Touring Highlights: Semi-Private Touring Travel

A lot has changed within the travel industry since the peak of the Covid pandemic in March 2020. The way we work has affected many industries, but the way we travel has gone through many exciting changes. While some travel businesses have changed or sunk under these changes, there are several travel businesses, like Touring Highlights, that started to provide exciting and new kinds of travel in the heat of the pandemic.  

As the Covid pandemic was beginning, Touring Highlights founder, Barry, was a keen touring traveller looking for a semi-private adventure in Southeast Asia. “Me and my girlfriend were travelling at the start of Covid,” he said, “We were out in Southeast Asia, and we didn’t really have time to plan the whole tour for ourselves, but we ended up doing it because there wasn’t anything we wanted to purchase. 

“We wanted something where we could learn about the culture and history of places, but we didn’t want to spend it with 20 to 50 people on a group tour for the whole week,” he explained. Finding the semi-private holiday they wanted wasn’t possible without planning the tour themselves, and this difficulty inspired Barry to build a travel business that allowed other travellers like himself to have the semi-private getaway they desired, without stress or large costs, coming in at less than half the price of private tours.  

“We use local coaches that do local excursions, so we don’t have to put you on a coach for the whole week. Other tour companies have got a coach driver and a tour guide which they have to pay for the whole week, whereas we don’t have that cost,” Barry stated. 

“Our tours are created so friends and family can enjoy them by themselves,” he added, explaining the gap in the market for cultural and historical trips that still provided a personal experience. “Most tours at the moment you spend the whole week with 20 to 50 people on the coach and in the same hotels. We use excursions that are already going ahead, so you will be with other people, but for the majority of your trip it will just be you with your partner or just your family or just your friends.” 

In the past couple of years throughout Covid, the type of travel that consumers are demanding has changed drastically. Many people who didn’t travel before are yearning for an authentic experience abroad, and many more travellers for whom travel is a huge part of their lives want something new.  

Adventure travelling and authentic, cultural and historical adventures around less treaded areas of the world have seen a greater demand in the post-pandemic days of 2022. This is the market that Touring Highlights strives to provide for, with their repertoire expanding to an exciting 40 tours on offer to their clients. The great popularity of destinations like Thailand (one of Barry’s own favourites), Italy, and Lucca has given Touring Highlights the opportunity to share their passion for travel.  

Touring Highlights is also a member of Protected Trust Services (PTS), opening up more opportunities as they work as a supplier with other trusted members of PTS to supply great holidays to more travellers at great prices while continuing to provide the peace of mind and financial security of the PTS trust account system.  

Barry highlighted PTS as a “good option for new businesses”, with the support that the PTS system and team provides allowing Touring Highlights to expand into the business it is today without worrying about financial and legal protection issues or the difficulties for a small start-up business trying to acquire merchant services, ATOL, and more.  

As Touring Highlights is expanding in 2022, Barry talked about growing Touring Highlights’ work environment to be “fit for a post-Covid world” as they bring in more employees. He added, “I’m trying to create a culture which fits that post Covid world and also trying to create a business that benefits the planet. We’re working directly with local suppliers, so it will be benefit in local communities.” 

Touring Highlights are currently offering PTS members some fantastic deals as a supplier, providing affordable tours for their clients with exclusive discounts for PTS members. They offer 18% commission on non-flight elements, price parity, and deposits of £99 per person. Plus, they also have a deal for PTS members so only they will be able to book Touring Highlights holidays in September 2022, with an extra £20 Love to Shop voucher for every passenger booked in September. PTS members can sign up for these deals at Touring Highlights’ agent hub.  

So, if you’d like to learn more about how your consumers’ monies are protected with Protected Trust Services (PTS) and how we support excellent travel businesses, check out our pages. Or you can get in touch with the lovely PTS team by calling 0207 190 9988 or emailing us at ask@protectedtrustservices.com.