Fiji Airways' Coral Perry with Sera Cawanibuka of Tourism Fiji
Rep for Tourism Australia Kevin Smith chats with guests about the Land Downunder
Express Travel's Leslie Szimeiszter &
Susan Klein
SC Travel's Rick Taman with Shannon Coyle of New Wave Travel
Karen Cartwright & Megan Savoie of
EA Travel & Tours
Sunsations Travel's Zenny Carabuena &
Mary Lach
With the feisty Fijian greeting, “Bula!” Travel2 welcomed 50 agents to the 1st stop on its Canadian road show titled “Working For You” in Toronto’s Distillery District. The company, specializing in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and Asia, used to be known as Qantas Vacations in the 90s and has been absent from the Canadian market since then.
According to Mark Punshon, Travel2’s V.P. Sales, the rebranding from Qantas to Travel2 was a result of their switch in focus away from the consumer. “We are now 100% dedicated to the travel agents,” he said. In fact, the #2 in the company’s name represents themselves and the trade.
Christine Jeynes of CTC Travel Group was looking forward to the wholesaler’s Canadian launch. “As an agent, it’s good to have more choices in tour operators,” she said. “Competition is healthy. It’s good for the client and for us as far as competing prices and commissions go.”
EA Travel & Tours’ Karen Cartwright said, “We are getting more and more requests for the South Pacific. People have done the Caribbean and are looking for something new and different. The South Pacific is more exotic, so I’m here to learn more about the product.”
It was indeed an information packed event. Guests enjoyed a simple cocktail hour prior to a presentation series delivered by reps from Fiji Airways, Tourism Fiji, Tourism Australia and Travel2’s Director of Sales for Canada, Leia Marvin.
Coral Perry of Fiji Airways introduced the rebranding of the current Air Pacific to Fiji Airways, taking place later this month. The airline hopes to reinforce its status as Fiji’s national carrier and is set to receive 3 new Airbus 330s by the end of this year.
Travel2 couldn’t have chosen a better slogan than “Working For You” for their Canadian roadshow. Marvin made it clear that they were there to support the trade in more ways than just being a booking engine. Each attendee was given a USB key loaded with information on Travel2 and selling tools for the products they offer; agents will have access to customizable micro-sites to help promote their business; Marvin plans on hosting monthly webinars and FAM trips will also be available to Travel2’s top sellers.
“We don’t want to be the biggest, we want to be the best at what we do,” said Punshon. If the best means being completely dedicated to the trade, Travel2 is sure to be well-received.
Travel2's Leia Marvin & Mark Punshon
