Trafalgar talks travel to Balkans and beyond

Trafalgar took guests on a whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe in Toronto this week, exploring the company’s latest destinations and itineraries in the region.

The company’s Trafalgar Travel Talk series has been taking place in locations across Canada this winter, welcoming agents and their clients to learn more about 2016’s hot destinations with Trafalgar’s travel directors. The presentation’s Toronto date welcomed Sasha Rojnik, a travel director for the company’s Eastern Europe itineraries.

For 2016, Rojnik told PAX that while Italy (Trafalgar’s top selling destination) is “always hot,” the company is seeing growing interest in the Balkans, particularly Croatia and Slovenia, the latter of which is seeing an 11 per cent increase in bookings over last year.

“Travellers are looking for new destinations,” Rojnik said, “and the Balkans are a very diverse area. You have a blend of nature, cities and culture with different influences in each country – there’s an Austrian influence on Slovenia while there’s a Turkish feel to Bosnia.”

Another factor boosting travel to the region – and Croatia specifically – is the popularity of the TV show Game of Thrones, which Rojnik said has drawn tourists to locations such as Dubrovnik and Split, which stand in for the fantasy settings of King’s Landing and Mereen respectively on the program. The show’s influence on travel has been noted in most of its international filming locations - Trafalgar also offers a Celtic Filmscapes itinerary, which takes guests to Games of Thrones settings in North Ireland, in addition to settings used in other films and TV shows.

“For Croatia, Game of Thrones is doing what Lord of the Rings did for New Zealand,” Rojnik told PAX.

And while there’s been some concern that recent terrorist incidents, particularly those in France over the last year, may be keeping travellers away from Europe, Rojnik said that bookings have not been affected.

“It’s a new reality but people aren’t being scared away,” he said. “Travellers aren’t being held back by fear.”

Similarly, Trafalgar Canada President Wolf Paunic reminded guests that while some travellers may worry over the declining value of the loonie compared to the U.S. dollar, those same concerns don’t apply in Europe, where the exchange rate versus the Euro has remained stable. He added that pricing in all Trafalgar brochures is in Canadian dollars, preventing any last minute surprises.

The company’s recent partnership with product review site Feefo has seen Trafalgar retain a 97 per cent positive rating by travellers over the last year, Paunic said; he added that to post a rating via Feefo, the poster must have used or experienced the product in question, preventing skewed reviews.

Guests attending a Trafalgar Travel Talk can take advantage of special savings offers if booking a trip within days of the presentation, as well as enter a draw for a trip for two to Spain.

The remaining dates in the series can be found here.