INSIGHT Vacations has appointed Panorama Tours its Preferred Sales Agent in Indonesia, heralding the outbound travel company’s entry into the luxury segment.
Hellen Xu, managing director, travel management, Panorama Tours, said the partnership would allow her company to sell Insight Vacations’ products directly to customers and through its wholesaler and consolidator subsidiary, DRP Wholesaler, to retailers in Indonesia.
“We are happy to partner Insight Vacations to enhance our product offerings, reaching out to the luxury market segment to meet the needs of the market,” said Xu.
Panorama has already begun selling next year’s itineraries following the release of Insight Vacations’ 2014 brochures and has a target of 1,000 travellers for the whole year.
Sheryl Lim, regional director of Asia, Insight Vacations, said: “We have seen a tremendous change in Indonesian market trends in the last five years. Although it has not reached the level (of sophistication) of the Singapore market, it took 10 years for the Singapore market to reach the level of the Indonesian market today while it took the latter only five years. I believe the Indonesians will catch up with the Singaporeans within three years.”
With Panorama’s appointment, Insight Vacations is expected to develop a stronger presence in the South-east Asian country. The latter is no newcomer to Indonesia, having been present for over 20 years through its partnership with Antavaya Tours.
Said John Boulding, president and CEO of Insight Vacations: “We came here during the Tiger Boom in the 1980s and our business was quite strong at that time.
“As the ‘tiger’ died (in the 1997 financial crisis), we lost our attraction and it took some time to build up again…So, we have (always) been here but have not been very active.
“We feel now is a really good opportunity for us to grow our business.”
