Become a Home Based Travel Agent

So You Think You Know London?
By Paull Tickner

Having perhaps been there and done that, many of you will be familiar with London’s West End, Covent Garden, Knightsbridge, Kensington and Sloane Square. 

However many of you will not know about Southwark, The Pool of London, Tower Hamlets and The Isle of Dogs.

Breaking with the traditional way of promoting London, you now have the opportunity to attend an imagination stretching London educational that will match these ancient and largely undiscovered corners to untapped, profit-generating sources of business on your doorstep. 

The four night programme will be based in up and coming Bankside, an attraction, restaurant and hotel-packed ‘pocket’ on the south bank of the River Thames, facing St Paul’s Cathedral and due west of Tower Bridge.

To help you to get on top of your jetlag, most of Friday will be spent enjoying the colourful Borough Market, a light lunch at the Menier Chocolate Factory, now a restaurant and theatre and a special tour of Vinopolis, London’s number one wine tasting destination.  The early evening Welcome Reception is then followed by a ‘getting to know each other’ pub supper at The Founders Arms on the bank of the River Thames, enjoying Fish and Chips, some real ale and the views across to St Paul’s Cathedral and downstream to imposing Tower Bridge.

During the Saturday, you’ll discover just how well a Bankside-based, ‘travel less see more, value added’ programme perfectly meets the interests of three very important high yield niche markets. The process begins with a stroll to Tate Modern, which is home to the world’s largest collection of British art from Constable and Turner through to the Art Now series. Here the focus will sharpen on the Visual Arts and a one hour guided tour of the galleries will be followed by a panel presentation from three more world-class London galleries. Next up, it’s a very short walk to the almost adjacent Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Exhibition where the front and backstage tour will be followed by a light lunch and a Performing Arts panel presentation from three more experts. To complete the day, you’ll then wander along the south bank of the river to Southwark Cathedral for a fascinating tour of this historic building and a final seminar lead by three more specialists who’ll share their views on three different aspects of Christian Heritage. Once this is over, it’s back to the hotel and a free evening for you to enjoy London on your own.

After breakfast on the Sunday, you’ll divide into three groups for a day of memorable visits to areas to the east of The Tower of London which you may have read about but not (yet) have seen. One of the itineraries will be by boat to Greenwich and some aspects of the area you may not know about.  Another will concentrate on the area to the south and east of Tower Bridge and include visits to the Fashion and Textile, and the Design Museums. The third will take in places like the Museum of London of Docklands, Brick Lane and Denis Severs House in Tower Hamlets on the north side of the river. To finish off, there’ll be a fun evening with some of our hosts.

The early part of Monday morning will be spent at the Imperial War Museum where you’ll discover the stories of those who have lived, fought and died in conflict from the First World War to the present day. Following a special tour there will be a Family Travel panel presentation from three more fascinating attractions. After this we’ve lined up a lively, interactive marketing session which will show how the theory of what you’ve seen and learnt can be successfully promoted to different niche markets back at home. After a light lunch, you’ll then head for a trade show on board HMS Belfast, an ex-Royal Navy Town-Class cruiser and now a museum ship owned by The Imperial War Museum. Once this has finished, buyers and suppliers alike will ALL go for an end of conference dinner at Roast, one of Bankside’s top restaurants and dedicated to classical British cooking.

The programme finishes after breakfast on the Tuesday.  To get the best out of this unique experience and to refresh your memory about the rest of London, there will be pre and post conference extensions for you to consider.

If niche markets AND the UK are on your 2010/2011 agenda, this travel agent only Product Experience Programme has you name written all over it!

For further details and a booking form, please email Paull Tickner at pjtickner@yahoo.co.uk.