Amadeus Offers Insights Into Mancations Niche

Move over, girlfriend getaways, and make way for mancations, says Amadeus, in a recent Prospectus that offers insights into the Guys market, where men man up for testosterone-fueled adventures.

In the not-too-distant past, a weekend of golf, hunting or fishing was about as elaborate as a 'guys’ getaway' might get. Now guys uphold their end of the bro code with meticulously planned excursions: paintball showdowns, music festivals, whiskey distillery tours, monster truck rallies and more.

The buzzword for this new travel niche is “mancation,” a term that’s been hot ever since Vince Vaughan first uttered it in the 2006 hit comedy, “The Breakup.”

Amadeus reports that gender-exclusive travel isn’t new — girls-only travel has been trending for years — but it’s definitely evolved.
Agents should man up to the task of creating unique bro-bonding vacations for customers by learning more about what guys really want, Amadeus says.

Amadeus’ recommendations:

Bros on the go: “Simply put, a mancation is any excuse to get away from the real world, hang out with other men who enjoy the same things you do and have fun,” says blogger James Hills of mantripping.com. Hills breaks guy-centric getaways into several categories, among them:

              Extreme sports: whitewater rafting, skydiving, bungee jumping —  anything that “generates the maximum adrenaline rush”

              Adventure: running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, floating the Amazon River

              Geek fest: hanging with 10-foot aliens, dark angels and spandexed superheroes at Comic-Con, the world’s largest comic book conference
              Tours: Brewery, bourbon distillery or tour of the Big 10 football stadiums
              Sporting adventure: Guys might not want to climb Mount Everest, but they can lace up their hiking boots for scaling the top 10 peaks in Scotland, Wales and Great Britain. Other mantrippers may find mountain biking in Colorado spikes their heart rates. Traditionalists may find a Palm Springs or Las Vegas golf weekend more on par.

Guys just want to have fun
: Yachting adventures on a genuine America’s Cup training ship, the Apollo III, turn buddies into shipmates who hoist sails, grind winches and take the helm sailing the Great Barrier Reef. Or the guys may want to bond sipping fine whiskey in the rugged Scottish Isles during Raiders of the Scottish Gold small-ship cruise.

Cheers: 
The Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Ky., may be the ultimate mancation for whisky lovers, who’ll tour the Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark distilleries as well as have a go at barrel-racing. For wine lovers, a weekend in California’s wine country, capped with a dinner aboard the Napa Valley Wine Train, is the ticket.

Down time
: Not just for women, spas are filling mineral baths and rolling out the hot towels for the guys who just want to relax and be pampered. Spas worldwide — Bali, Greece, Thailand, Spain, the US, for example — offer hot-oil treatments, massage, hydrotherapy and gentleman’s mani-pedis.

Pair a spa visit with other manly pursuits, Amadeus suggests. After a day hitting golf balls, the guys can trek back to the hotel for a relaxing deep-tissue or hot stone massage. The possibilities are endless.

To help agents plan a manly outing for clients, Amadeus offers its Amadeus Selling Platform Connect, a web-based platform with complete customization. Also agents can book great mancations with Amadeus Vacation Link, a free comprehensive tool giving agents 24/7 access to world-class travel resources.

Visit www.Amadeus.com