Two savvy West Australia-based Personal Travel Managers have decided to re-employ their existing skills and assets to ‘pivot’ their businesses into an exciting new direction in the Corona-Era.
Re-focusing their existing “Travelling Femmes” brand of escorted group holidays for women, Linda Power and Julie Marchese, who are TravelManagers’ representatives for Aubin Grove and Australind respectively, have ‘pivoted’ their successful women-only tours, to offer tailored itineraries that explore their own backyard: Western Australia’s southwest region.
“It was one night over a glass of wine at last year’s TravelManagers Conference that we realised we had incredibly similar interests in common,” said Linda Power. “We had comparable ideas, values and clientele so decided to collaborate, combining our strengths to create the ‘Travelling Femmes’ concept.”
Since its inception, the pair has organised and escorted groups to overseas destinations such as Lombok, as well as a southwest Western Australia getaway that planted the seed for their latest offerings.
The two PTMs are now liaising with a local Margaret River-based tour operator to offer small group tours in August and September 2020. They have also teamed up with a local day tour operator for a “Sunset Hike, Wine & Dine Experience”.
As small business operators Power and Marchese say they are passionate about supporting and collaborating with other small local businesses wherever possible.
“We’ve made some great relationships with local suppliers over the past year and will continue to support them as much as possible going forward,” said Marchese. “As state borders eventually reopen and clients begin to feel more comfortable with venturing further from home, we will look to expand our tour offerings to include more amazing Australian travel experiences, but for now, we’re happy to focus on the incredible destination we have on our doorstep.”
“We both agree that local getaways will continue to be an important part of the Travelling Femmes offering, even after international travel resumes,” said Power. “Many of the women who come on our tours have to arrange childcare and organise cover for their businesses, so an overseas tour is not always possible. We plan to make Margaret River our signature WA destination as this world-class setting has something to appeal to every kind of clientele: those who love to be active, those who love wellness holidays, the foodies and also the beach-lovers.”
The two women have created their own website and are promoting Travelling Femmes through social media. Past participants act as enthusiastic advocates, meaning that the tours tend to sell themselves by word of mouth.
Although the focus for Travelling Femmes is, by necessity at this time, close to home, both women said they say they are looking forward to the time when borders re-open and international travel becomes an option once more.
“As well as our south-west getaways we have a multitude of events in the pipeline, ranging from a weekend cruise aboard the Sun Princess from Fremantle in December to a four-night Adelaide indulgence getaway planned for early in 2021. Both are already generating a lot of interest,” said Marchese. “New Zealand and Vietnam are both on our radar, and we are excited for what the future holds.”
