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Packaged Tours Need Retooling in a Coronavirus Era: The Long View This Week

Sean O'Neill photo
Sean O'Neill
Zaanse Schans Holland source Smartours

Photo Credit: Zaanse Schans is a neighborhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk, Netherlands. It's best known for its historic windmills and houses. Smartours

Skift Take

The long view on packaged tours as a travel category is bright, said Christine Petersen, the president and CEO of smarTours, a private-equity backed operator. But the sector must adapt to a socially distanced world in several practical ways if it wants to stay relevant and profitable.

The multi-day packaged tour sector has been hit with forces that will transform it from the inside-out. Tour operators are now rethinking group travel, as hygiene-hyperaware leisure travelers seek more self-contained holidays at less adventurous destinations. Packaged travel will find a profitable path to a rebound if operators make sensible adjustments to their offerings and cost structure, said Christine Petersen, the president and CEO of packaged tour operator Smartours. In a Friday interview on "The Long View With Rafat" livestream, Petersen told Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali that packaged tours will increasingly include smaller group sizes, more off-peak season iti

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