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| Once the presidential election concludes, Pleasant Holidays and Journese will look to expand to Cuba. // Photo by Joe Pike |
KAUAI, Hawaii – As part of our recently-concluded coverage of the Journese CURATORS event, in which the luxury leg of Pleasant Holidays rewarded its top 25 advisors with a three-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, we had a chance to sit down with Kimberly Daley, senior vice president of sales strategy for Pleasant Holidays, and chat about everything from Zika's effect on Caribbean travel to the company's plans to expand to Cuba.
Despite the ongoing Zika scare in the Caribbean, Daley told Travel Agent that Journese, Pleasant Holidays' luxury division, is still performing well in the region this year.
Daley told us that the Caribbean region as a whole has still performed well for Journese this year and heading into next year. Daley said although some islands are taking a hit, many clients are not cancelling their Caribbean trips. At the very worst, they will simply re-route their original vacation plans to another island.
“Puerto Rico is taking its lumps, but the Caribbean is doing incredibly well,” she told Travel Agent. “We are seeing a huge surge in interest in the tropic parts of the Caribbean. Part of that is because Journese has grown exponentially. We have a lot of Californians who are making their way to the Caribbean. There is also great lift coming on board and it's creating more exposure for islands like Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia and the British Virgin Islands.”
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| Kimberly Daley, senior vice president of sales strategy for Pleasant Holidays, addresses attendees of the Journese CURATORS event at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa. // Photo by Joe Pike |
Daley also says Central America has “been a little softer” because of the Zika scare, but noted that Costa Rica is still doing very well. Daley says Zika as has not had any impact on Hawaii bookings.
“The Millennial set is the worried one,” says Daley, noting that this is the generation most likely to be having children soon. “We have just been focusing our teams on educating advisors on how to help a client relocate his or her trip. We have had very few cancellations, but we have had a lot of movement with destinations.”
Journese and Pleasant Holidays Have Eyes on Cuba
Once the election is over, Journese, the luxury brand of Pleasant Holidays, will be aggressively pushing plans to add Cuba to its already robust Caribbean portfolio.
Daley told Travel Agent that Journese is heavily pursuing an expansion to Cuba but will not rush the move.
"We have done a lot of background work," Daley told us. "We met with legal council and our product director went to Cuba for a week in the spring."
Daley said not only is Cuba on the radar for Journese, but it is also a destination Pleasant Holidays is looking to sell.
"At this point in time, we know we could go, but because we are so close to the election, it makes sense to see what will take place," says Daley. "But Cuba is on the radar for Pleasant Holidays and Journese. The lift has opened up, but we just want to make sure we make the right choice at the right time."
Visit www.journese.com and www.gohawaii.com. Keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for all your latest travel news and be sure to follow Travel Agent's Joe Pike on Twitter @TravelPike.