Three years ago, when we profiled Bon Voyage Travel on our October 2012 edition, the Arizona agency’s online luxury cruise division sales were just beginning to take off, generating about $8 million a year. In 2015, the online sales for brands like Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, Crystal Cruises and Seabourn, have doubled and so has the staff — keeping up with the client demand. In fact, the agency is on track to generate $49 million in revenue this year, that's up from $40 million in 2012. Aside from online, clients are from the local market and tend to be Baby Boomers with discretionary income.
As we look back, Bon Voyage’s path goes something like this: Peter Evans founded the agency in 1975 in Tucson, AZ at the young age of 22, and it didn’t take long for it became a leader in the Southwest. Then around the year 2000, he sold Bon Voyage’s corporate travel segment and focused soley on leisure travel. By 2012, the business was starting a transition as Evans was leaving the day to day of his company in the hands of Ryan Hansen, currently the vice president and chief operating officer. Today, with Hansen at the helm, the agency continues to be a leader in the leisure travel market in the Southwest.
 |
| October 2012 |
As for what has stayed the same at Bon Voyage, “Our mission continues to rest on the core pillars of our success — service, expertise, relationships and value,” says Hansen. “We utilize current technology strategies to drive traffic in concert with the traditional strategies of referrals and direct marketing.” Hansen also credits the Signature Travel Network for “acting as the backbone of the agency with its tremendous marketing pieces and cutting-edge technology advancements that help us cultivate our business.”
Hansen has strengthened his relationship with Signature by serving on the board of directors for the network since 2013. And then there's travel. Hansen just returned from Signature's Horizon Club event, which was a customized Uniworld cruise through China. “Perhaps the best part of the trip was when Signature and Uniworld arranged for the Great Wall to be lit up as the sun went down during the rooftop banquet,” he recalls.
“The view of the lit-up Great Wall will be a memory that will last a lifetime.” As for the Waldorf-Astoria in Shanghai, where the group stayed for part of the trip, Hansen describes it as being immaculately decorated and maintained. “The Waldorf is a prime location for shopping and affords breathtaking views of Shanghai’s cityscape,” he says.