The proud members of CTCPI
Aggie Stoduto of ALBA Tours & Sunquest with Stephanie Bishop of Globus family
of brands
Salvatore & Sabine of the Italian Tourist Office
Eric Bacon of Rail Europe
A room full of tour operators in love with Italy. Add dozens of travel agents similarly smitten. Toss in some pasta, some vino and presto – that’s Italian!
That was the vibe when the members of CTCPI recently hosted select agents to dinner and an evening of entertainment at the Columbus Centre – a massive facility devoted to nurturing all aspects of Italian life here in the big smoke. CTCPI’s mission, according to Vittorio LoTauro of Arts & Leisure Tours, “Is to educate travel agents and publicize the beauty of Italy, while fostering professionalism and ethics.”
Sadly space does not permit me to give all the delicious inside scoop on their presentations, so I’ll have to do with some tasty nuggets:
Kompas Express features boutique hotels, country homes and specialty touring such as opera, painting and short wine tours. ALBA Sunquest offers year round flights from YYZ as well as rental cars with Avis and MSC cruising in winter. Rail Europe has 3 classes of service with 1st run movies in their Club Class and a cinema car in “economy class.” Trafalgar offers “several unique experiences” such as visits to the Ferrari museum – and they love signing commission cheques with a comma in them.
Italy was Insight’s best-selling destination in 2012 and their new special interest guided vacations include master classes in cooking and photography. Contiki features Italy in 40% of its 200 itineraries and offers a combination of hosted experiences and “me time” where the participants are encouraged to have their own adventures. Arts and Leisure (Italy specialists) have villa and apartment rentals, private guides for hire and small escorted groups. Globus family of brands has 103 itineraries encompassing Italy and considers as few as 8 a group. Also your clients receive 5% off when they are past customers of any Globus brand.
Lots of news for sure, but it was a real pleasure to see the agents attentive throughout. Especially 1 very happy agent, PJ Dawda of Travel Resources, who won the door prize of 2 tickets on Alitalia to Italy. Congratulations PJ and grazie to all at CTCPI.
