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It is not the first time that Image Tours, a tour operator specializing in destinations in the Middle and Far East, has faced times of conflict in the region of the globe where its programming is based, but it has been able to turn things around with imagination, its director told Publituris general, Miguel Jesus. This year was no exception either.

“Like everything in life, there are better times and worse times. At this point we are going through an almost good phase in terms of Egypt, and Turkey is already normal in terms of sales, but Jordan and Israel are not”, said the general director of Image Tours, who confided in us that “war Israel -Hamas affected the area and influenced the reserves for the entire region”, that is, a large part of its programming. If at the end of the year both Turkey and Egypt were at a standstill, “as time went by, Turkey already recovered completely, and people ended up realizing that, in the case of Egypt, the distance to the cultural part, to the circuits and cruises on the Nile is quite large, that the country is safe and that there were no changes that could influence the holidays”. Thus, “they started looking for the destination, that is, now it is very close to normal”, adding that “we believe that later on it will be better and calmer. It looks like it’s going to get better.”

Miguel Jesus points out that “taking into account that we are specialists in this region of the world, it is no longer new for us, especially because we have already had similar situations, but without leaving our specialization, without mischaracterizing our image in the market and what we know how to do, we have increased the products we have within our destinations, and we focused our bets”.

The person responsible recognizes the pros and cons of this specialization, on the one hand due to the knowledge, experience and hiring, the offer and confidence in the quality of the service he offers to travel agents in Portugal, but also because this region of the world has been quite unstable in recent years. years, now aggravated by a military conflict whose end is not expected soon.

However, in this search for new options, Image Tours gives as an example a new program for Greece and even Turkey. “We increased the offer and new locations within the destinations themselves to show people that within what is classic we have other options”, he said.

“If Israel and Jordan are at a standstill, there are other destinations, such as Turkey, where we have a wide range of options in addition to the classic ones”, he said, adding that “we want the travel agent to be able to propose to their clients, which now they are not susceptible to traveling to some destinations because they are afraid, other products within our portfolio of destinations”, as are also Vietnam, Cambodia and/or Thailand, which has been recovering, he acknowledged.

The offer of the India product also made a big difference in Image Tours’ programming, which has always had this destination in its schedule. “We have always had the classic Golden Triangle product, but this year we have invested heavily with a program that practically covers the country, with South India, with Nepal, with the Tiger Reserve, in other words, we try to show the customer that India is more than the Taj Mahal, which is a vast and beautiful country that can be visited, and that is what, as experts, we visited several times to be able to put together this type of product and show the travel agent that there are other options for beyond the classic”, highlighted Miguel Jesus.

The general director of Image Tours said that “people have reacted well, especially because it is a destination that has always aroused a lot of interest, although post-Covid it has fallen, but it is slowly recovering and we are seeing a significant increase in demand for what we These are the longest-lasting cultural circuits, between 12 and 15 days”.

Miguel Jesus highlighted that “our programming is based on historical and cultural circuits, we always want to show the best that destinations have to offer, the beach works for us, but always as a complement in which the client does their circuit and ends with a few days at the beach and various types of offers”, stressing that the beach product “was never our focus”.