This year marks the third annual Travel Week, which was launched in 2006 along with Home-Based Travel Agent Expo & Conference. The week, full of informative lectures, panel discussions and activities, was created to serve as a platform for the industry to meet through various trade shows and events. Since Travel Week’s inception, we have had many industry events join us. This past year, close to 10,000 industry professionals, both agents and suppliers, gathered in Las Vegas for an event associated with Travel Week.
This year, Travel Week will take place from December 1–5 in Las Vegas. Our marquee event is Luxury Travel Expo, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and will take place December 2–4. Home-Based Travel Agent Expo & Conference will run concurrently, and the Travel Institute will hold its annual conference on December 2. Also, Signature Travel Network will host its annual meeting immediately after Luxury Travel Expo and Home-Based Travel Agent Expo. Signature Travel Network’s annual meeting is open only to its members.
We’re excited to have the 2008 Travel Institute Conference as part of Travel Week for the second year in a row. This is an exclusive offering only to Luxury Travel Expo and Home-Based Travel Agent Expo conference attendees. Separate registration is required and is available when you register for either one of the expos. This year’s Travel Institute Conference, “Where Ideas Come to Life,” will take place on Tuesday, December 2.
Generating Ideas and Networking
The Travel Institute Conference will be all about new ideas. A “creative thinking” session has been developed to help you discover new markets and marketing techniques, which you might never have even known existed. There will also be a private trade show and the Institute will be unveiling its new Destination Specialist India course.
In addition to the Travel Institute Conference, testing will be available for the CTA, CTC or CTIE designations. This is the perfect opportunity to test before the conference and expos begin on December 2 at 8 a.m. Live testing was launched at last year’s Travel Week.
If you’re going to make time to attend an industry event this year, you really can’t afford to not be a part of Travel Week. In tough economic times, you need to continue to hone your selling skills and knowledge base. It’s crucial to network with others in the industry so you are able to bounce ideas off each other, learn from colleagues and suppliers or meet that one contact who is going to help your business prosper. There is nothing more valuable than face-to-face networking.
Many of the relationships that I have developed over the years have flourished because of face-to-face meetings, whether it is at an industry event or at organized business meetings. I can’t even begin to count the number of great ideas that were developed as a result of one of these encounters. You are seeing many of them live within Luxury Travel Expo and Home-Based Travel Agent Expo. It’s not just the organizers who helped grow these events; many travel agents and suppliers have contributed tremendously over the years.
For more information on Travel Week events, please visit www.vegastravelweek.com.