the operator’s key capabilities. Ackerman says he is also working on getting agents to experience the product first hand.
He is in the process of bringing back its top achievers trip, and says details will come in the next month or so. Trade famils are also in the works, as are more discounted rates for agents, with Ackerman saying agents need to experience the product to really understand it. “We are still exclusively a trade-only business…they’re our only source of business so it’s important we get them up to speed.” See more on the company, HERE.
