旅行社推出开往外星球的航班

    早在1914年，美国佛罗里达州某市前市长一掷千金，花了相当于如今9300美元左右的钱坐上了全球首架民航航班。从圣彼得斯堡到坦帕市这段23分钟的旅程实在没多大意思。那架飞机由木头制成，最高时速为每小时60英里——但这位前市长愿意花大价钱，体验一段在当时看来不可思议的旅程。

    而一百年后的今天，约600名旅客支付了高达25万美元的费用，参与一项同样看起来不现实的项目：登上首架开往太空的民航航班。这个项目由理查德•布兰森爵士旗下的太空旅行公司维珍银河（Virgin Galactic）推出。虽然这个设想在阔绰的冒险家看来十分离奇，甚至充满危险，但高端旅行社Virtuoso正努力把这个设想变成现实，以满足一小部分高端客户的需求。

    Virtuoso首席执行官马修•厄普丘奇说：“维珍银河希望有一家能够加入，为人们去处蒙在这种体验之上的神秘面纱。”在北美、中美以及南美地区，仅有Virtuoso一家公司能帮助客户在维珍银河公司的航班上订到座位。“重点在于将这个体验人性化，拉近它与人们的距离。”

    如今，传统旅行社似乎已是彻底的夕阳行业，然而，Virtuoso全球335家成员旅行社、7200多位旅行代理商去年的销售收入高达125亿美元。Virtuoso能在如今这个数字时代立于不败之地，靠的就是为上至显贵下至普通客户创造旅行体验。如今网络预订工具盛行，旅行体验可是一个关键词。

    Virtuoso拥有56位“认证太空游代理商”，或简称ASA。他们可帮助客户办理与维珍银行签约的一系列复杂手续，比如体检、获得配偶同意，以及定期更新项目进展等。尽管维珍银河尚未开始商业运作，但它计划最早今年就向客户提供亚轨道飞行项目，每次飞行容纳六名乘客。

    维珍银河ASA杰伊•约翰逊说：“我是在为未来的宇航员们服务，而不是为维珍银河公司效力。”约翰逊也是Virtuoso一家成员旅行社的社长。“我不会大肆包装（太空旅行产品）。我只是激发客户的兴趣。我的首要任务是使客户开心。如果他们有任何后顾之忧，我都会帮助他们解决。”

    约翰逊已经在维珍银河未来的太空航班上为客户预订了八个席位。约翰逊拒绝透露自己为维珍银河带来旅客所获佣金的具体数额，但他表示，自己参与ASA项目不是为了钱。不过，约翰逊通过维珍银河项目结识的客户中，有些后来又找他安排了其它旅行，让他赚到了钱。事实上，他刚刚为太空旅行项目的一名客户计划了一次历时14个月的环球旅行。

    通常，旅行代理商获得的佣金是旅程花费总额的10％左右，但Virtuoso是一家高端旅行社，它的旅行代理商可以获得更高的佣金。

    谈及Expedia和Travelocity等大受欢迎的旅行工具，Hudson Crossing旅游业分析师亨利•哈特韦尔特说：“如果大家想要的是很简单的体验，那么用互联网（设计旅程）就再合适不过了。但像Virtuoso这种大大改进了自身经营方式的线下旅行代理商，如今更加成功，或许是因为他们被迫成为更好的商人。他们已经从下单者蜕变成了‘造梦者’。”

    银河项目的创始人之一、Virtuoso的厄普丘奇本人也将成为首批乘坐维珍公司航班进入太空的80名乘客之一。厄普丘奇表示，太空亚轨道飞行的高昂票价将慢慢下降，就如同1914年那次首飞后的民航票价一样。不过，厄普丘奇还是鼓励能掏得起钱的人士尽早预定太空旅行服务，哪怕仅仅是为了享受理查德•布兰森为自己未来的宇航员提供的惊人特殊待遇。

    厄普丘奇笑着说：“我们这些人七年前就付了定金，都想让花的钱都值回本。不过，我们这些年参加了好些聚会，早就值回票价了。”（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    In 1914, a former mayor in Florida paid the equivalent of about $9,300 in current U.S. dollars to fly on the first commercial airline flight in the world. The 23-minute journey from St. Petersburg to Tampa was hardly glamorous -- the boat was made of wood and traveled at speeds up to 60 miles per hour -- but the man was willing to pay the exorbitant price for a trip that at the time seemed out of this world.

    One hundred years later, about 600 travelers have paid up to $250,000 to be a part of a similarly ethereal event: the first commercial flights into space, courtesy of Sir Richard Branson's space-tourism venture Virgin Galactic. Although the concept may sound completely outlandish, even dangerous, for the affluent adventurer, luxury travel network Virtuoso is working to bring the concept back down to earth for a few well-heeled customers.

    "Virgin Galactic wanted a company that could come in and demystify the experience," said Matthew Upchurch, Virtuoso's chief executive. His company has exclusive rights to book seats on Virgin Galactic aircraft for North, Central and South American passengers. "It is about humanizing the experience and making it more reachable."

    At a time when the traditional travel agent appears to be a dying profession, Virtuoso's 335 global member agencies with more than 7,200 travel agents earned $12.5 billion in sales last year. The company works to remain relevant in a digital age by creating travel experiences -- a key word in the age of the web-based booking tool -- for clients ranging from modest means to the top one percent.

    Virtuoso has 56 "accredited space agents," or ASAs, that help customers through the complicated process -- medical tests, spousal approval, regular updates on the program's progress -- of signing up for Virgin Galactic. Although the company's commercial operations have not yet begun, Virgin Galactic plans to send six passengers at a time on suborbital space flights as early as this year.

    "I work for the future astronauts, not for Virgin Galactic," said Jay Johnson, a Virgin Galactic ASA and the president of a Virtuoso member agency. "I don't sugar-coat anything. I just keep them motivated. My number one concern is to keep the customer happy and if they have any concerns I help them address them."

    Johnson has successfully booked eight seats on future Virgin Galactic flights. Although he declined to disclose the exact commission he earns from Virgin Galactic for signing up passengers, he said that he did not become a part of the ASA program for the money. Instead, the clients he meets through Virgin Galactic become profitable to him through other travel booking opportunities. For example, he just finished planning a 14-month around the world travel experience for a customer he got to know through arranging his travel into space.

    The standard commission for a travel agent is about 10 percent the total cost of the trip, but Virtuoso's positioning as a luxury agency allows its agents to earn more for their services.

    "The Internet is great if you want very simple experiences," said Henry Harteveldt, a Hudson Crossing travel analyst, of popular travel tools like Expedia and Travelocity. "But the offline agents who have evolved the way they do business like Virtuoso are probably being more successful today because they have been forced to become better business people. They have shifted from being order makers to dream makers."

    As one of Galactic's founders, Virtuoso's Upchurch will be among the first 80 people propelled into space by Virgin. Eventually, the costly price of a suborbital ticket into space will decrease, just like commercial airfare did after the first trip in 1914, he said. Still, Upchurch is encouraging everyone who can afford it to sign up as soon as possible -- even if it's just to take advantage of the incredible perks Richard Branson provides for his future astronauts.

    "For those of us who put our deposit down seven years ago and are trying to get our money's worth, we have gotten our money's worth with parties," he said with a laugh.