Thirty-two years after its creation, luxury travel agency GR Tourisme reinvents itself and changes its name to Exuma.

The agency’s name change is intended to reflect “a new identity that better embodies the avant-garde, experiential vision of luxury travel”. Indeed, the entire team serves an elite group of customers seeking exceptional experiences. A honeymoon in paradise, a stay in a chic and trendy hotel in New York, unique family experiences in a lodge nestled in the African savannah, or the organization of business trips, seminars or corporate events. They are pro-active and can fulfill all their customers’ wishes.

This is what Ludivine Mercier wanted to make clearer when she decided to give the brand a new identity.

How do you reinvent yourself through rebranding?

Meet Ludivine Mercier Gaudissard, Managing Director of Exuma.

1- Can you tell us a little about yourself and Exuma’s mission?

Ludivine Mercier Gaudissard, currently Associate General Manager of Exuma Paris, has been passionate about travel and customer relations for over 20 years. Employed by Gr Tourisme since graduating from my BTS, I took over the management of the company in 2016. Exuma has over 30 years’ experience in the field. The pillars of our brand are: Excellence, experience and exception materialized by the human and the customer relationship at the center of our priorities, a sharp knowledge of the destinations proposed to our customers in order to create immersive, striking and unique trips and experiences for them. Our mission is to be a creator of emotions, a sculptor of memories, a producer of fulfilled dreams.

2- What motivated you to change your brand from GR Tourisme to Exuma?

The Covid period brought us to the realization that we needed to communicate a little more to keep in touch with our customers during the containment period. We began by stammering a little ourselves, but in a very home-made way, by feeding our social networks, but without much effect in the end. The recovery was swift and led us to the realization that our communications were not in line with our positioning and our customers. It was important to put energy into the image we were conveying. We’re in an era where expertise and human relations are no longer enough to win over customers and grow. In my opinion, marketing is just as important if we want to make headway in our constantly evolving sector.

3- Why did you choose to work with Travel-Insight for this rebranding and the launch of Exuma in the press and on social networks?

Communication is a profession. We tried on our own, but to no avail. We needed the right person to understand, accompany and support our project. Travel insight was the right match. We had to take a new direction, in line with our vision. Branding was essential. The travel agency suffers from an outdated image. The Travel Insight team helped us through the difficult process of reworking our image and changing our name, to convey our new identity and embody our renewal. The new luxury experiential travel model of tomorrow.

4- Can you explain why you chose Exuma?

For this new name, I didn’t want to stick to current naming trends. I was looking for a name that speaks to the “why”. Our challenge was to successfully convey this new name to our customers too. We’re not starting from scratch, we have a large existing portfolio. The name had to be original, define us and inspire travel.

Behind this name, evocative of the island of the Bahamas, lies our desire to convey the essence of the agency: distilling Ex-motion. With this new identity, we fully reassert our founding pillars – Excellence, Experience, Exception. Exuma inspires prestige, confidentiality and exclusivity.

5- Do you have any other news/projects to share with us?

To round off this spirit of renewal, Exuma has moved to an exceptional location at 73 rue de Courcelles, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. We’ve moved from the boutique to a sumptuous Haussmann apartment, where we receive our customers by appointment to create a climate of closeness and intimacy.

In terms of news, as part of a long-standing collaboration with expedition cruise company Ponant, Exuma will be exhibiting alongside them at the Salon du Voyage Insolite on March 10, 11 and 12 at the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione.

We have set ourselves the goal of becoming one of the TOP 5 luxury travel agencies in Paris by 2025. We will continue to work on service excellence. Alongside Travel Insight, we’ll be stepping up our communication initiatives, by getting more leads on the web through social networks and search engine optimization. We believe in growth through phygital luxury.

6- What message would you like to convey to tourism professionals or travelers? / final word

I would say that we don’t have an easy job or an easy sector. These days, if you want to move forward, you have to constantly question yourself and keep up with new trends. You can’t stand still, and above all you can’t be afraid to invest and believe in the future. At Exuma, we’re not inventing anything, we’re putting the essential back at the heart of our priorities: the customer, the human relationship, immersiveness and the experiential. Word of mouth is our strength, but it’s no longer enough. Travel blogs and the number of views sometimes illegitimately take precedence over our expertise. We don’t want to be outdone, we want to combine business, communication and digital expertise. Leveraging these new influences to win back market share.