Ready for the adventure
Travel Courier chats with Matt Berna, Intrepid Travel’s new Managing Director of North America, about his goals for the position, the tour operator’s strategy for the continent and what keeps him up at night.
Congratulations on your appointment as Managing Director of North America. What are your initial goals for this position?
Most of the industry is re-evaluating their priorities and trying to determine where to best spend their time and energy with reduced resources.
My initial goal is to connect with our key partners to discuss how we can work together, with limited resources, to support and engage their advisors, so we’ll be ready for the eventual rebound in international travel. Intrepid is also re-shaping its own business model, and will be launching new travel services, such as Tailormade (custom) and private group travel, as well as a new range of trips designed specifically for a North American customer – hopefully providing more sales tools to help our industry partners maintain some sense of momentum.
I have worked through numerous crises and incidents over the last 25 years, but I’ve never witnessed a time that has put so much financial and emotional pressure on everyone in the industry. No one has been immune from the negative impacts that the pandemic brings, so we need to continue to talk to each other, business partners and competitors alike, to ask how the other is doing, and how one might be able to help
Matt Berna
Tell us a little about yourself and what’s your favourite part of being in the travel industry?
Like many in this industry, I fell in love with travel at a very young age. In my case, it started on our family road trips that would take us cross-country from our home in New Hampshire. However, it was an adventure filled, three-month Eurail trip that I took after high school that imbedded the travel bug deep into my soul and psyche. It was such a thrill to travel without the forward planning or research that the internet presents today; I could literally walk up to a train station and decide where I went next by looking at the schedules on the wall.
I officially entered the industry when I became a tour leader in 1993, guiding small groups of international travellers around the National Parks of the U.S., and have been lucky to have worked in travel since those pre-internet days. Working in travel and with Intrepid has provided me the opportunity to meet so many amazing colleagues from around the world. I’ve been able to widen my own cultural awareness through my work and travels and I feel like a have a massive, global extended family made up of the most interesting, friendly, curious and compassionate people in the world.
What’s Intrepid’s strategy for North America going forward and how will you increase operational capabilities while rebuilding tourism more responsibly?
Intrepid has been operating trips in North America since 2009, however the restrictions in international travel has compelled us to develop a range of domestic travel options that will appeal to a North American customer. It’s clear that a domestic traveller will have different interests from an international visitor, but we are confident that that our style of small group, sustainable experience-rich adventure travel will translate just as well to this market.
Unlike years past, when we worked with a dedicated DMC (destination management company), we have now set out to work with a range of local specialists in each corner of the continent, who are in turn experts in their own areas. This will help us to widen and accelerate the range of itineraries and sustainable travel experiences that we can offer. We’ll start with a modest portfolio of trips that will operate beginning this winter, and then look to expand our offerings under the favourable conditions that the summer months offer.
As we build our range and reputation as a leading North American based tour operator, we’ll start to scale up our product and operational roles at our head office in Toronto. We’re lucky to have such a great team of travel experts, many of whom have worked in operations before, so I’m confident we have the right team to manage this growth opportunity.
Many of our readers are travel agents. Is there anything you can share about the North American-based trips or ways they can remain relevant during this challenging time?
I believe agents should use any spare time to research new products and services, such as domestic travel options, for their customers. Join travel partners’ webinars as they launch new products and keep studying the trade papers for new product launches, as the industry will continue to adapt and create new products for your promotion, as we are doing with our range of trips.
Rather than focusing on where to go next, Intrepid recently released a list of how to travel in 2021. What are some of the opportunities those in the travel industry can take advantage of during this global pandemic?
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that travel is a privilege, not a right. And how we travel – when the world opens up – instead of where, has never been more important, as we consider today’s realities and what the future of travel should look like.
This is a great time to look for local travel options for your customers, and to be creative when doing so. You could suggest that they follow a special interest, or discover a new one, such as food, or history, or perhaps to visit some of the lesser known parks, which typically wouldn’t have ranked so high on their bucket list before COVID.
How are you feeling about the recovery for the travel industry?
I remain hopeful as we continue to see a consistent level of bookings for travel during the second half of next year, and further out. The industry will recover over the next 2-3 years, and we’ll see more positive changes coming from the pandemic, such as more flexible booking terms and more conscientious travel decisions. With COVID cases on the rise in many areas of the world right now, it’s likely we are facing another 3-6 months of tough trading conditions, so it’s more important than ever to continue to lean on each other as business partners — and friends — to get through to the other side.
What keeps you up at night?
Sadly, at the moment, it’s the strong winds and unstable weather conditions where I live in Northern California that literally keeps me up at night. It’s blazingly clear that we need to take stronger steps to tackle climate change. It also inspires me to get behind Intrepid’s plans to share our carbon management learnings with other companies in this industry to help them reduce the carbon imprint of their business and trip operations. And of course, there’s also the presidential election.
Do you have an example to share about how travel has impacted your life for the better?
There’s no question that the experiences I’ve enjoyed over my travelling career have made me more culturally aware. Travel continues to open my eyes to be more understanding and empathetic, and to appreciate the positive impact that my travels and my role at Intrepid have on the areas that we visit. I’m also proud of the exposure it has given my two kids as they plan to take advantage of our global community of travel friends as they set off on their own adventures.
Do you have anything to add?
I have worked through numerous crises and incidents over the last 25 years, but I’ve never witnessed a time that has put so much financial and emotional pressure on everyone in the industry. No one has been immune from the negative impacts that the pandemic brings, so we need to continue to talk to each other, business partners and competitors alike, to ask how the other is doing, and how one might be able to help. I believe this is a time to cooperate – not to conquer – and to work together to rebuild tourism to be more responsible than it was before.
