With swathes of yellow daffodils and the forsythia bursting into flower, the long-awaited spring is finally here and with it, there’s an encouraging upward trend in travel advisor inquiries for later in the year and for 2022, in anticipation that planes will once again be crisscrossing the Atlantic.

To encourage you to take part in this Britain-bound renaissance, I’ve put together some updates on festivals taking place in September. They include the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath, with some tips on costume hire; and the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, where a link to last year’s Virtual event is a very useful marketing tool.

Finally, if your clients are into china and porcelain, they’ll thank you for helping them to attend the British Ceramics Biennial…

Want to cruise this weekend on an eight-day Historic South and Golden Isles sailing between Amelia Island and Charleston? Yes, we consumed our morning coffee before writing this, and no, you’re not reading an old post from March of 2019. Cruising in the United States is back, after a year’s hiatus. You can now cruise again, this coming Saturday if you wish or any other Saturday thereafter.

This past weekend, American Cruise Lines’ 100-passenger Independence sailed from Jacksonville, Florida (Amelia Island) and is currently en route to Charleston, South Carolina. In Charleston, passengers will disembark and a fresh group of passengers will board to cruise back to Amelia Island.

“American Cruise Lines resumed our domestic cruise operations on March 13th,” Alexa Paolella, a spokesperson for American Cruise…

If every cloud has a silver lining, coronavirus has brought plenty of time to rethink the way we do business. As their customers hunkered down and phones fell silent, travel advisors turned to one another for support—and their many conversations have ushered in new alliances that promise increased revenues for all the partners.

In just a few of the stories I’ve come across lately, Jackie Magid and three fellow ICs formed a “collective” where they pool sales under a unique IATA number, while also each keeping their own business. Paul Cathcart and Carol Andrews are splitting villa rentals in Europe. Claire Maguire, Nikki Dickerson-McGregory, and Shawn Graves are pooling resources to get better pricing and commissions on the over-water bungalows they are selling together. Christy Mahon…