Interview with Josep Abad – Sales Manager

Tell us your story. How did Temps d’Oci Incoming get started?

Temps d’Oci (Outgoing) started in 1992. 10 years later, we started the Incoming department. Since the 2000s, Barcelona had a huge demand of incoming services for all types of tourists and companies. We thought then that being a specialist in the student incoming market would be a good differentiation from other local agencies in the industry.

What makes Temps d’Oci Incoming different from your competitors?

Certainly, the quality and supervision of our programmes and services and the high level of efficiency in dealing with potential situations. This results in a very low level of incidents, which is very appreciated by our clients. In addition, I would say that our catalogue, with a wide range of activities and educational visits for students is remarkable.

What is your favourite success story from your organisation?

WST – FHT made an internal audit in 2016 for its 23 worldwide local agents and we qualified for second position, not bad at all…

2018 has also been a great success. We have reached the maximum quantity of students we have ever had – we successfully managed more than 10,000 people.

What can we expect to see from Temps d’Oci Incoming in the future?

Our goal is not to be seen just as a simple provider of services. We prefer to be considered by our clients as a loyal and confident partner for all their operations in Spain and Portugal.

Which trends do you see in educational and active youth travel?

The trend in educational travel is to experience the local culture more and more during the trip (gastronomy, festivities, language, political situations – all in genuine experiences). For example, we have had an increase in demand of information and activities related with Catalonia (e.g. culture, politics, etc.) during the last two years with groups staying in Barcelona.

We think that a trip to any destination should improve your knowledge thanks to local experiences. You can see this meaning in our promotional material and in our slogan – “Those who travel, live twice”.

How do you work to ensure the health and safety of young travellers involved with Temps d’Oci Incoming?

We always work with providers who can guarantee good service and products. We supervise and audit our providers prior to the arrival of the groups and make checks after the experience. We register and analyse incidents to avoid them from happening again, and thanks to our 24 h service, we act very quickly in any circumstance.

What was your motivation to join WYSE Travel Confederation?

We are prepared to grow and to offer our services to more agencies. We intend to have more visibility in the market and increase our international contacts by joining WYSE Travel Confederation.

Have you attended a WYSE Travel Confederation event? (World Youth and Student Travel Conference, STAY WYSE, WYSE Exchange Australia, WETM-IAC) If so, what was your experience with the event?

Yes we did, and we are very satisfied with the results.

What is an industry challenge your organisation is facing at this time?

Tourism is a very sensible industry and any instability affects us negatively: an economic crisis, a terrorist attack, strikes in transportation… But right now, as the UK is one of our main markets, obviously Brexit is our most important challenge nowadays.