WHY IT RATES: Faith-based travel is more important than ever, and the advisors who went along with ETS Tours' latest trip to the Holy Land experienced a truly life-changing trip. - Lacey Pfalz, Associate Writer, TravelPulse
Leading faith-based tour brand, ETS Tours, is pleased to celebrate that Israel is open for business and share successes from its recent travel advisor group trip that visited Holy Land just last month. The group embarked on a familiarization trip operated by ETS Tours to teach travel advisors firsthand how to tap into the lucrative faith-based travel market and give them the unparalleled opportunity to learn about Holy Land via firsthand experiences.
James Ferrara, Co-founder and President of InteleTravel, the oldest and largest host travel agency in the world with more than 70,000 independent travel advisors in the U.S., U.K., Mexico and Caribbean, who participated in the trip said, "It was the best trip I have had in decades! Having been on similar trips with other companies in the past, this program by ETS Tours was far beyond my expectations... from the experiences to the hotels and meals, to ETS Tours' staff, guides, and driver - they were superheroes."
Ferrara shared why travel advisors should want to sell this product.
"We always teach travel advisors that selling groups is critical to success, and this type of group travel (faith-based) is the easiest to get into," said Ferrara. "Our group participated in a sales meeting where ETS Tours shared the immense size of the market, and they gave us a fool proof plan for getting into this niche. Beyond that, I have found that when you travel along with your group, faith-based travel is incredibly loyalty building. You create a life-lasting experience with travelers. In fact, our group is still talking to each other on Facebook and Instagram almost daily. It's a great way for advisors to grow loyalty and business."
"Most travel advisors don't realize that faith-based travel is a 50-100-billion-dollar industry, with an estimated 330 million people visiting key religious sites annually," said Joe Cavarra, President of ETS Tours. "Further, there are 380,000 churches in the U.S according to the National Congregational Study, and only about 50,000 U.S. churches have travel programs. Faith-based travel offers travel advisors an astronomical opportunity!"
ETS Tours revealed that after experiencing their first trip, many of their group leaders make plans for annual trips to religiously significant destinations including the Holy Land, the Mediterranean with faith-based cruises following the journeys of Paul, and countless other sites of biblical importance.
Ferrara expressed why the opportunity to create customer loyalty via faith-based travel is so vast. "People say that some experiences fan the flames of your faith. This is like turning a blow-dryer on! You see things in a fully different way and your group feels a deep connection to each other."
According to the group's participants, that connection was further enhanced by the gratitude expressed by locals.
"People kept coming up to us and thanking us for traveling to Israel now," said Ferrara. "There is a unique opportunity for people to get to Israel soon and to see Holy Land in a way like no other - without the crowds. Having just returned from this fascinating country we can give people the confidence to go and to start selling more groups to Israel now."
As one of the world leaders in faith-based travel established in 1974, ETS Tours launched a comprehensive campaign in 2021 to help travel advisors tap into the faith-based travel market. The company continues to build on this initiative, including familiarization trips for advisors like the one recently completed by Ferrara and InteleTravel Advisors.
ETS Tours also features a robust webinar-based training program. The next installment of its webinar series will be held on February 23, 2022, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Participants will learn more about travel to Holy Land, and about how to sell faith-based travel, earn 15 percent commission - an average of 15,000 dollars per group trip (minimum 30 pax), receive one for 10 travel credits, and be a part of a life-changing experience for their church leaders and church members. Advisors will also have the valued opportunity to hear from James Ferrara about his firsthand experience with ETS Tours in Holy Land during the webinar.
"With Holy Land and many international pilgrimage sites re-open and ready to welcome groups, now is the time to sign-up to become an ETS Travel Advisor partner, begin planning your first group, and reignite your travel bookings," said Joe Cavarra, President of ETS Tours.
To register for ETS Tours' February 23, 2022 webinar visit ETS Tours' agent website.
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