Wednesday marked Day 1 of Travel Professionals International’s (TPI) 2-day Fall Virtual Conference, and this year’s theme is “Emerge.”
“As a TPI family and as an industry we are ready to Emerge stronger and better than ever,” said Zeina Gedeon, CEO & President, TPI.
“Now is the time for our Advisors to reconnect, rebuild, reignite and revamp their business, work with their customers and our supplier partner so we emerge from the last 18 months and pivot into a much more powerful and resilient network,” she added.
Gedeon told Open Jaw that while 350 advisors were expected to attend, over 400 showed up on the first day of the conference. That’s no surprise to TPI.
“We are ready to re engage,” she told Open Jaw. “We want our advisors to re engage with their customers, our supplier partners, it is about time to Emerge and showcase their travel to their audiences. Our advisors are open for business.”
45 supplier partners and a number of speakers, including former CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines Andy Stuart and Marsha-Ann Donaldson-Brown, the Director of Weddings and Romance at Sandals Resorts International. Keynote sessions and discussion panels include topics like emerging industry trends, emerging social media trends, how to emerge your insurance sales and others.
“Hope, optimism and our TPI family community is what that has helped us stay strong over these past months,” Gedeon told Open Jaw.
“We are seeing our sales at 55% versus 2019 and forward bookings at 92% versus 2019, and 2019 was the best year in the history of TPI. We are also seeing very strong insurance sales and service fees sales at an all-time high.”
That’s not all. Gedeon revealed to Open Jaw that, “For the first time, we are seeing booking 2 and 3 years in advance, there is a huge pent up demand from customers and our advisors are riding this wave.”
In 2022, TPI has announced their conference will return to an in-person event. Its location and date will be announced before the end of this year’s conference on Thursday 21OCT.
