REVIEWS
Traveling with AEO Tours was an incredible and excellent experience. As a young professional looking to grow engagement in Southeast Asia, I walked away from this tour with probably a 1000% increase in student engagement, and even better experiences. Ben from AEO Tours also took great care of the group and made sure everyone was fed and looked after each day – which for a three week trip with 20+ people is no small feat! We got everywhere we needed to go when we needed to get there, and it was just an excellent experience overall. We will surely be traveling with AEO Tours again.
AEO invests its heart and soul into making recruitment trips productive! This is one of the most reliable groups for student turn-out in the business…. representatives will leave more culturally aware from the events the group arranges making the best use of time between events.
AEO Tour and Ben Wilkey are my new top benchmarks for recruiting international students, increasing brand recognition and overall presence in Southeast Asia! Extremely well organized, professional and prompt, superb follow through, competitive pricing and fun experience for both students and recruiters. I highly recommend their services.
AEO Tour always delivers a professional and productive experience for universities looking to increase their presence and enrollment from SE Asia! You can’t find a better option in this region.
Ben and the AEO team do an outstanding job tying to accommodate the needs of students, parents, educators, and college recruiters. Balancing worldwide timezones and the specific needs of attendees is a challenge that was handled very well during this virtual recruitment season. They were able to quickly pivot to provide all with a positive experience. The tremendous amount of work that goes into planning and executing their face to face fairs has carried over into their virtual fairs. The positive energy, enthusiasm, encouragement, and engagement has been excellent! This is why Johnson & Wales University has been working with the AEO for years.
AEO has been a strong piece of our recruitment strategy for the last several years. Through this organization, I have been able to build our brand with high school counselors across Asia. Every necessary aspect of pre-tip planning, whether in person or virtual, is fine-tuned, making participation clear and fruitful. Time and money spent is always a great value with the AEO group.
Many claim to have experience in Southeast Asia, but no one knows the region better than Bob Allan and the AEO Tour. All details are carefully considered to allow for the greatest exposure for the students to the colleges/universities and the representatives to the students/counselors/families. UC Berkeley is excited to join the AEO Tour again.
The AEO exhibitions are well advertised in each city and attract hundreds of qualified students and their families who are specifically interested in studying in the United States. The contacts made over the years have been an important contributor to the strength of our international student program.
The fairs are phenomenally well attended and while high school students are a relatively small proportion of the attendees we continue to enroll high quality students as a result of our participation on the tour. I have traveled with other groups but remain with AEO as no other tour seems to be able to advertise the fairs as effectively as AEO does.
The AEO Asia tour (Spring 2017) was extremely productive. I had known about AEO, but had not yet selected to go on one. My thoughts now are “why have I not been on this before now?” All stops were perfectly coordinated regarding time and travel, getting us into 4 schools per day. Bob Allan surely knows this region inside and out. The advertisement obviously worked, because we had strong attendance as well at the public exhibitions. I appreciated the balance and number of schools on the tour and could not ask for a more friendly group of representatives to spend time with. The leaders are sincerely interested in ensuring they deliver the most successful tour possible for every type of school.
I just want to say, you absolutely blew it out of the water with the fairs this week. It was certainly the toughest virtual event I’ve done since COVID started, but definitely the most productive virtual fair in terms of students, high school counts, schools scheduled and universities represented- you did it better than any other big fair organization – this was truly unique. I joked with my colleagues that it was literally me traveling to Asia, but just from the comfort of my home. I know it must have been a lot of hard work in getting those visits together and you were a champ to stay with us the entire time.
Also, talk about top-notch concierge service! I really, really, appreciated you converting the times to EST and gently nudging us along – it really helped.
Great job and definitely looking forward to another AEO event!
I had a great experience traveling with AEO. Ben did a great job organizing the tour. Days were busy and school visits were productive, which was great! I liked how many visits we were able to fit in during each city/country and appreciated the pace of the tour. Ben is welcoming and also cares about folks on the tour to make sure they are safe and having fun. This was my first time traveling with AEO, but I would certainly recommend them and look forward to future opportunities.
I have participated in AEO Tour events, in person and virtually, for the past 20 years. I am always impressed with their knowledge of SE Asia and their ability to get students, parents, school counselors, and others to attend their events. I can directly connect students I met at AEO events to applications received and enrollment at my university. Plus, they make it a fun experience!
Even when faced with all the challenges of COVID-19, AEO has once again delivered on an incredible (and affordable) round of high school visits and events. I can’t stress how impressed I was by the level of organization, amount of student engagement, and quick turnaround on getting us data for the students we talked with. I’m looking forward to the next one and wholeheartedly recommend AEO to anyone who is looking for an alternative to expensive (and often empty) virtual fairs and high school visits.
Participating on an AEO tour is almost a badge of honor. It’s one of the longest running, ethical and value-added tours. Our 3 colleges are very choosy, but we do not turn down a chance to be on AEO. The quality of the students, the tour itinerary, and the balance of US institutions all work to everyone’s benefit.
