The world at your feet

You want to organize an international seminar, take part in a foreign forum or simply have a good holiday? Turn to  professionals –  Atlas Tours travel agency has accumulated great experience in serving VIP clients and those striving to join their circles

Julia Gladchenko Photo: Atlas Tours

Atlas Tours director Julia Gladchenko has been working in the tourism business for over 10 years. The agency's reliable team of managers is ready to help its clients in whatever distant corner of the Earth they may find themselves.

Julia, five years ago the prevailing opinion was that the Internet would be able to replace the general tourist operator. This was when your agency entered the market…

Of course, one can find lots and lots of information required to organize a trip for business or recreation purposes on the worldwide web. But is a businessman ready to spend several hours of his precious working day on this? Wouldn't it be much more simple to turn to a tourism agency and talk your plans over with a professional in a quick 15-minute interview? The agency will take things over from there and make all the arrangements – from visas to hotel bookings. Speed, accuracy, quality information – these are  components for our services.

Atlas Tours will make sure our clients' bookings are received at any time of the day, using e-mail, facsimile and telephone communications for confirming all orders. The agent responsible for the order can be reached by phone 24 hours a day from any place in the world. Аll documents to corporate clients are delivered by our courier. Clients also enjoy a great variety of privileges in the form of discounts or special price offers.

There's no doubt that organizing international events in different countries is the specialty of your agency.

By tradition, our clients use the agency's services for organizing seminars, fairs and conferences in various countries. Arrangements under such orders are made well in advance. This is not only about visas, booking tickets and hotel rooms. Should the client wish so, services of interpreters, drivers, etc. can be arranged for him. Naturally, the agency cannot handle all these matters independently. To offer our clients the best prices, Atlas Tours has joined a number of organizations, including the International Aviation Transport Agency (IATA), the Latvian Association of Tourism Agencies (ALTA), and many others.

Atlas Tours is one of the few tourism companies that also handles the reception of foreign visitors. What inspired you to take up this complicated business?

Three years ago we started offering services related to the reception of Western clients visiting the Baltic states and CIS countries. The consolidating factor in this was the general knowledge of Russian language we all have in this region. Atlas Tours not only arranges trips but also offers Western clients help in communicating in Russian. Another important factor is the current tourism business boom in Russia when tourism companies in Russia itself are often not yet ready to provide top quality services.   

It should be stressed that in Russia Atlas Tours works not only with Moscow but with all other regions as well. Moreover, the agency takes upon itself all formalities concerning visas and insurance. Considering the differences in visa procedure in various countries, this is quite a complicated process and requires much effort that individuals will find hard to do on their own.  

VIP clients are a special item for Atlas Tours. Apparently you offer them fairly exotic routes.

The geography of trips and requirements by VIP clients vary greatly. For example, last year the agency organized a trip on an ice-breaker in the Antarctic for a group of Moscow and Riga residents.  

Or let's take the trip by the Orient Express from Singapore to Bangkok via Malaysia, followed by a river cruise in Burma to Mandalay, one of the holy Buddhist sites. Burma, a country that has preserved Medieval traditions, started admitting tourist only a few years ago.

Another exotic route will take you to the Sultanate of Brunei, also closed for tourists until only recently.  

Of course, such trips are not  cheap. As a rule, they are organized for small groups of 2, 4 or 8 persons. Alongside the price privileges, our agency manager is in telephone contact with the group en route at all hours. 

What products developed by Atlas Tours are available to your middle-class clients  

Atlas Tours represents the Club Med hotel chain, comprising of 36 clubs in different countries. The Club Med concept is targeted at active sports recreation under supervision of experienced instructors: Alpine skiing and snow boarding in winter, tennis, golf or snorkeling in summer. Fun, sports, and a warm atmosphere all help holiday-makers find new friends from various countries. The broad program is also attractive price-wise.   

Atlas Tours has also become an exclusive representative of a program run by Neckermann, one of the largest charter flight operators in Europe offering trips to any holiday resort in the world with no exception. Atlas Tours is the general agent for Neckermann in Latvia and sells clients package services including hotels of any category, air travel and transfers. Right at the agency desk you can choose almost anything starting the view from your hotel window to sports classes, guided tours and other entertainment. It is pleasing that all Neckermann clients agree that the services they have received were exactly what they had ordered. Good prices are definitely another advantage of this project as non-stop flights from Germany will take you to any place on the Earth.

Atlas Tours  will also help to book charter flights from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The agency managers will always strive to explain to their clients all the options existing in Latvian travel market.  

• 74 Brivibas St Riga, LV 1011, Latvia
• Phone: +371 7 313667
• Fax: + 371 7 313668
• Cell: + 371 9 451819
• e-mail: [email protected]
• www.atlas.lv