It’s the opposite of a sale ;(.
Today, I bring you news I don’t enjoy bringing. For the first time in our company history, we are making a significant increase to the cost of our tours. While we’ve made some small adjustments to tour costs in the past, we are going to be raising the price of most of our tours about $300-$400 per traveler effective October 15th, 2023.
This increase of course relates to world-wide inflation and the cost of running our tours. The biggest factor in our cost is our International flights. We’ve been searching for months now and unfortunately had to lock in some fares that are in some cases $1,000 more per traveler than we have paid in the past. We just aren’t able to sustain that kind of increase with our current pricing. It’s not just the flights either. Hotels, busses, meals, and even smaller things like our website maintenance and marketing have gone way up this year – and not 7% up :).
There is some good news for you…. We aren’t going to be making this price change until October 15th, 2023. Any traveler who is accepted and pays the deposit before the price change goes into effect is locked into the current tour pricing. You don’t need to pay in full before October 15th, just the deposit!
So, if you’ve already started your application for a tour… just log in to your application and finish up your application it’s possible this price change will not affect you. You will need to complete your application with a VIDEO and LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION as well as schedule and complete a VIDEO INTERVIEW with our staff. That can take some time, so make sure to get started ASAP.
In the video below I explain a little bit more about our pricing and our commitment to both quality and affordability in our tours. I want to make two points…
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- Our tours aren’t meant to be ‘cheap’. We realize many of our travelers are going overseas for the first time. They save up for years to be able to take a trip like this. We never want to sacrifice quality to be ‘cheap’. There is no point flying overseas to stay 6 to a room in crappy hotels, eat at McDonalds, and not see all the things you want to see. We also realize many of our travelers use our trips for once-in-lifetime family vacations. You will look back at these pictures and have these memories forever. Good things aren’t cheap and cheap things aren’t good!
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- The most important thing for us is ‘ROI’ (Return on Investment). For most of our travelers, it is a significant financial hit to take a trip like this (both before and after our price increase). I’d encourage you to take a look through our past traveler testimonials on our website. We have hundreds! Read through what our travelers say about the value and cost of a tour like this. Yes, it’s an upfront cost and many were apprehensive of spending the money. However, the long term benefits make a tour like ours one of the best investments you can make. You are investing in yourself and your children’s future successes. We love it when our travelers tell us how our trip changed their life. It prepared them for success in high school or college or the real world. It changed their perspective on life, encouraged them to pursue a new goal, etc. How much to I believe in this? Watch a short video on how International travel changed MY LIFE.
If you are serious about this make sure to lock in the old pricing by getting your contract signed and deposit paid prior to October 15th, 2023. Click below to either continue where you left off. We hope to see you in 2024!
Tim Ryerson, SAWUSA President