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Where adults reign supreme COOP-2102 • PAX MAGAZINE • FULL PAGE • 8.25 X 10.75 • APRIL 1, 2019 As you may be aware, PAX Global Media Inc. (PGM) recently and in English on TourismPlus.com. We’ve dreamed up a announced that it had successfully acquired Tourisme new and exciting hybrid concept exclusive to the Canadian Plus and its subsidiaries. The move was a phenomenal start market, that caters to both consumers and travel professionals to the new year, and it’s paved the way for PGM to further alike. It will focus on all luxury travel offerings, including develop at a pace quite unlike anything we’ve seen before. hotels, aviation, cruises, tours, and more. An acquisition of this magnitude has created a climate PAX will remain your source for Canadian travel news of joy and victory not only at PAX, but across the travel and we will continue to publish a daily newsletter and industry itself, judging from the extremely positive ongoing feature articles. reception of the announcement. Have a comment or a question? Feel free to contact However, it’s with a rather great deal of prudence that [email protected], our national editor- I consider the upcoming months. Once the exaltation of in-chief. We always welcome your opinion and feedback! new beginnings has waned, once the dust has settled, comes a time for rational thinking in order to prepare for Following last month's very successful special edition on imminent challenges that inevitably pave the way to success. Europe, this month's PAX magazine is back in its usual Staying ahead of the competition means multiplying our form, featuring Ron Lonsdale, vice-president of Canada for strategies and offering high-performance products in Collette Tours. Ron shares his travel industry journey, from order to meet the demands and expectations of our readers; his days of playing semi-pro hockey in Europe to leading while that’s still very much valid, it’s also imperative to the Canadian division of a successful tour operator in 2019. reevaluate priorities in the smartest possible way. A few pages later, you will find our 2019 River Cruises It goes without saying that my team and I are very Guide and a special report on the various ways to maximize enthusiastic to relaunch Tourisme Plus. But my 27 years in and diversify your agency revenue. the publishing business has taught me to recognize mountains I am not quite yet ready to climb and that detours, Finally, we travel to Hawaii, London and Vienna in our however sinuous, are sometimes a necessary evil. Over the destination section. last few months, we’ve been busy expanding our team to carry out previously-established mandates in accordance Happy reading, to our business plan. As such, our anticipated launch date, originally scheduled for February, had to be postponed. Therefore, it’s with great pride that I announce that the new version of Tourisme Plus will officially be launched President & CEO, over the next few weeks, in French on TourismePlus.com PAX Global Media Founder & CEO Uguette Chiasson Vice-President Nancy Benetton-Sampath National Editor-in-Chief Marie-Eve Vallières Managing Editor – English Canada Michael Pihach Associate Editor Blake Wolfe Associate Digital Editor Christine Hogg Journalists Serge Abel-Normandin, Antoine Stab Web Developer Maxime Delisle Graphic Designer & Web Integrator Alexandre Foisy Graphic Designer France Shaffer Circulation Coordinator Nathalie Manouvrier Contributors Aurore Bonvalot, Gordon Bowness, Nic Catania, Frédéric Gonzalo, Fergal McAlinden, Ming Tappin, Jean-François Venne ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Nancy Benetton-Sampath, 416 581-1001, ext. 304, 647 389-2438 [email protected] CIRCULATION INQUIRIES [email protected] Canada, 10 issues (one year): $49.50 (plus tax) OFFICES Toronto Montreal Vancouver 2 Carlton Street, Suite 602 782 rue Principale PO Box 18464 West Toronto, ON, M5B 1J3 Laval, QC, H7X 1E6 Georgia RPO 416 581-1001 450 689-5060 Vancouver, BC V6Z 0B3 416 581-1001 Printer: Imprimerie Héon-Nadeau Ltée Distribution: Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 42658017 Legal deposit: Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec & National Library of Canada Legal deposit number: ISSN 2367-9921 PAX magazine is published by Corporate website: paxglobalmedia.com Travel industry news: news.PAXeditions.com, newsWest.PAXeditions.com, nouvelles.PAXeditions.com All rights reserved: PAX Global Media inc. No part of this magazine may be printed or otherwise duplicated without permission from the publisher, Uguette Chiasson ([email protected]). The opinions, endorsements and all content in this magazine are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, editor, journalists and other contributors, and these parties shall not be responsible for any reliance theron. hen one thinks about it, the worlds It was overseas that a growing interest in travel of hockey and coach tours are not far finally blossomed, Lonsdale recalls. removed: groups of individuals shuttle between destinations for a night or two at a time, “I was playing semi-pro hockey in Europe and when sharing the same mode of transportation and I came home, I had a great interest in travel, because bonding over a common passion. I did a lot of independent travel through hockey,” Lonsdale tells PAX, adding he received “500 pounds a It was perhaps this similarity that prepared Collette’s week and a Ford Escort” for playing in Europe. “I got the Canadian vice-president Ron Lonsdale for making travel bug and wanted to explore and be adventurous.” the transition from the rink to the tour operator sphere, shifting from a prospective professional While the prospect of going pro was on the horizon, hockey career to a successful stint in the Canadian Lonsdale concedes that his skills on the ice weren’t travel industry, nearly 30 years and counting. NHL-caliber. However, all the travel experience in Europe would lead him down another career path Fuelled by life-long dreams of exploring distant and it wasn’t long after returning home in 1993 that lands (with Egypt ranked number one, a destination Lonsdale was recruited by a certain Rhode Island- he finally visited for Collette’s 2018 global sales based tour operator looking to expand into Canada. meeting), Lonsdale got his first taste of travel as a member of the Humber College hockey team, playing “I was approached by a head-hunter and they were throughout North America, which eventually lead looking for a BDM for a new start-up in Canada to a defenseman position on the Medway Bears called Collette. That was 25 years ago,” he recalls, in 1991 – a team in the now-defunct British Ice adding that among the recruitment team was Brett Hockey Federation. Walker, Collette’s general manager for Canada. That spirit of learning from colleagues, travel agent partners and Collette clients continues to define Lonsdale’s career; after serving as a BDM for a year, he made the move to Director of Strategic Partnerships in 1994, a role he held until 2017 when he was named Vice-President of Canada. Learning from others was particularly crucial in taking on the VP role, he explains, as the position was “Hearing about the family business aspect “They told me how good of a company brand new and required definition. and their core values, I thought that if they were and the value for money they I couldn’t play hockey, this is a pretty provided clients,” he says. “One of the “The culture of our company is very good substitute.” agents told me about a Hawaii tour she sold passionate and knowledgeable – we’re through Collette and I made some notes. very enthusiastic people,” he says. “The After researching the company and mentoring I was given, the hands-on aspect the concept of guided tours in general, “On the second interview, I spoke to them of it, helped me immensely. Also, learning Lonsdale went into the interview prepared about their product and the benefits of from my travel agent partners – just hearing with the advice and experience of travel travelling on a guided vacation and they about their business and clientele – they agents who had sold Collette’s tours to hired me. I hadn’t even done a guided tour told me that the most important thing is their clients. at that point!” to be able to trust you: your company THEIR ALL- INCLUSIVE SUMMER ADVENTURE KIDS STAY FREE + LIMITLESS ALL-INCLUSIVE Your little legends are staying for free. And whether it’s jamming at Music Lab, spending days by the pool, or letting loose at the kids club, with the new Limitless All-Inclusive program, all the kids’ favorites are all included and so are yours. #madeformusic HRHALLINCLUSIVE.COM For more information, visit allinagents.com or contact your preferred tour operator. Two kids (12 & under). Music Lab not available at Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta.