MARC LAMBERT

 

Antipodes Voyages – Aussie specialist &
Tour East – Sales Representative Europe

When we met up, back in September, Marc Lambert was a man with a mission and a scoop! He could not wait to tell me all about his latest venture: the TourEast agency that he now reps in Europe (except UK). “This is the outcome of a long and hard negotiation and you see a proud man in front of you to have achieved this major coup!” beams Marc happily.

It was clear we would not be talking about anything else before having gone through this subject in detail so I settled in for a detailed explanation.
“Until now Antipodes has been exclusively active on the leisure market and is recognized as the Australia specialist in collaboration with Qantas Holidays. By having the exclusive sales representation for TourEast in Europe we become a major partner in the incentive/DMC  business and that opens up a whole host of new perspectives! We are not going for the MICE market, we are incentive specialists and that is the business I am going after!”

BBT: How did you get into this business?

Marc: Well, I have to take you back to my youth in Huy along the river Meuse. I was a very sporty young man, we swam in the river, and then when I was 16, I had a bad accident. From one day to the other I had to abandon my ‘wild’ ways and concentrate on getting better. So in my long convalescence period I turned to books and ...discovered the world and the written word. That decided me, I wanted to become a journalist and travel the world.As far as journalists are concerned, I have always seen former RTBF journalist Raoul Goulard as an example and then there is of course my ‘hero’ Corto Maltese’….

 

BBT: Sorry, who?...

Marc: Don’t you know the cartoon character Corto Maltese, created by the Italian author Hugo Pratt?.... I devoured the books and always felt a close to the main character.
Corto Maltese is a comics series featuring an epynomous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Hugo Pratt in 1967. The Corto Maltese series has been translated into many languages and is known worldwide. By the way, Corto Maltese was born on the same day as me, 10th July, which makes us even closer and more alike! Anyway, I made up my mind that studying to become an engineer as originally planned was a thing of the past and I concentrated on ‘Travel’.

 

BBT: So, journalism was going to open the doors to travel for you?

Marc: Well I soon found out that this was not going to be the case. I did an internship for L’Avenir in Namur…not a lot of travel. SO then I discovered TEJ (Tourisme Jeunesse) and I started accompanying groups of young people around Down under, but also up herethe world. That explains my passion for traveling with my groups, traveling with young people teaches you a lot about solving problems and animating!”

Marc continued this life for a couple of years before returning to school and attending CERIA where he studies tourism. During his studies he continues to accompany groups for organizations such as Kuoni. Then he leaves Belgium to continue his Tourism studies in Lyon.

At the ‘ripe’ age of 24 his country calls and Marc returns for his military service. In the meantime he has met his wife, got married and in a short period of time produced a son and a daughter. A family brings responsibilities and Marc starts working for the Credit Communal but the travel bugs stays with him and so when he has the opportunity to buy Sun Reizen in Watermael-Boisfort, he returns to his favorite subject: travel.

 

BBT: So where does Australia come into the equation?

Marc: When in ’91 we had the very first Gulf war, we looked at what is still going strong in tourism and found 5 major points:
1. Nobody was looking at 55+ travelers
2. Very few people where handling themed travel
3. Thalasso was getting bigger and bigger
4. More importance for destination related travel
5. Now was the moment to specialize in specific destinations.

Now, during my travels , just like a journalist or explorer would do, I had always kept travel journals and so I decided to follow the trend of specializing in a destination. In a first instance I choose for India, but in those days the logistical problems in that country where still quite daunting so I looked for something more accessible and decided on Australia. I had always liked the hard working and very friendly Australians.
The Olympic Games in Sydney definitely helped and I established myself very quickly as the leading provider for travel down under!

After the success of the Olympics, Marc took his family to Bali and lived – in his own words – a ‘zen’ period, but being the professional he is this did not last very long, and he came back to start up Antipodes on Avenue Louise and started his collaboration with Qantas Holidays. Antipodes will celebrate its 10 anniversary in 2009 and is still going strong especially after the extended business opportunities today with the TourEast contract.

 

BBT: Asia, Australia, the people, what is it that attracts you so much?

Marc: I am fascinated by both Aboriginal and Maori culture. In Australia I support camps run by a French ‘Crocodile Dundee’ on a humanitarian and commercial level. In New Zealand, more specifically on Kapiti Island I support the Maori population in their struggle to regain their lands. I feel very close to the Maori community, their tattoo culture is fascinating. By the way I have several of them myself (I got to see a tattoo n Marc’s leg, he spared me the others! J..) In Northern Laos I also got close to the ‘Mhong’, and I try to organize the same support for them as I do in Australia for the Aboriginals by organizing groups to travel and stay in their midst and so support them.

 

BBT: It seems to me that you have lost your heart to that part of the world, what stops you going there on a more permanent basis?

Marc: I already have a company in Australia and I plan to start living there on a semi-permanent basis. I am working hard to obtain my residents permit. I will definitely retire in that part of the world and not in Belgium!

Marc is a bit of a philosopher and also a dreamer but still has both feet firmly on the ground. His definition of a traveler is ‘somebody who goes to the end of the world to find a good conversation’, not his own quote but from an 18th century author. He uses his journalistic skills for his own newsletter and still keeps up his travel journals – they should make interesting reading! He also admits to writing poetry in his spare time but only for private consumption, why is it I have a feeling that he means ‘very’ private?...

In any case, Marc is not ready to retire, when asked about his further dreams he states unequivocally he wants to have more children….remember that was early September. We started with a scoop and now I end with another one, Marc is expecting the pitter patter of little feet by the spring of next year…another dream come true! Congratulations to the happy parents!

 

 

Marc LAMBERT
Antipodes Voyages
Avenue Louise 483
1050 Brussels
Belgium
T: + 32 (0) 2 643 32 94
F: + 32 (0) 2 647 58 07
M:+ 32 (0) 475 84 07 12
www.antipodes.travel
www.toureast.be
marc@antipodes.travel
marc@toureast.be

Back to the top