The AEO Fall Asia Tour was absolutely fabulous. In addition to being well organized, the high school and community college visits allowed the reps to interact with numerous students who were serious about studying in the United States. The highlight of the tour was the fantastic turnout of students and parents at the college fairs held at excellent hotels. There is no doubt Fresno State will enroll several students for our Spring term and a couple dozen students for the next year. Fresno State will definitely join the AEO Tours in the future.
The AEO tour was fast paced, cost effective, professionally organized and very well advertised. I look forward to working with Bob Allan again.
The AEO tour was by far the most productive recruiting trip I have ever undertaken. I was amazed at the extraordinarily large number of students attending each fair, and impressed by the quality of prospects I met. I fully expect to recoup the cost of our investment many, many, times over. Thanks, Bob, and please reserve a permanent place for us on every one of your future tours.
I have traveled with AEO Tour since 2015 and it never disappoints. Excellently organized and fast-paced, this tour has everything I’m looking for in a recruitment trip. Bob Allan knows the Southeast Asia market better than anyone else in this business and this is shown by the large number of students attending all of the high school fairs and exhibitions. Also, being a considerably more affordable option than other tours, the return on investment from AEO is by far the best available in this region. AEO also does a great job creating a friendly atmosphere with a good balance of universities attending it.
Ben runs an incredibly organized, fun and worthwhile tour filled with jam-packed days, camaraderie, good meals, great hotels and even better students. You will not only enjoy yourself on your tour, but your institution will also gain back the investment since you are exposed to so many large groups of students. I would much rather be a part of a tour that is filled with 41 visits and 4 fairs over 2 and a half weeks, rather than not enough events. I went on another shorter tour immediately after the AEO tour that was a much different experience, which made me further realize how valuable my AEO experience was. Ben is punctual, kind, empathetic and fun to hang out with on explorations and meals during free time! He makes sure everyone is healthy, as rested as possible and happy. And he’s great speaking with the students and getting them pumped up too! His positivity, motivational quotes and cheery smile also keeps your spirits up too. Also, his experience of being an admissions counselor in the past is apparent and useful in his planning of the itinerary. Everywhere we went we were on time, the route was logical, and most of the schools visited were worthwhile for our group to visit. Do yourself and your institution a favor by booking with AEO.
The AEO Tour was a great experience! Ben did an amazing job with the structure and organization of the trip. The days were filled with school visits and were highly productive. I highly recommend the AEO and look forward to future tours!
Ben is a great leader, the tour was busy, productive, and fun! You do feel like a genuine part of the AEO family after the trip is over, but each visit felt like a worthwhile investment, and you can tell that Ben is passionate about what he is doing and the work that he puts in before, during, and after each tour to make sure it is a fun and productive trip!
Thank you very much for another great week of virtual school visits. Our college has been working with AEO Tour many times as they always deliver the best experience for both students and school representatives. Ben, we know you work around the clock to plan and organize the most productive events, we can’t say enough to appreciate your hard work. Thank you for everything, and we look forward to working with you again and again.
Thank you so much for a very productive week of high school virtual visits! Great job with the lineup of schools and the fair. You’ve definitely kept us busy and engaged!
The counselor fair was really good – I had the opportunity to “see” so many colleagues!
I appreciate the effort to arrange these. The Airmeet platform is great and also gives us a minute table-hopping as we would do at an in-person fair.
I look forward to future events.
It was truly one of the most organized events I have participated in. I enjoyed the student and counselor conversations and hope to continue to build on those in the upcoming weeks and years.
AEO tours care about both the student experience AND the college or university experience when setting up virtual events. Attention to detail is given with clear instructions well in advance of the date of the event. I never feel rushed to have a last-minute practice session or wonder how the program will work….all is made clear.
After participating in the AEO Tour for the past year, we have over doubled our International Undergraduate numbers. The AEO tour has been a huge success for the University of Bridgeport, already one of the most internationally diverse schools in the United States. Countries in Southeast Asia are flowing with students who would like to develop their education in the United States, and nobody knows Southeast Asia like Bob Allan and the AEO Tour. A treasure of an experience not to be passed up by any school wanting to develop in the International Market!
The AEO Tour has been very productive for us — almost too productive. So far, we have collected 174 undergraduate applications from the Fall AEO tour. With such a large volume of applications, we may be forced to decrease our recruiting efforts in the areas. The AEO Tour, by far, is the most cost-effective way to stimulate applications from international students.
I always return from an AEO Tour feeling that my school’s time and money have been well spent. We see wonderful students at numerous school visits and widely publicized exhibitions. My school’s international enrollment and visibility have benefited from your extensive knowledge of the region, comprehensive itinerary, and extensive advertising.
I’ve been participating in the AEO Tour for 15 years. I stay with this tour because of the good turnout at schools and exhibitions. We increased our enrollment of students from Malaysia from 1 in 2003 to 70 in 2018. The AEO Tour played a big role in this accomplishment.
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If you are interested in increasing your international student recruitment numbers, maximize your budget, and have a great time, AEO Tour is for you!