Case study: Cardinal Tours
How Cardinal Tours is making headway in the travel recovery by partnering with other travel agencies and doubling down on its expertise
Cardinal Tours' commitment to its customers has enabled it to grow by nearly 50%.
Who we are?
Cardinal Tours is an independent Israeli travel agency based in Tel Aviv. As a medium-sized independent agency, it operates out of one main office and acts as a consolidator to other non-IATA travel agencies. While the company employs 10 people, it works closely with approximately 30 employees handling the ticketing for several non-IATA travel agencies.
Cardinal Tours are experts in both leisure and business travel and serve a primarily Israeli client base. The company caters to a diverse range of customers including foreign nationals visiting their home countries, particularly those going to Russia and South America. As is relatively commonplace in Israel, young people often embark on a year of traveling after completing their obliagatory military service. Cardinal Tours helps to facilitate this desire for exploration by offering unforgettable backpacking trips in South America and around the world.
What are the fundamentals?
Headquarters
Industry
Plan
What was the challenge?
The first three to four months of the pandemic were a real challenge for travelers due to the confusion around ‘fit to fly’ documents and the everchanging restrictions across different countries.
“We’re currently enjoying the recovery and will continue to focus on our specialist expertise which has been the secret to our success.”
Nevertheless, we stayed ‘open for business’ and manoeuvered our business to focus on supporting people who were stranded abroad or faced cancellations and delays. Even during the worst periods of the pandemic, our agency remained open for at least six hours a day to ensure customers always had a way to get in touch – whatever the reason.
How did Amadeus support?
At Cardinal Tours, we are big fans of Amadeus Fare Optimizer - a powerful web-based application that automatically scans bookings to find better available fares. In time, and in an effort to significantly streamline operations and make booking more efficient, we are keen to bring our other partners onto the Amadeus global distribution system.
“Amadeus is like a sports car whereas the other GDSs are like horse & carriage. The others don't impact the business positively like Amadeus does and the systems are far less easy to use. In Amadeus, everything is there.’’
We believe that Amadeus’ expertise as a future-focused and forward-looking company helps our agency stay attuned to the needs of our travelers and abreast of future travel trends. Equally, Amadeus always goes the extra mile which makes a positive impact across the whole of our business.
What did you reimagine?
The ticketing service Cardinal Tours offers to non-IATA travel agencies is hugely successful due to its specialized configuration. Ticketing makes up 40% of our business and now the company is seeing an estimated growth rate of 40-50% compared to 2019 levels.
In addition, Cardinal Tours’ deep understanding of aviation means travel agencies can benefit from a first class service. As non-IATA travel agencies tend to be less experienced, they appreciate having the support of an expert in the field.
“Our tip? Save up for a rainy day. A lot of TAs out there don't understand how volatile the industry can be and how quickly things can change, literally from one day to the next. You need to be very cautious, try to anticipate and be smart about how you will face challenges.”
We pride ourselves on our exceptional service. We really noticed a shift in traveler attitudes post-COVID-19 with many travelers opting to book with physical agents rather than online, preferring the specialist, close contact that small agencies offer. As a result, for direct customers, they can be assured that they’ll be taken care of from when they first book the trip through to the point they return home. This end-to-end, personal service means travel is hassle-free and travelers have peace of mind. The crisis taught travelers to be much more cautious and they now expect 24/7 support, which of course we offer.
Looking to the future, we are focused on developing a local consolidator platform to serve non-IATA travel agencies, in partnership with other similar agencies. With the travel industry’s recovery in full swing, we are taking advantage of the rising demand and are reinvesting in our business.
As our business expands a main priority is to hire more staff to support future growth and continue offering customers the best possible service.
Results
- Ticketing makes up 40% of Cardinal Tours’ business and now the company is seeing an estimated growth rate of 40-50% compared to 2019 levels.
