Wendy Wu: Show passion and customers will reward you

Wendy Wu has built a travel business from scratch and kept it going through the global Covid-19 pandemic that devastated the travel industry. Her advice is that passion is the secret ingredient in the tourism trade because it inspires customers to trust you.

Wendy Wu founded her Wendy Wu Tours travel business in 1998 in Australia. It now has offices around the world, including in Sydney, Auckland, Shanghai and London, with more than 60 employees based in the UK's capital. The UK part of the business recently reported an annual turnover of more than £28m.

The company specialised in tours to Asia, but the pandemic led it to look further afield for holidays. It was passion and trust that helped her company survive the pandemic, she explains.

“The secret from me is to have burning passion,” says Wu. “Passion for business, passion for people and passion to serve.”

When travelling abroad became restricted due to lockdowns, her UK customers asked if she would organise trips to Scotland, which they could visit. Wendy Wu Tours had always specialised in holidays to China and Japan, so this was a radical idea.

“You better put your money where your mouth is,” Wu joked to those customers who enquired.

They did and the tour was heavily oversubscribed. The company organised several more tours to Scotland, including a Christmas in Scotland package. It then started offering tours to other popular European countries like Portugal and Turkey as it expanded beyond its Asian heritage.

“Customers trusted us because of our passion,” says Wu. “They rewarded us with custom, so they travelled with us everywhere we went. In the travel industry, it's all about people, experiences and trust.”