Tour ace reinvigorates lineup

The ultra-luxe tour operator to the stars, from talk-show hostess Oprah Winfrey to rocker Mick Jagger, is retooling its trips next year.

Abercrombie & Kent, whose name conjures up images of well-to-do adventurers sipping gin and tonics outside safari tents, will add a spa-safari trip in South Africa, spur-of-the-moment independent trips and a line of -- dare we say it? -- budget tours.

The 11-day “spafari” features daily spa treatments and wildlife forays into South Africa’s Kruger National Park and other preserves. At the Royal Malewane near Kruger, you can view big game from the terrace and get a massage, all without leaving your private bungalow. The price: $6,995 per person, double occupancy, including most meals and one spa treatment per day; airfare is extra.

Even a standard A&K; group tour runs about $450 to $550 per person per day, plus airfare, according to Pamela Lassers, spokeswoman for the North American branch of the London-based conglomerate. The new “budget” Discovery program, marked as Highlights trips in the 2004 catalog, cuts that to less than $300.

Discovery tour-goers will stay mostly in four-star rather than five-star hotels, travel in larger groups and spend more time on their own than do other A&K; groups, Lassers said.

Independent travelers, who make up about 40% of the company’s business, will get their own “Private Journeys” catalog in 2004. Besides custom-designed trips, these include new Signature trips with set itineraries, for about $500 to $750 per person per day, in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas.

Signatures cost less than custom trips and can be set up in a few weeks, Lassers said.

One thing won’t change for 2004: Catalogs published for the American market continue to list trips to Myanmar (formerly Burma), which A&K; customer Jagger visited last month, despite pressure from human rights activists critical of the Asian nation’s government.

“We don’t think it’s our role to make that decision for people,” Lassers said.