Case study: Villager Tours
Maltese travel agency reaches new market segment following opportune expansion.
Villager Tours boosts customer loyalty with opening of new location and plans to drive new era of growth through technological innovation.
Who are we?
Villager Tours was founded by the late Noel Cachia & Roderick Aquilina, an industry expert with more than three decades of experience in the travel sector. Having worked at Air Malta, he was also employed as a consolidator before launching his own business.
The company is focused on the Maltese market, selling travel to both local residents and third country nationals - those born outside of the European Union – and who require specialized assistant with various travel elements such as visas, work permits and money transfers. Attracted by the strength and growth of the Maltese market – this latter group now comprise a market of around 100,000 people in Malta and represent a large percentage of Villager Tours’ business.
“There is never a good time to rest, even during the pandemic. We must make the most of the time we have to engage in productive activities, those you may have set aside during busier periods.”
Villager Tours – which grew from a team of two to six in 2022 – also maintains a smaller in-bound tour operator business, while helping with visas, money transfers and other services as needed by travelers. The company caters to both business and leisure customers.
A key differentiator is that Villager Tours is truly available 24/7 – customers can reach the team at all hours, day or night. Very much a small- or medium-sized (SME) travel agent, Aquilina and his team offer strong local knowledge, excellent connections and a deep relationship with national carrier Air Malta.
What are the fundamentals?
Headquarters
Industry
Plan
Website
What was the challenge?
As a country based in the middle of the Mediterranean, nestled between Sicily and the North African coast, Malta has unique and differing travel needs. Third country nationals tend to reside together, in separate parts of the island to the rest of the Maltese residents, largely sticking to specific communities and towns. Thus, making it a challenge for us at Villager Tours to cater to both markets simultaneously from one location.
The COVID-19 pandemic also severely impacted the group tour segment of our business. We had previously operated at least a monthly trip to international destinations – a segment which had accounted for around 80 per cent of our business – meaning the loss during COVID-19 was significant.
“Travel agents must be available at all times – this is no longer a nine-to-five job.”
How did Amadeus support?
We were able to get from Amadeus our entire offering through the solutions it offers to retail travel agents, all in one place. The long-standing partnership we have with our travel technology partner means our team could access what they needed, when they needed it, simply and efficiently.
Amadeus also offers local service desk support to Villager Tours, another asset to our business, as well as access to a dedicated local account manager. Both meant we could rely on Amadeus to quickly overcome problems - should they arise.
Built on this bedrock, we are currently considering expanding our existing relationship.Amadeus Value Hotels
1is one possible avenue of growth.
Our company is also looking forward to airlines activating NDC content for the Maltese market – with a breakthrough expected early in 2023. While we have strong connections with Air Malta and Turkish Air, which maintains a strong position in Malta, we plan to boost sales of both Lufthansa and Air France-KLM when the time is right.
It could eventually make a big difference to us at Villager Tours to see NDC fares alongside standard rates in the same display thanks toAmadeus All Fares. The tool allows agents to easily compare and book deals. It is web-based and fully integrated at the point of sale for improved productivity and customer service.
1With Amadeus Value Hotels, hotel content is sourced by Amadeus but priced by the agent. With each property offering net rates, customers decide the mark-up to maximize revenue and not have to worry about chasing down commissions.
What did you reimagine?
To reach new market segments, we opened a second office location and are now in a more prominent position on the island. The two locations cater to different parts of the local population, meeting their specific needs.
The first is focused on local residents, selling mainly travel to Malta itself and Europe.
Our second office is in an area of concentrated third country nationals. It thus has an expanded offering, with specific services like money transfer, visas and help with work permits. This office is focused on sales to west Africa, with a particular speciality in Kenya, where we have strong connections.
To overcome the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were forced to adapt – initially extending our office opening hours to 10:00-20:00, Monday-through-Sunday.
During the pandemic, all methods of reaching Malta were suspended, prompting many rival agencies to close their doors. However, our team stayed at their posts, even taking to the streets to talk to people in order to keep relationships going. Our company only physically closed its offices for two weeks during the mandated government lockdown.
In order to maintain long-term relationships, we also refunded customers out of our own pocket - before airline refunds came through. This was a big risk, but we consider it to have paid off. Customers were appreciative – and 90 per cent came back to Villager Tours when the recovery started in earnest. We also made new customers thanks to positive word of mouth.
Looking ahead, we will be revamping our outbound group offering ahead of a return in 2023, while there are plans to develop our website, with a new focus on XML links to allow direct booking. Amadeus will always be on hand to help.
Results
- Villager Travel saw a growth of year-on-year growth of more than 60 percent in 2022
- Serving new section of Maltese tourism market has left Villager Tours well-positioned to acquire a rival agency
- CTG Travel 1
- CTG Travel 2
- CTG Travel 3
- CTG Travel 5
