John Lovell and Christine James of Vacation.com
Anju Bliss and Linda Khanna of Vacation.com Canada with their US colleague Shari Dwyer
Kory Nicols of Kuna Tours with MSC Cruises' Mary Anne LaChance
It was another sell-out crowd at the Sheraton Hotel near Pearson last week as Vacation.com hosted its always-popular Regional Conferences. “Coming to Canada is like coming home,” said John Lovell, Vacation.com’s President, who is based in Alexandria, VA.
Now in their 16th year, the events give both V.com owners, managers and front line agents the opportunity to attend training sessions and hear from motivational speakers as well as meet with suppliers at a trade show and dinner. In all, 480 are expected to attend this year’s conferences in Canada.
“This series is going extremely well,” Christine James, who heads V.com’s Canadian office told me. “Registration is up significantly, partly because we have added 48 offices since January and partly because we find Vacation.com members are extremely engaged.”
The V.com team numbers 4 in Canada and 70 in the U.S., many of whom also provide services to Canadian members. There are currently 5,500 members across North America including 675 in Canada. If anyone ever thought the era of the travel agent was winding down, they should have a look at Vacation.com.
James reports that river cruising is growing exponentially with her agencies, and that the average ITC sale is up 30% as the mass market operators up their number of 4 and 5 star properties. Lovell added: “Due to our regionality across North America, we have a huge array of suppliers – 108, representing 188 brands – and many tell us we are their biggest account.”
Vacation.com and its sister divisions under the Travel Leaders Group umbrella (which also includes corporate travel) are today a $20 billion company. Life is good, indeed, at the top.
