New Horizons for Tours
Top operators keep pushing the envelope with new programs for 2015

PHOTO: African Travel takes clients to Madikwe Safari Lodge.
Companies are putting their final touches on their 2015 tour schedules and the results are pushing the envelope of travel boundaries. The following are some of the coming highlights.
Abercrombie & Kent relaunched its private jet series with new fold-out flat seats. A&K’s privately chartered Boeing 757-200ERs carry 50 passengers and now have seats that fold out into beds. The first private jet program to use the newly configured cabin will be the “Wonders of the World by Private Jet” trip in 2015, which includes Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, Easter Island, the Taj Mahal, Samoa, the Sydney Opera House and Istanbul. A&K is also introducing other new programs in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. www.abercrombiekent.com.
Adventures by Disney is offering a new series of tours that are aligned with specific Disney films. Tour developers worked with filmmakers to create tour tie-ins to Disney films. The movie Big Hero 6, for example, is tied into ABD’s four-day/three-night San Francisco/Napa itinerary, visiting sites in San Francisco that were used as models in the film. Other movie tie-in tours are based on the films “Frozen,” “Brave” and “Nashville.” www.adventuresbydisney.com.
PHOTO: Adventures by Disney takes families to Nashville (above) and San Francisco (below).
PHOTO: Families can experience Scotland like Merida in “Brave” with Adventures by Disney.
African Travel is presenting three new itineraries. “Zimbabwe beyond the Rainbow” takes clients beyond Victoria Falls to see what else Zimbabwe has to offer, including visits to the Hwange and Mana Pools national parks. “South African Tapestry” shows a broad cross-section of the country, including big cities, wildlife reserves and the seacoast. “Authentic Kenya” is a winged safari through Kenya and the Masai Mara. The company has also added more Add+Adventure components to choose from. www.africantravelinc.com.
Alexander + Roberts is for the first time offering programs for North America, with three of its seven new cruise tour programs. The North American trips are “The Great Lakes + Saint Lawrence from Chicago to Montreal,” “The Canadian Maritimes from Montreal to Portland” and “New England and the Atlantic Seacoast from Portland to Nassau.” Also in the series are cruise tours of the Caribbean, Latin America and the Mediterranean and the Baltic seas. In Asia, the company is packaging some new combinations, including Japan and China; Thailand and Myanmar; and a river cruise program. Also new is an event called “Italy’s Jewish Legacy” and a hosted program from Krakow to Prague, with a seven-night Danube River cruise. www.alexanderroberts.com.
Austin Adventures has five new family trips, including ones to the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone in the winter, Machu Picchu, the Scottish Highlands and the Dalmatian Coast. Austin Adventures is also offering a series of adults-only programs, including one in Death Valley; a Mekong River cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia; a Galapagos Islands luxury cruise and a Chobe river cruise in Namibia and Botswana. www.austinadventures.com.
Bicycle Adventures is launching a new Family Cycling Series consisting of three trips designed for families and using only nonmotorized-bike paths and trails. http://bicycleadventures.com.
Big Five Tours and Expeditions is introducing Uruguay as a new, stand-alone destination for 2015. The country was previously offered only as an extension from Argentina. www.bigfive.com.
Collette is offering a number of new tour programs for 2015, including a seven-day “Winter in Yellowstone,” a 10-day “Wonders of Newfoundland,” and a 22-day “Complete South America,” which follows a route from Rio de Janeiro to Lima, Peru, traveling through Argentina and Chile and visiting Iguazu Falls, Tijuca Forest National Park, Buenos Aires and the Chilean wine district before finally concluding in Peru with visits to Machu Picchu and Cuzco. Also new are the 10-day “Splendid Sicilia” program, “Spotlight on Barcelona,” “Spirit of the Emerald Isle” and “Spectacular Scandinavia.” www.gocollette.com.
Goway Travel is making available a number of new programs, including a cruise-tour product called “Circumnavigate Iceland” and a “Volcanoes and Glaciers” coach tour of Iceland. Goway is also making available a special VIP Luxury product line for over-the-top luxury. In addition, it has a new “Off the Beaten Track” package for Guyana. The company is offering two new islands in the Pacific, Savusavu and Taveuni, the northern islands of Fiji, noted for great coral reefs and diving. Places that are becoming new hot destinations for Goway include The Maldives for romance packages; Cook Islands for a high-value winter escape; Ethiopia, which is moving from the shadows and starting to take off; and, of course, Iceland. www.goway.com.
