This is going to be a very busy year for Jerre Fuqua. As Fuqua nears his 10-year anniversary as president of Travcoa, the luxury tour company is celebrating the 60th anniversary since its founding my Mel Dultz in 1954. On top of that, Fuqua will be in the first year of his two-year term as chairman of the U.S. Tour Operators Association, a role that carries with it significant responsibilities and a commitment of time and energy. (See USTOA President Terry Dale’s Q&A with Fuqua on page 74.)

He’ll also leave the office to host two major tours, Travcoa’s 60th Anniversary President’s Journey to Indochina, a 17-day trip that includes a river cruise on the Mekong and visits Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and the $39,990 “Ultimate Africa by Classic DC-3,” a 20-day private jet trip that visits Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Of all those events and obligations, the one that stands out most and will take most of Fuqua’s attention is Travcoa’s 60th anniversary — marking it, honoring the tour company’s venerable history and setting its course for the future.

“It’s a significant milestone when you think of our industry and the roller coaster the industry has gone through during that time,” says Cathy Holler, vice president of business development and product innovation, who joined Travcoa in 2011 after running her own management company, Blue Ice Communications, since 2001 and holding senior management jobs with Virtuoso.

“We are a legacy brand, like some of our colleagues that have been around for a long time,” she says. “The legacy of Travcoa has always been for the discerning traveler who has a pioneering spirit and wishes to explore the world and discover cultures. Today so much of the company is focused on showing the world in a different way.”

Deep Roots

Founded in 1954, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Travcoa is one of the major prototypes of the modern small-group luxury tour operator exploring exotic destinations. Travcoa today has expanded its business significantly from its beginnings in a way that mirrors the evolution of the travel industry itself.

The transition takes Travcoa full circle, in a way, back to its creation by Mel Dultz, one of the true innovators and a father of the modern travel industry. Dultz began his world travels when he joined the Air Force right after high school.

After his discharge, he attended McGill University in Montreal then entered the travel industry. While he was selling tours of Europe, he was taking trips to more remote destinations. In 1954 he started his own company, selling tours to exotic destinations in Asia and the Middle East.

Along with a few other legendary trailblazers such as Alex Harris, founder of General Tours, and Lars Erik Lindblad, Dultz’ Travcoa was among the first to take tourists to exotic destinations, such as Antarctica, Africa, Russia, China and Tibet.

The first Travcoa trips were escorted group tours staying at the highest-end hotels and using the most advanced transportation options to provide guests with maximum flexibility, comfort and security in the most remote and “foreign” of destinations. Travcoa was one of the first to popularize private jet trips and is still one of a handful to offer them.

“We have never dropped into a category below luxury,” says Holler. “We really are a luxury tour operator dealing with the top end of the market in hotels and experiences. And if we go to a place where there are no luxury accommodations, such as Ethiopia, for example, then what we provide is the luxury of access. And we provide it in a different way than what is available to just the tourist. We provide unique experiences not readily available to the public.”

Characteristic of Travcoa’s style of ultimate luxury it its Dine Around policy, which seems impossible but in fact has been a Travcoa standard from the beginning. Under the Dine Around policy, clients can have dinner anywhere they want, eat whatever they want and bring the bill back to the tour director for reimbursement. It’s all covered — except Champagne and caviar.

While the luxury escorted tour remains at the heart of Travcoa’s business model, the company has diversified, offering variations of its model. The fastest-growing part of the business now is its private custom travel arrangements, based on the infrastructure and institutional knowledge of the company dating back 60 years.

The Move to Independence

Travcoa now offers three kinds of travel: the small group Escorted Journeys that it started with, Independent Journeys and Custom Experiences.

In recent years Travcoa has seen a strong movement toward its Independent Journeys. “We have recognized that the market is changing,” says Holler. “We have wonderful, loyal clients who travel with us year after year, but they’re getting older and there is a new market coming in that travels differently. Some want to be with a group, but some want to be independent, but they want to do it with the Travcoa style.”

To accommodate independent travelers, Travcoa offers 150 Independent Journeys that are designed to showcase a destination with the same quality accommodations and guides that are hallmarks of Travcoa’s escorted programs, but instead of traveling with a group, the tours operate with a private driver and guide.

The Independent Journeys include breakfast daily but, in contrast to the escorted trips, they are not totally inclusive — for example, the Dine Around policy is not included. The Independent Journeys itineraries can be much more flexible. For example, clients have the option to change the itinerary en route or leave for their next destination later in the morning than normally scheduled.

“The itineraries are ideas with a price,” says Holler. “We can modify them. We can make quality experiences that suit the interests of the traveler.”

The popularity of the Independent Journeys has led to the development of a higher level of independence and flexibility — Travcoa’s Custom Journeys, which are totally bespoke tours. Many loyal clients and travel agent partners have progressed from one to the other.

Meeting clients’ needs

Says Holler, “The Independent Journeys in some ways are the catalyst to the Custom Journeys because they give the idea, and from there the travel agent is able to work with guests and really meet their needs. Sometimes it works within the framework of the existing itinerary and sometimes they come up with something completely new. If it’s completely new, we put it with our custom team.”

The classic Travcoa has reinvented itself, evolving and diversifying its prototype products to accommodate travelers’ increasing desire for more independence and flexibility.

“What we’re seeing with the industry,” says Holler, “is a huge movement to FIT and custom. It’s been our biggest growth area. And it’s not a surprise because we knew the industry was changing, but what has been a pleasant surprise is the way that agents are embracing working with us. It’s great. We weren’t sure that would happen, because the agents have their own access into the market and they have partners on ground. But there are a lot of reasons why they are coming to us. There’s a value proposition. It’s not a surprise to us, but the agents are discovering it.”

Escorted tours still account for 60 percent of the company’s business, Holler says, “but a couple of years ago it was 80 percent.”

The size of the bookings is also noteworthy. While the escorted tours run about $6,000-$14,000 for the regular series, Holler says, “We’re seeing bookings on the independent side of $20,000, but we’re also seeing bookings from $80,000-$100,000, or $150,000 and higher for a group. That’s the encouraging thing. The luxury travel market is there. We’ve always been in that space. And those agents who are now discovering that we actually can help them on the independent side and not just the group side in luxury are thrilled to be able to do it with a brand they trust.”

Even though the Internet gives agents the ability to create direct contacts on the ground, they are finding better value in using the tour operator’s infrastructure and knowledge built over 60 years. It has enabled Travcoa to create a new niche for itself in the 21st century.

Partnerships with agents

“Agents are trusting us to be their partners in creating extraordinary experiences for their most valued clients,” says Holler. “That is a big change because they were used to us being an operator of escorted tours and to just giving us a booking for the brochure product. So the fact that we’ve been able to transition into being the agents’ advisor is a fun part of the business.” For more information: 800-992-2005 www.travcoa.com.