Flight Centre's busy agents at the Book Here desks
Trafalgar Tours' Jason Stremble & Maurizio Mazzola having a bit of fun despite seeming to have lost Prince George
Derek Lloyd at the Norwegian booth
Allison Theodore at the St. Lucia booth
United Airlines' Michael Scott drew a crowd with their Chinese New Year of the Horse "race" celebrations
From all indications, Flight Centre’s Travel Expo last weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was a major success. Bundled in their winter gear to fend off the deep freeze… attendees were ready to escape, explore and enjoy new horizons.
Together with their preferred tour operators, cruise lines, resort reps, airlines and tourist boards, Flight Centre agents hosted several thousand consumers who by all accounts were there to do some serious travel shopping and finalize their bookings on the spot.
Along with a number of special offers and chances to win big and small prizes, there was a significant incentive to narrow down the myriad choices and hand over the plastic to confirm their holidays on the spot.
Anyone who booked their trip at the event was entered into a draw for a chance to win their vacation up to a value of $10,000. And, from what several suppliers were telling me… some of the bookings taken reached the upper limits of that criteria.
At the Trafalgar Tours booth, Maurizzio Mazzolla and Jason Stremble were not only enjoying some fun interaction with show visitors, by mid day they had already closed 4 bookings, one of which was a trip for 3 to Australia.
Brent Carnegie of Canlink who was representing his St. Lucia clients Jade Mountain Resort and Anse Chastanet said that he was a bit skeptical coming into the show with such high end product. He wasn’t sure that Jade’s $1,000 per night price tag was the ideal offering for this consumer show, but the attendees were not shying away or just searching for bargains.
The long row of Flight Centre agents manning the “Book It Now” desks were fully engaged fulfilling client bookings throughout the show. I have to assume that most of the exhibitors were pleased with the turnout – I wasn’t able to speak with too many because they were so busy talking to interested consumers. There were very few “browsers” just wandering around… the aisles weren’t packed, but there were clients gathered around absolutely every booth at the show.
Brent Novak, Vice President of Flight Centre Canada said they were pleased with the turnout but felt it could be expanded for next year. Brent also says that Flight Centre has not nearly reached its target penetration of the Canadian market overall. They are currently operating 225 outlets across the country and have recently opened shops in Quebec… the company’s 1st foray into anything but the English speaking market. They will also be opening more branches across the Prairies in the coming year.
