The 2016 Advantage conference will take place at sea on MSC Fantasia.
Delegates will join the ship on April 16 for the four-night cruise with calls in Barcelona, Genoa, Palma and Corsica.
Mark Warner’s hosting of the 2015 conference was a first for the operator, the all-inclusive Sea Garden Resort, one of Bodrum’s largest, chosen to profile the product to the trade.
Outgoing head of sales and marketing Tim Locke said it would like to see the 17% proportion of summer sales through the trade increase in line with winter which sits at 25%.
The Turkey market is expected to have challenges this year due to the weak Euro making other destinations good value and public perception over the link with neighbouring Syria.
“That’s why it’s so important doing this here,” said Locke, “it’s only these guys [travel agents] who can fix that, it’s not marketing campaigns.”
Mark Warner has taken 19 agents on fams trips to the region over the past two weeks and plans to do more this summer.