PHOTO: Washington, D.C., is the destination in one of Amtrak Vacations’ new family weekend programs. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia/Wknight94.

For the second consecutive year, both Amtrak Vacations (AV) and Yankee Holidays (divisions of Yankee Leisure Group) have boosted and broadened their product lines. The two brands offer more than 300 packages to more than 40 destinations in North America. During that expansion they’ve also diversified the product they offer with independent, fully escorted, rail-and-sail and stand-alone rail journeys.

“Three years ago about 3 percent of our bookings were packages and the rest were completely FITs,” says Frank Marini, the president of the Yankee Leisure Group (YLG). “Today, we sell 70 percent packages and 30 percent FITs.”

In order to reach that point, the company looked closely at what their customers were purchasing. “We studied what our FIT passengers were choosing with an algorithm that looks for trends and tendencies. We also listened in on sales calls for about two hours every week. We went about creating packages that combined what [customers] were requesting on their own but also cultivated a product line with our ideas about things we thought they’d like to be doing if they knew about them. It’s a fine line.”

The new 2015-2016 AV brochure has more than 25 new packages, including a series of Family Weekend Getaways that includes such destinations as Chicago, New York City, Niagara Falls, San Diego, Seattle and others. “Trains are a great medium for family travel because they facilitate time to actually spend with your family,” says Marini. “On driving vacations so much goes into paying attention to the road that real family time is diminished. The way trains are set up, you can talk face to face as you’re exploring the country.”

The brochure also expanded its lineup of destinations. “National parks have always been popular with AV travelers, but they’ve gotten even more popular,” says Marini. “The Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and Yosemite continue to thrive.” The new nine-day “Glacier National Park Escorted Vacation” includes three full days inside the park with overnight stays at the Glacier Park Lodge. The journey also visits Chicago and Seattle on board Amtrak’s Empire Builder.

A Return to Domestic Travel

PHOTO: Amtrak Vacations has expanded its offerings throughout the U.S.

“We were seeing a real return to domestic travel by sophisticated travelers,” says Marini. “To stimulate that we started introducing creative themes like ‘The Route 66 by Rail’ package, the ‘Barbecue in America’ package and others. The ideas could come from such sources as TV shows or from friends. What were people requesting?”

The new partnership between YLG and Norwegian Cruise Line has all the feel of a European approach to travel. Rail and cruise in partnership without a jet plane in sight. AV’s Rail and Sail product line together with Yankee Holidays created New York City packages that combine a getaway program with Norwegian cruises from the city.

Hotels, sightseeing, Broadway shows, dining, transfers can all now be easily combined with Norwegian’s cruises from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal to the Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Southern Caribbean, New England and Canada. “With the decline in air lift, this partnership becomes more strategic as it allows us to continue to increase our reach to support our growing home port cruising markets,” says Camille Olivere, Norwegian Cruise Line’s senior vice president of sales, North America.

“We have seen patterns of multiple trips per year of between three and six days,” says Marini. “The getaways are great for this kind of traveler, while the Independent Journeys tend to be longer, seven or eight days.” Some 62 percent of AV’s travelers now fly to the city their package departs from and, says Marini, “The shorter the trip, the more likely it is to be within driving distance for the traveler.”

The continuing emergence of rail travel in the U.S. took another step with the partnership announced this summer between the Ensemble Travel Group (www.joinensemble.com), AV (www.AmtrakVacations.com) and Yankee Holidays (www.yankeeholidays.com). The rising popularity of domestic travel was front of mind for Ensemble. “I think people’s interest in broadening their knowledge of the world also applies to their desire to experience it closer to home – what’s ‘in their own backyard,’ so to speak,” says Suzanne Hall, Ensemble’s senior director, hotel and land division.

The deal provides Ensemble members with a whole new product line of rail and independent travel packages throughout the U.S. and Canada. Ensemble Travel Group is a member-owned international organization of some 850 travel agencies in the U.S. and Canada. All Amtrak-appointed travel agencies can earn 8 to 10 percent commission on AV packages and group tickets. Signature is also coming on board as an AV partner.

AV will benefit from the consortia’s penchant for training. “We have a team dedicated to training,” says Hall. “We are always equipping our members with the information they need to serve their customers.”

European Connections

Marini believes that Europe’s success at selling rail travel as the best way to explore that region is helping American trains to become more appealing to Americans. About 80 percent of AV’s passengers are American, but a large percentage, about 20 percent and growing, are European. AV has been increasingly marketing itself in Europe at such shows as ITB in Berlin. In October, the Yankee Leisure Group (YLG) and Great Rail Journeys, a leading British rail tour operator, formed a partnership that will add European rail vacations to YLG’s Unique Rail Journeys portfolio of products in the U.S. market. Sample itineraries include the Highlights of Tuscany, the Grand Alpine Explorer, Enchanting Emerald Isle and the Grand Imperial Cities (Prague, Vienna and Budapest).

Alternately, Great Rail Journeys will offer YLG’s Amtrak Vacations’ Independent Journeys in the U.K. market. “This partnership allows YLG to continue our growth of our Amtrak Vacations packages from the U.K. market.” said Marini.

“There’s a renaissance of rail travel going on,” says Hall. “Because of security, a lot of people are eschewing air travel, and even the most experienced travelers are sometimes looking to avoid the hassle of flying, and trains offer a nice change of pace. Anyway, people are always looking for something different, and trains fit the bill. AV is offering a good diversity of product

“Increasingly, train travel is turning up on the bucket lists of American travelers,” says Marini. “It’s more appreciated as an experience than it used to be. Adding to our success is the success that Amtrak’s been enjoying; last year was their best year. They carried 31 million passengers.”