Visages du Monde has a total of 42 physical travel agencies.
Like many places open to the public, they have had to close for several months since the pandemic.
As we have seen, the curfew is shortening and travel restrictions are gradually easing.
This certainly heralds a resumption of travel for the summer season.
How is this recovery being managed by the Visages du Monde travel agency network?

Meet Julien Hamon, Director of Visages du Monde.

1 – Could you briefly introduce yourself and Visages du Monde’s mission?

My name is Julien Hamon, and I’ve been with the company founded by my grandfather in the early 1950s for some 10 years.
I hold a general management position in the company, mainly in charge of distribution and development.

Visages du monde is a multi-skilled travel agency, which I would call a global agency.
We are present in a number of different markets, and have developed expertise in each of them: leisure and vacations, sports travel, group and corporate travel, seminars, and finally business travel.

2 – What is the history of Visages du Monde?

Visages du monde was born out of the growth of our company and the integration over time of new agencies and new teams.
The first branch was opened in the early 80s.
Today, the network counts some forty agencies, located on the Atlantic coast and in Paris.

3 – How is business progressing since the reopening of physical travel agencies?

The recovery is going well overall.
There’s a lot of work involved in getting our customers and staff back up and running, but everyone is happy to be back.
There are still many constraints linked to travel, so we have opted for a gradual approach to the recovery, and are striving to continue certain services that worked very well during the crisis, such as maintaining our call centers and welcoming our customers by appointment, the latter being much appreciated by our customers.

4 – Which of your 120 destinations are selling best for the upcoming summer season?

Unsurprisingly, travel in France tops our sales charts.
Corsica and Greece complete the podium.

5 – Why did you choose Travel-Insight to help you manage your social networks?

We were already in contact before the COVID19 crisis.
At the time, we had chosen to internalize this department.
The crisis came along and I had to review certain organizations.
So we decided to outsource and use an agency.
Over and above the quality of the agency, what motivated this choice was the need to be visible at a time when our business was down to zero.
We needed to keep in touch with our customers, and at the same time make our brand known to as many people as possible.
TI knows our needs and understands the business environment in which we operate.
This is an important advantage, which saves time and performance.
We’ve met both these objectives, and created a community that identifies with our brand and the values it exudes.

6 – What are Visages du Monde’s future projects and objectives?

The primary objective is obviously to get back to business as usual.
Our customers want to travel, and our role, as always, is to help them plan their vacations and satisfy their needs.
We have a number of projects that will see the light of day this year, probably in September.
They all have one thing in common: customer service.

7 – What message would you like to convey to French tourism professionals and travelers?

The current crisis has forced us to rethink our business models and organizations.
I have not escaped this reflection.
I’ve heard the word “revolution” used.
I’d rather say that the changes in the market that have already begun will accelerate, such as made-to-measure, responsible travel and “travel better”.
Visages du Monde is developing these areas.
That said, we mustn’t lose sight of certain realities, particularly economic ones: vacations and discovery shouldn’t be reserved for an elite.
We need to find a fair compromise between the interests of the traveler, tourism operators and host populations, and not just in terms of the environment, but also socially and economically.
I think that many players understood this perfectly well, and before the crisis.

8 – The final word?

I can’t wait to start traveling again. I look forward to meeting you and discovering the world and its most beautiful faces 😉