EXCLUSIVE: A&K to expand DMC business to Bolivia

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Abercrombie & Kent will continue to expand its global reach and luxury offering, with plans fast-tracked to develop a destination management company (DMC) in Bolivia in South America, LATTE can exclusively reveal.

In Melbourne yesterday as part of a whirlwind global whistle-stop tour, Cristina Levis CEO of A&K Travel Group sat down exclusively with LATTE to provide a business update on the the luxury travel and cruise firm, which recently unveiled a company-wide rebrand and evolution.

Bolivia is just one of potential other destinations A&K will extend its footprint, Levis told LATTE during our wide-ranging discussion, which also covered Abercrombie & Kent, Crystal, A&K Sanctuary, A&K Private Jet Journeys, Cox & Kings and more.

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It was feedback from travel advisors during last year’s Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas who had ventured to Bolivia and raved about the destination, and a subsequent personal visit nine months ago, that saw the destination move from a probable tier-three destination to a front-runner.

Levis asked the advisors about the potential of Chile or Brazil, but their feedback was overwhelmingly supportive of Bolivia and its high-end, untapped offering.

Having been to South America herself “20 or more times”, Levis told LATTE that it was on her visit last year where she “fell in love” with the destination, fueled by the “incredible people.”

“Bolivia is one of the countries in South America where we will be expanding,” she said.

Alongside a DMC outfit, A&K will enter the Bolivian market with its luxury A&K Sanctuary brand, potentially as early as this year, the A&K chief revealed.

Levis said Bolivia complements the likes of Peru, Pantanal, Brazil and the Atacama Desert, or simply as a standalone destination.

The destination is air accessible from Europe and the USA, either direct or via Colombia.

“We need to continue growing because we have to deliver to our stakeholders.”

“We must bear in mind that we are a luxury product and so the growth must take that into account. We cannot grow too fast because that would mean we can no longer deliver the level of service that we deliver today.”

In recent times, A&K has opened DMCs in Mexico and Indonesia.

More from Levis in LATTE and LATTE Cruise this week.

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