Manuela Marques

Like most women Manuela Marques loves to shop and knowing that women are the drivers when it comes to instigating travel, she decided to capitalize on this and combine the two.

Marques became TravelManagers representative for Lansdale WA in February this year. Keen to continue building her own client base, with support provided through her partnership with TravelManagers, Marques decided to take advantage of a busy shopping centre very near where she lives.

“It struck me that setting up a temporary information booth in my local shopping centre would be a great way of growing my database while meeting a large volume of people easily.”

The shopping centre was keen to have her set up a booth and with the support and enthusiasm of her industry suppliers, it was all go.

“It didn’t take long to organise at all. In addition to the support of TravelManagers, local suppliers provided brochures, signage and branded flyers, they even helped out manning the stand. I was overwhelmed with the support from Garuda Orient Holidays, Business Development Manager, Sharon Joseph and Fiesta Holidays' National Business Development Manager, Brigitte Bosch. Of course Alison Hill, my TravelManagers’ Business Partnership Manager, was a fountain of knowledge and provided huge encouragement to help me achieve this.”

Joseph says she was impressed with the initiative and stunned at what a magnet the shopping centre proved to be.

“It was amazing to see so many people walking through the shopping centre; they were drawn to the stand to talk with Manuela. When you have someone as proactive as Manuela backed by TravelManagers you really can’t go wrong.  It was a great initiative to be involved with, I’m confident Garuda Orient Holidays will see bookings as a result of it.”

Originally from Portugal, Marques has resided in Australia for 20 years. She has managed a travel agency which specialized in travel to Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. Whilst having previously had her own travel agent’s license for her own home-based independent agency in Cairns Marques says she is loving the move to TravelManagers.

“I wish I had done it years ago. TravelManagers has taken all the hassle associated with owning a business and allowed me to concentrate on what I do best and what I love most – creating great travel experiences for my clients.”

Marques says the shopping centre initiative was a huge success and she wouldn’t hesitate to repeat it at a later date.

“Right now I am flat out following up on the enquiries I received on the day and loading the large number of people onto my database so they can receive my personalised e-newsletter that TravelManagers help us with. I was so pleased with the contacts I made during the promotion; in fact the level of interest was hugely encouraging and a real confidence boost. The people I spoke with loved the concept of a personal travel manager coming to them to assist with planning their travel and providing advice.”