Travel company "ForaFarm Travel" is the first specialized tour operator for organizing recreation and travel for elderly travelers. In 2010, the company created the Velvet Season Travel Club - a club for older people with an active lifestyle, within the framework of which the tour operator organizes recreation for pensioners, offering a variety of travel programs and a wide range of destinations. Currently, ForaFarm Travel is actively developing socially significant project "Give your parents a rest!", drawing the attention of adult children to the need to take care of their parents.
We are in touch with the General Director of ForaFarm Travel Olga Ivanovna Kazakova.
What is the main difference between pension tours and ordinary ones?
- Many companies have retirement tours, but unlike them, only we with each group send a special escort who takes care of the group throughout the trip: guides, organizes, helps with the English language, prompts and tells everything that can be useful in travel. By the way, our escorts are not just kind people with organizational skills, but also psychologists who have extensive experience in communicating with the older generation and can patiently answer any questions from older travelers for hours. I think this is our main advantage: the Velvet Season Club is more than just work for us. This is our hobby, passion, need - taking care of the elderly. We treat each of our travelers very sincerely, we enter into his position, listen to all individual wishes and needs. We try to adapt the tour programs so that everyone is comfortable and interesting. And we even invite the stars of our travelers' youth to our trips - Tatyana Sudets, Svetlana Svetlichnaya, Larisa Luzhina and others.
Is it not a publicity stunt - tours are offered during the off-season. Therefore, they are relatively inexpensive? Are there retirement tours during high season?
- We try to find a middle ground and avoid both the "high" costly season and the "off" season with bad weather and cold sea. It is important for us to find the best option so that trips are relatively inexpensive, and the weather allows us to have a great rest, swim and soak up the sun. In this we are greatly helped by our partners, who meet us halfway and organize tours in the "high season" at special prices. How is this possible? I tell you: for example, for one European state, the main clients are tourists from the UAE. For this country, the high season is July-August, at the same time Ramadan falls, when the residents of the UAE stay at home and celebrate. 4 and 5 star hotels remain empty for a short time - and our travelers are happy to go to them - to enjoy their holidays with high quality service and at special prices.
What is the reason for the decrease in the cost of the tour for "pensioners"?
Mainly thanks to our "auxiliary" work: long-term cooperation and persistent negotiations with airlines, hotels, large operators. They can predict in advance the decline in the flow of tourists and offer us their tours and hotel rooms at a very tempting price. In addition, after working with us, many of them share our desire to make the lives of older people rich and dignified and become our friends. We are starting to work together on the development of our project, and are looking for ways to reduce prices even in the "high season".
What destinations and types of recreation are the most popular among the company's tourists, what amount on average are they willing to spend on a tour?
Our travelers are active and intelligent people with the most varied hobbies. It is a myth that retirees only need spa resorts or a sun lounger on the beach - they need the same things as everyone else, only with special care. Therefore, we do not dwell on any one direction, but organize a wide variety of tours in all parts of the world: we travel to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Crimea, Montenegro, Greece, Malta, Italy, Georgia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Cambodia, Cuba, Tunisia, Israel … Everyone can choose a country he has always dreamed of visiting. And everyone can choose what they like best: a tour of castles, architectural landmarks, sacred sites, relaxing on a golden sand beach or a health resort with mud baths.
Although we have three groups of tours - health, beach and excursion, we try to combine all this as much as possible and make a comprehensive program. For example, if we are going to Karlovy Vary, then we definitely include an excursion to the beautiful Prague. While relaxing on the beach in Sri Lanka, we go to see the amazing sights of this country. Again, I repeat: the most important thing in our work is the human factor. Each tour is developed in detail, each program is an author's, carefully thought out so that our travelers can relax and get a lot of positive impressions.
Who is the main buyer of the tours - the children or the parents themselves?
- So far, mostly parents. But we really want children to think about their parents and give their loved ones travel as often as possible. Therefore, we are developing the project "Give your parents a rest!" What it is? This is a gift certificate that you can purchase for your family and friends. We have several options: you can purchase a certificate for a fixed amount, buy a specific tour from the calendar, pay your parents for a certain type of vacation (sightseeing, beach, wellness).
The certificate, besides being a gift, is also a serious psychological impetus. After all, we all have grandparents who postpone travel under the pretext of summer cottages, grandchildren, TV series and thousands more excuses. But then a beloved son or daughter, or the same grandchildren bring them a certificate as a gift - and there is nothing left but to go on a trip.
Is this category of clients fastidious, is it hard to work with them, is it easy to satisfy their desires and interests?
We are very kind to our travelers and build sincere friendly relations with them. We try to take into account all their wishes, ask where they would like to sit on the bus, select a travel companion to make the room cheaper. Our travelers are curious, active and cheerful people. It gives us pleasure to communicate with them, organize their rest, show the world. And we are also very pleased when they come after a trip to share their impressions, show photos and immediately plan their next trip - it means that we are not working in vain, and we make this world a bit more cordial and friendly!
What should you pay attention to first of all when working with them?
First of all, you need to determine your own attitude towards older people. You should be ready to tell in detail about the program, to answer questions that may seem obvious to you. Many of our clients travel abroad for the first time in their lives and very often worry about how they will go through passport control, what to take with them, how they will get to the hotel, what rooms they will have. Few people know English at least at an elementary level. Therefore, older travelers need to be reassured and told that there is absolutely nothing to worry about: our escorts literally by the hand, like in a pensioner camp, oh, pioneer, will help at the airport, and in a hotel, and in a cafe, and in a souvenir shop - in a word, wherever you need it. You are not traveling alone, you are traveling with the Velvet Season Club, and we will be there for 24 hours every day of your vacation!
