Intrepid urges ‘whole industry’ to get behind National Travel Agent Day

Intrepid Travel has called on the whole travel industry to get involved in the fifth annual National Travel Agent Day (NTAD), which takes place on Friday.

The initiative was set up in the UK by the tour operator during the pandemic to recognise agents’ contributions, following successful annual events in the US and Australia.

Carrie Grant, head of industry at Intrepid, said: “Agents are absolute superstars and the backbone of the industry, so they deserve their special day.  

“As NTAD goes into its fifth year, we’d love to see the whole industry continue to get behind the day and use this special moment to celebrate and treat agents.”

Grant said it would be “amazing” to see the UK NTAD reach the same level as the US, adding: “Lots of suppliers do get involved each year [in the UK] but we’d love to see this become industry wide.”

This year, Intrepid committed to daily giveaways, in-store visits, a new mini brochure and an increased trade discount of up to 60% off for agents and 40% off for companions on selected trips.

For NTAD, P&O Cruises is marking the occasion with agent visits, double Shine rewards points and the chance for agents to win a seven-night cruise in a balcony cabin for themselves and a guest, and another for a fellow travel agent.

Between September 5 and September 8, agents have the chance to win the cruises by tagging a colleague they believe has “shone this year” and explaining why they deserve to win in one of P&O Cruises’ National Travel Agent Day social media posts.

Both the nominator and their nominee will be entered into the draw.

Ruth Venn, P&O Cruises associate vice-president for sales and distribution, said: “NTAD is the perfect opportunity for us to reward the passion, expertise and hard work of our trade partners.

“This year we wanted to go even further – not just doubling rewards but also giving agents the chance to celebrate one another with two unforgettable holidays.”

Meanwhile, MSC Cruises is offering trade partners a 1% bonus commission for the day when booking balcony cabins and above or summer 2026 departures.

Tui’s sales team will be visiting stores across the country with chocolate bars to thank agents, alongside a social media campaign with giveaways throughout the day, including a concession voucher for one agent.

Andrew Isherwood, Tui UK and Ireland head of trade relations, added: “These activities, alongside our promotional codes available to all trade partners, demonstrate our commitment to agents and the vital role they play in creating memorable holidays for our customers."

Jet2holidays will be doing a social media giveaway on the day, with 10 “Jet2 <3 Travel Agent” bundles up for grabs, which include a tote bag, T-shirt, water bottle and stationery among other goodies for agents.

For one day only, Newmarket Holidays is offering the trade 15% off all tours with code TODAY15 and a £20 lifestyle voucher for every booking, while Railbookers and Amtrak Vacations will send agents a £50 Amazon gift card for every booking they make. 

Ambassador Cruise Line launched a ’We Sea You’ incentive on September 1 which will place agents "going above and beyond" in a draw to win a staffroom makeover for their agency, with more Love2shop vouchers between £15 and £100 up for grabs.

Princess Cruises, HX and AmaWaterways will also launch agent competitions on NTAD, with a bottle of champagne, £250 or a luxury goodie bag available to win on the day, respectively.

For the first prize, agents will need to engage with posts on the Princess Cruises travel agent social media pages, for the second, they will need to make a HX booking, and for the third, they will need to call the AmaWaterways reservations team.

Operators TTC Tour Brands, Exodus, Viking, Uniworld and Gold Medal have all launched longer NTAD incentives.

For the entire month of September, TTC Tour Brands will reward agents with a £100 lifestyle voucher per booking across each of its brands; Insight Vacations, Trafalgar, Contiki, Costsaver and Luxury Gold.

Meanwhile, Exodus will be offering one free fam trip space for next year and agent can enter the prize draw by making one booking between September 5 and 12.

Viking and Uniworld have each launched week-long booking incentive for agents to win either an Everyman Cinema voucher and a bottle of Highclere Castle Gin or a £100 Amazon voucher. 

Gold Medal will double Farebank rewards for agents on all new package bookings between September 5 and 11.

At the same time, Mercury Holidays will increase its existing agent incentive by £10 per adult booking between September 5 and7, and all trade bookings over the weekend following NTAD will be entered into a draw to win one of five bottles of bubbly.

Similarly, Riviera Travel will double entries into the grand prize draw of its Vault incentive for the day giving agents a greater chance to win a holiday for two to Sri Lanka or Morocco, or a festive river cruise.

Several operators highlighted more incentives being put in place for Clia Cruise Week (September 15-22) or mini peaks this month, and ongoing rewards programmes.

Shane Lewis-Riley, director of trade distribution at Titan Travel, said: “For Titan Travel, every day is National Travel Agent Day.

“With £10 and the chance to ’spin to win’ a range of great one-off rewards like shopping vouchers or gig tickets on every booking, Titan Rewards is always on.

“On Friday September 5 we’ll be celebrating our valued agent partners just like we do every day of the year.”

Abta LifeLine director Trudie Clements stressed the importance of travel agent support on NTAD.

She said: "We know how vital the travel agent community is, looking after customers and travel industry partners alike.

"But occasionally its’s a travel agent that might need help especially when, for whatever reason, a manageable situation turns into an unmanageable one. 

"Abta LifeLine provides practical, emotional and financial support to agents in this time of need. On NTAD we want to make sure that all agents know there is help available when it’s needed most; that LifeLine is there for them."