China – A tour operator’s perspective

When we first established Benmo Ltd in 1999, it was very much with a view to providing consultancy services to tour operators who required a specialist to help them run a China programme.

Our premise was that although China had developed an extensive infrastructure of world class hotels and a vastly improved flight network, there are still geographical, cultural and historical elements which make it a challenging country to work in if you want to provide an enjoyable and rewarding visit to China for your clientele without the feeling that they are merely part of a great tourism machine.

How it works

China is an ideal destination for a wide-range of special interest and affinity groups. We will do the research, write up the itinerary, make the ground arrangements in China, hold pre-tour seminars, select suitable tour leaders if required and provide a detailed pre-tour itinerary and information pack.

We will also carry out the visa administration on your behalf & pass on the benefit of any flight deals which we have negotiated.

You maintain continuity with your clients by administering the reservations in the usual way.

We have worked with a number of partners in the past few years:-

ACE Study Tours
Heritage Group Travel (2009 for local DIFAS group – fully subscribed )
Templeworld Travel (Readership programmes)
Martin Randall Travel (2006 programme for friends of the Royal Academy based on the Three Emperors Exhibition)
Steamond Travel - Family Programmes

Please contact us with your request by e-mail or by telephone and we will respond within 48 hours.

Suggested Themes

Our intention is to devise each itinerary in response to clients’ requirements, however, as an aide-memoire we list below a selection of arrangements, which our directors have been involved with in the past:-

Multi centre programmes combining China and Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Siberia
Organizing filming & photo shoots
Trade exhibitions and trade missions
Travel trade seminars and familiarization trips
Specialist magazine readership itineraries – eg History Today
Incentive groups
Common interest groups – Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of the Third Age, the League of Jewish Women,
Schools groups – Chinese schools in the big cities have good facilities which are suitable for schools groups

Other themes to spark the imagination and may be inspired by recent TV programmes:-

Archaeology,
Medicine in China,
Art & Landscapes – opportunities for painting
Gardens (the Monty Don series)
Chinese porcelain,
Learning Chinese in China,
Cookery Courses
Gourmet Tours,
Bird Watching,
Wildlife Reserves (Wild China)
Museums
Trekking (soft adventure in the Great Wall area, around Huangshan, in Yunnan Province – near Lijiang)