Insight Vacations has many new itineraries for 2015, including a two-week “Country Roads” exploration of Southern England, the Channel Islands and Normandy. There are also new tours in Spain, Morocco, Greece, The Balkans, Israel, Turkey, The Dalmatian Coast, the Italian provinces of Puglia, Umbria and Tuscany, and a 23-day “Regional Experience” focusing n French Heritage. www.insight.com.
International Expeditions is offering several new itineraries for 2015, including a Tanzania safari hosted by TV wildlife personality Joan Embery and a Southern Africa Grand Safari. Also new for 2015 is a Sri Lanka tour, “Wildlife of India” and “Grand Safari in Southern Africa.” www.ie.com.
IsramWorld is announcing three new programs for 2015: a new “Journey to the Edge of the World – Iceland and Greenland,” Christmas Cheer -- Germany Christmas Markets” and “Satisfy Your Winter Lust in Lapland.” www.isram.com.
PHOTO: Isramworld will visit Greenland.
PHOTO: Several companies, including Isramworld, will visit Iceland next year.
Learning Journeys Powered by Perillo Tours is introducing programs to Kerela, southern India, Peru and Bali. www.learningjourneys.com.
Mayflower Tours, the heartland tour operator, is becoming increasingly international with a flurry of new overseas tour products, including a new nine-day “Cuba Experience”; “America’s Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River Cruising,” with rail, coach and ship transportation; “Cruising Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands”; “Cruising the Adriatic and Dalmatian Coast”; and “The Inca Empire and the Amazon River Cruise” aboard the Delfin II. www.mayflower.com.
Natural Habitat Adventures is offering nine new programs, with visits to Cuba, Namibia, Myanmar and Thailand. www.nathab.com.
Pacific Delight Tours has been in an expansion mode, with the addition of several new destinations in the past couple of years, including Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Nepal. At press time PDT was quietly developing its tour infrastructure in Peru and will soon go public with the new programs. www.pacificdelighttours.com.
Pleasant Holidays is introducing new destinations for 2015, including U.S. ski destinations Aspen, Snowmass, Vail and Beaver Creek, Colo.; and Deer Valley, Utah. Pleasant is also adding the Caribbean island of Dominica, the Baha Mar resort area of the Bahamas and Belize. www.pleasantholidays.com.
Sceptre Tours, which started as an Ireland specialist, is now expanding its destinations again — this time with France, Spain and Portugal. www.sceptretours.com.
Tauck is offering programs for the first time to Myanmar, the Arabian Peninsula and Puglia, Italy. “A Week in Puglia” is designed to immerse clients in the culture, architecture, cuisine and archaeology of the area. Tauck is doubling its offerings in its “World Cities” programs, adding Paris and Rome to Florence and London. The company is expanding its exotics portfolio with a 13-day “Myanmar: A Road Less Traveled,” and a 12-day “Dubai and the Arabian Peninsula,” Tauck’s first program in the region. The operator is also doubling the number of its “Earth Journeys” in partnership with BBC Earth, bringing the portfolio to a total of 14. New for 2015 is “Wild Alaska and South Africa: Epic Family Adventure.” www.tauck.com
Travel Impressions is launching India for the first time in partnership with Wendy Wu Tours. It’s an expansion of the partnership established two years ago in which Travel Impressions sells Wendy Wu Tours through its own sales network. The partnership also offers China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Japan. www.travimp.com
Wendy Wu Tours is expanding by offering India in the U.S. market. The company is offering two programs in its brochure, including a nine-day “India Discovery” and the 18-day “Essence of India,” and a large selection of components for independent “Tailor Made Itineraries,” which focus on major cities. www.wendywutours.com
Wildland Adventures is offering a new “India Yoga and Cultural Adventure” and “South Africa: Wines and Wildlife Safari” with the founders Kurt and Anne Kutay. www.wildland.com
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