Hays Travel’s Vista tour operation has launched a specialist Touring division.
It will be run by a dedicated touring team, enabling the operator to expand its offering in escorted, independent and small group tours.
Vista’s Touring division is headed up by Heather Hutton (pictured), who becomes Touring Team Leader. She has been with Vista for five years and was previously Worldwide Team Leader.
Head of Vista Sales Kathleen Molloy said: “It’s been a record-breaking year for Vista since our 2023 rebrand, with trading stronger than ever. Cruise sales have grown dramatically – going from just over 20% to now making up over a third of our business – thanks to our dedicated cruise team and strong operator relationships, led by Head of Cruise, Catriona Parsons.
“Building on this success, we’re excited to launch a specialist Touring team, expanding into escorted, independent, and small-group tours. We have seen rapid growth in traveller demand for authentic experiences – from safaris in Kenya to wine tours in Australia – and agents need someone with experience at the end of the phone to help create bespoke itineraries in response to their customers’ requests.
“Our customers want more than a holiday; they want authentic adventures, and we have built a team of true experts to support our agents and help customers explore the world. The Vista Touring team are all highly experienced, skilled and well-travelled.
“Many of them have been in the industry for over 15 years. We have specialists in travel to Africa, Asia, USA, and Australia and New Zealand – as well as all-rounders who love travel and are great on all destinations – a few of them love nothing more than a tricky ‘round the world’ trip.
“Vista has launched its biggest and best fam trip portfolio yet and throughout the month of May will be hosting 40 agents over three different trips including Australia, Dubai and Florida, with more trips in the pipelines. We are committed to providing our travel agent partners with first hand destination experiences to support their product knowledge and sales strategies.”
