A&K’s $16,295 Wild Horse Nine Easter Island Journey

Abercrombie & Kent and Searchlight Pictures have launched a seven-day “Wild Horse Nine: An Easter Island Adventure” journey priced from US$16,295 (about AU$23,300) per person.

The customizable Tailormade itinerary draws on Martin McDonagh’s film of the same name and takes guests roughly 3,200 kilometers across the Pacific to Rapa Nui. Bookings run directly through A&K on 1300 851 800 or through travel advisers, giving sellers two routes into one high-ticket product.

AKTG chief brand officer Peter Chipchase said: “Great films have the power to transport audiences to extraordinary places, and we believe travel offers the opportunity to experience those stories in an entirely new way.” A&K also calls Rapa Nui one of Earth’s most remote inhabited places.

Chipchase added that the partnership “brings together two powerful forms of storytelling” and gives A&K a chance to introduce travelers there. The claim establishes a marketing strategy, not evidence of sales performance.

What exactly is A&K selling?

“Wild Horse Nine: An Easter Island Adventure” spans Chile and Easter Island over seven days. Searchlight Pictures’ film opened in cinemas on November 6, starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents sent from Santiago to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup.

The film supplies the narrative hook; the package supplies the physical route. For travel sellers, however, the announcement gives no departure dates, booking totals, capacity limits, commission rates, revenue targets or economics for Searchlight.

Takeaway: A&K has turned a film tie-in into premium bookable inventory, but the commercial scale remains undisclosed.

How does the itinerary sell the destination?

In Santiago, guests visit La Moneda Palace, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights and Villa Grimaldi, a former detention center now preserved as a memorial. A backstage tour of the Municipal Theatre, which features in the film, leads into a dinner with a Chilean resident who lived through the coup.

The trip then covers roughly 3,200 kilometers over the Pacific to Rapa Nui, home to nearly 1,000 moai. The itinerary names these filming locations:

• Rano Raraku, the volcanic quarry where hundreds of statues were carved
• Ahu Tongariki, where 15 moai have been restored
• Anakena Beach
• Hotel Iorana, which also appears in the film

A&K adds experiences beyond the film locations:

• Sunset cocktails at Ahu Tahai
• Sunrise at Ahu Tongariki with a light breakfast
• Ancestral chants, traditional dance and Polynesian storytelling
• Dinner in a Rapa Nui family home
• An expert-led evening on Polynesian celestial navigation

Takeaway: The film supplies recognition, while the itinerary pairs named locations with cultural programming and a priced route advisers can sell.

What does this mean for travel sellers?

The offer gives advisers a bookable Chile-and-Easter-Island product while preserving A&K’s direct-sales option through its phone line. That combination matters for distribution, although A&K does not say how bookings divide between the two channels or what advisers earn.

The stated starting price is the only revenue metric provided. No booking count, gross booking value, conversion rate, margin, capacity, commission structure, availability or partner-payment terms appear in the announcement. There is therefore no measured result against which to test Chipchase’s storytelling promise.

Takeaway: The launch adds two sales routes and premium inventory, but it has not demonstrated demand.

The next useful disclosure would be bookings and adviser participation following the November 6 cinema opening. Until then, the US$16,295 package shows how a studio partnership can seed a high-priced itinerary; it does not show that film affinity converts into revenue at scale.