WHAT WE ARE ABOUT – by Russell Grant

The travel industry like everything else is going through a technological revolution!

The almost daily occurrence of another incredible invention that allows communication through an even more amazing broadband application is happening at a breath-taking rate.

I have been involved with the travel industry for over 15 years as a presenter, producer and director on national television and radio, travel editor of 5-text and writer for many national newspapers and magazine so I on my return to the travel fold just a few months ago left my head and fingers spinning with the changes that had occurred and the fresh opportunities that were there to be grabbed.

As a double Aquarian I wanted to present the most modern, wizzy and exciting travel platform for press, media and public possible. A venture that would make life easier for everyone whether selling a place or booking space on a train, boat or plane – it was the delivery that was important and my strategic partners are more switched on than anyone that it can be delivered in style through mobile, TV, laptop or texts – supported by a web, audio and visual presence beyond compare; broadband makes all this possible in a twinkling.

I never forget many moons ago when my friend Fiona Reece was at Marketeer I asked her for her E-mail, she laughed and said what? I told her that within a few months she would have one! She did and we remember that ground-breaking day. Apparently I was one of the first, if not the first to have an E-mail – just like the Travel Club.

I am lucky in that my own website is run by one of the leading new media companies in the world, Beaumont Knight Associates, who number amongst their clients, Microsoft, Sky Interactive, Tiscali to name a few and they have embraced the concept of the Travel Club and aim to get the information out there in whichever way you want to receive it.

Having given a warm launch to the Travel Club at the Visit USA Travel Awards at the Royal Geographical Society in July 2006 and had a really hot reception for the idea, we are now all working towards the Club going live later in 2006.

I am involved in launching my own TV channel, the Star Channel, at the Edinburgh Festival and then Cannes MipCom in August and autumn 2006 – and this will play a major role in our Travel Club plans.

Basically, I believe, and I am sure there will be dissenters, the time has come when travel operators and tourist boards find it harder and harder to make ends meet; budgets are swallowed up almost instantaneously. This means to send a reporter or film crew to a destination for a one-off feature or film is becoming less viable.

My idea is simple – two or three people make the trip but deliver a whole host of content to fulfil everything you or your client needs. For instance a recent trip to South Tyrol (one of the most wonderful places on earth) will eventually produce around 40 features covering audio, visual, all kinds of mobile applications, websites and written features for national and regional alike, and all it took was one five-day trip and two people to produce what would have taken about 30 or more individual trips!

Get the idea? As one of the leading lights at the US Awards said, it's the way to go – and it is because we have something to suit every platform, old and new, we can trawl through the library and get what you want, whether it is footage of Skibo Castle for Madonna's wedding as we did for NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and C9 Australia or a quick celebrity piece for OK Magazines UK and USA on Kylie and Corsica. And there is still content over if you want to get your hands on something last minute; there is something for everyone and everything.

As you would expect, I have covered the astrology market too by comparing the horoscope of a place with that of a person for specialist features, but we also create the traditional features whether from a personal viewpoint or more general approach.

The Travel Club will be accessible from all over the world, we will have content in German, Spanish, Italian and French as well as English – it's a one-stop shop for everything you need to promote and publicise your client, and we even have a five-star luxury end of the market – known as Lord Ashford's Travels, for those who don't know his Lordship in the USA or elsewhere!

We will be producing a newsletter to our club members to alert them to all kinds of places and competitions and opportunities – we can reach 120 million people immediately thanks to our burgeoning data base.

I think that sums it up from the old and traditional to the wiziest of new things; it's the way to go – one trip gives you more features than you ever dreamed of.

Give us the time and the place and we will give you the world. Please contact me at any time if you have ideas, require information or just want to touch base.

Travel safe,

Russell Grant