Andrea Mendelsohn, DeNure Tours; Marie E. LaFlèche, Jordan Tourism Board; & Kimberly Hartley, Myrtle Beach Area CVB
Phillip Solomon, Tourcan Vacations; Rosemarie Wilson, Turks & Caicos Tourism; & Lidia Markser, Universal Orlando Resort
Expedia Cruiseshipcenters' Maggie Beaumont, Mary Ungaro & Susan Abrahams
Shelly Nimchonok, Dani Di Giulio & Carol Weisburg, also from Expedia Cruiseshipcenters
DC Comics has its Justice League, a team of 7 superheroes. They remind me of a similar group of people in our Canadian travel industry - the Let’s Talk Travel team. Comprised of 7 supplier representatives, Let’s Talk Travel includes Andrea Mendelsohn, DeNure Tours; Kimberly Harley, Myrtle Beach Area CVB; Neil Dudley, Scenic Tours; Phillip Solomon, Tourcan Vacations; Rosemarie Wilson, Turks & Caicos Tourism; Lidia Markser, Universal Orlando Resort; and Marie E. LaFlèche, Jordan Tourism Board.
The Let’s Talk Travel team doesn’t fight crime, but for the past 13 years, they’ve come together for the greater good of our industry to host an annual presentation series in cities across Canada that often get left out of the roadshow circuit.
This year, Let’s Talk Travel focused on Ontario and held events in Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Barrie and Toronto. “Most agencies in rural areas don’t see presentations like this,” said LaFlèche. “So, we travel to different territories where agents don’t get much access to reps and they really appreciate us visiting.”
“In Toronto, agents get to see their reps all the time,” said Let’s Talk Travel vet Andrea Mendelsohn. “But we haven’t had a show here for a while and agents were asking for it.”
65 travel advisors gathered last week at the Royal York for the Toronto edition of Let’s Talk Travel. Although the audience included many seasoned event attendees, agents seemed to appreciate the concept of it being a one-stop-shop for multiple product updates. “That’s the advantage,” said Gloria Cavlovic of Adria Travel. “You get to see lots of suppliers instead of just one.”
Mary Ungaro of Expedia CruiseShipCenters agreed, “Although we specialize in cruising, we do have clients that look at beach stays in Myrtle Beach; we can sell Tourcan for a pre or post cruise tour and the fact that Scenic Tours is here is kind of a bonus.”
Each supplier representative got 13 minutes at the podium to update agents on their latest product offerings. And since the Let’s Talk Travel team consists of non-competing suppliers, each presentation could stand out on its own. “We have an unbelievable team,” said Mendelsohn. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, so we have a wonderful rapport with each other.”
Let’s Talk Travel: an A-team of travel suppliers bringing knowledge and support to agents everywhere. I can picture the comic now.
DC Comics' Justice League
