Luxury holiday company, Grus Travel has doubled its marketing budget to £750k as it adds New Zealand to its existing fully escorted ‘True Blue’ tours.

Grus Travel approached Leeds-based ATP two years ago with a concept for an Australian ‘high end experience’ – a 36-day tour of Australia for a maximum of 24 people, costing up to £7,500 per person.
 
The agency devised the Grus Travel brand and developed a marketing programme which included an e-commerce website, 36 page brochure and both a traditional and on-line advertising campaign.
 
On the back of its continuing success, Grus Travel has now extended its activities into an additional new 32-day New Zealand tour supported by a £375,000 marketing budget.
 
Grus founder Steven Pagan is confident the New Zealand holidays will enjoy the same success as the Australian ones with the help from ATP: “From the moment I met the team I was impressed with their strategic and creative approach,” he said. “They quickly created a brand and a complete marketing model including ‘Golden phone numbers’, 24/7 call handling, high quality data capture and follow up email activity. They also provided a fulfilment service to ensure all the enquiries were quickly followed up with a brochure.
 
“It was refreshing that ATP delivered what they promised, resulting in a campaign which performed substantially ahead of our expectations.”
 
Grus Travel is planning to build on its success by adding additional world tours to its itinerary in 2010.