Creative Holidays’ Paul McGrath

Creative Holidays continues to ride high on the coattails of sales for its island destinations of Bali, Fiji, Thailand, only to strengthen its product offering with the addition of Mauritius, Cook Islands and Samoa in 2012.

Managing Director, Paul McGrath told e-Travel Blackboard 2011 was a “conservative year” for business with bookings for the remainder of the year dropping off from September, however surprisingly bookings for Bali, Fiji picked up considerably for the first quarter of 2012, catapulting sales to “record weeks for 2012 departures”.

Creative’s 13 brochures for 2012 across 58 destinations will showcase 14,000 products, mostly comprising of the addition of new luxury properties, villas and their company owned top end Red Carnation brand of hotels.

Increasing product range by 23 per cent, mostly in their UK and Europe 2012 product, Mr McGrath said their motive was to “give choice that compliments the market with a full range of products to provide a greater depth of product”, thereby making the FIT wholesaler a “specialist” in the region.

In addition to the luxury accommodation, more soft adventure product will also be included in the 2012 range, and due to an exclusive arrangement with TripAdvisor, Mr McGrath said the wholesaler’s impartiality was key in maintaining customer satisfaction.

Key destinations in 2011 and tagged for further growth in the New Year include the up and coming Arabian Peninsula region, as well as “everything surrounding the US dollar” according to Mr McGrath, which includes Hawaii and the West Coast gateway State of California as well as Las Vegas, however advised a shorter stay, more frequent holiday pattern was emerging for long-haul destinations.

Creative Holidays also announced an overseas-based 24/7 global support hotline, which is expected to provide more efficient service to distressed customers and trade.

Creative Holidays will continue to host roadshows across the country in 2012, including their popular Bali Roadshow, and for the first time Tasmania will be included in the line-up.

For more information, visit www.creativeholidays.com.au