Wendy Wu Tours to run Japan fam trip

Wendy Wu Tours will take eight agents to Japan as part of a sales incentive running through January and February.

The fam trip forms part of the tour operator’s trade engagement efforts, which also include a range of training sessions.

“We will have eight agents joining us in Japan later in the year. We’re very excited by that and I know the agents are loving that too,” said Gary King, head of trade sales, who added that a winner is being announced every week.

The trade sales team has doubled in the past year, King said, with the new roles including a business development manager responsible for homeworkers.

“From day one, we saw a huge difference,” King said, noting that the homeworking specialist has a database of more than 4,000 agents and runs “coffee mornings up and down the country”.

Her efforts have led to “great” success, with sales having risen from a “quite low” level.

This year’s sale campaign, described as the “biggest ever”, includes all of the best-selling tours for the first time.

Traditionally, some cherry-blossom itineraries would not have been included, but the operator has secured additional places to allow a change in policy.

Another feature of the peaks campaign is a prize draw offering passengers a free upgrade to business class flights, with the offer running until the end of February.

King said the refreshed ‘WUniversity’ training platform had been proving popular and he encouraged agents to become Wendy Wu specialists by completing all 10 modules.

In addition, the business development managers are running “about 60” training sessions a month.