Transat hosts tea party to spotlight London, U.K.

Travel journalists and bloggers raised a tea cup -- and maybe even a pinky finger -- to London, U.K., at an afternoon tea and lunch reception hosted by Transat in the majestic Purple Room of the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto yesterday (May 5).

“London is a vibrant city that is so well-known to Canadians. The history, the architecture, the culture around the Royal Family…There’s so much to see,” Dan Prior, sales manager, Ontario & Atlantic Canada for Transat, told PAX at the regal affair, where some 20 guests were invited to sip on butter and caramel-flavoured Tibetan Tiger tea and nibble on fresh scones and mini quiches.

Prior estimates that Transat flies up to 150,000 passengers to London during the summer thanks to Transat’s direct year-round service to England's capital, which, as of May 1, now includes daily flights departing at around 10 p.m. 

The airline has 28 flights to London out of Toronto, including direct flights to 21 other destinations in Europe, seven destinations through a connecter from Toronto via Montreal, as well as a connector program from Vancouver and Calgary to Toronto, which launched last year.

“Our packages to Europe are more diversified than ever before,” Caroline Gagnon, an advisor in public relations and marketing at Transat, told PAX.

Transat has more than 300 packages and land products in Europe, most of which include transfers from the airport, which travellers may find useful. “In a place like London, it can take up to two hours [getting into the city], depending on traffic,” Prior noted.

Among Transat’s London packages is the popular 24-hour hop-on, hop-off pass, which lets guests discover London aboard a double-decker bus.

Also now available is “London and Co.,” a family-friendly city excursion where guests board a double-decker bus and visit the sets of the Harry Potter films at Warner Brothers Studio.

That package includes a rock-and-roll tour of ’60s London, taking guests through famed neighbourhoods where bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who were born.

And for history buffs, there’s Transat’s “London and Historic England” tour, where guests visit the Royal Family’s residence in Windsor, Stonehenge’s standing stones, the spa town of Bath, Blenheim Castle, Downton Abbey village and the rustic villages of Cotswolds. 

For agents, selling add-ons, such as the above, in advance is one way to not only boost revenue, but to also save their client’s money.

“We try and have clients pre-book their excursions as much as possible because they’ll pay in Canadian [dollars]’, which is a lot less than paying in pounds,” Prior noted.

For more information visit transat.com.