Face-to-Face: Victoria Alexander-Smith, managing director of Carnival Tours 365
Today, Travel Daily UK chats with Victoria Alexander-Smith, managing director of Carnival Tours 365…
Q) What is Carnival Tours 365?
We are a tour operator specialising in travel packages to carnivals and music events worldwide, in particular those linked to Caribbean culture.
Originally I was working as a travel agent and through a fam trip to Trinidad I met the representative and got introduced to other carnival connections such as people at Notting Hill Carnival. I realised it was hard for regular tourists to go and participate in a carnival and transportation is not easy either. People need help putting these holidays together and we even get costumes delivered to the hotel and this normally the client travelling far out for a fitting in the heat for a long time.
The company has been running for four years as flight only but we are now under Airline Ticket Services, which has been really helpful and we can offer the full ATOL protection.
There is little competition for what we do, or that I know of. Some sell tickets but not on this personal level and those holidays do not normally include the band and fete tickets.
Q) How have your contacts help grow the business?
Building contacts has been essential to putting the packages together and I have been lucky that through my friends I have met and can now secure more for clients. My contacts have been built over years but it means we can now get tickets to the ‘must see’ parties or spaces in bands before the general public announcement has been made.
Q) How do you currently work with travel agents?
We are in the early stages of our trade growth but any travel agents can get in touch if their client wants to get involved in a carnival abroad. I am currently building up destinations and once I have finalised details I will have brochures, but that will not be until next year. However the information will cover what we do and sample packages but no prices as they expire so quickly and I do not want to start price wars. If a great airline deal comes up I want to allow the flexibility to change prices.
Our website will launch next month and I am also keen to develop agent competitions to drum up interest.
Q) Do you only package holidays to the Caribbean?
Trinidad is a destination I’ve done well and I am now working on new destinations. The company has been around for four years so I have previously put together packages for carnivals or festivals in St Vincent, St Kitts, Jamaica and Saint Lucia. We will cover anything to do with the Caribbean but it does not have to be in the Caribbean destinations, so I will look to spread out to Miami Carnival, Caribana in Toronto or Berlin’s Carnival of Cultures.
I’d also like to bring something like [London-based festival] Afro Beats to the Caribbean as it’s something that’s different. There is also scope to include packages to Notting Hill Carnival and I would like to look into Rio in the future but would need to make contact with Samba first.
I also want to take clients to places such as Antigua or Guyana where the festivals are not as well-known. Initially I will need to get our product known in the ‘big name’ destinations but once these become more established for us I will work more with the lesser known locations.
Q) Are the holidays all about parties and carnival?
No, we package holidays with party tickets and sightseeing and I encourage customers to book excursions because I want them to see the destination too. There are so many things to do in these destinations but everyone knows it for carnival. Customers should realise you do not have to be part of a group to get involved.