Homeworking agency InteleTravel will welcome more than 500 of its agents and about 40 partners in Sorrento next month at its biggest ever conference.
InteleTravel Quest (ITQ) will take place at the Hilton Palace Sorrento (October 10-12), with the theme ‘The Future is You’. In total, there will be 600 delegates.
The conference programme will focus on agent productivity, social media and the growth in the homeworking sector to help agents to boost commission earnings.
Headline sponsors are Classic Collection for land and Virgin Voyages for cruise, while the destination sponsor is Sorrento.
The conference hosts will be Andy Harmer, Clia UK and Ireland managing director, and Andrew Farr, PR content manager at Classic Collection.
Social media guru Clare Groombridge from The Social Game will make her debut and there will be an agent panel discussion on diversity and inclusion.
Industry expert speakers will include Chris Photi, White Hart Associates head of travel and leisure, who will discuss trends and challenges, while suppliers including Major Travel and Royal Caribbean Cruises will interview agents about the service they provide and the importance of customer relationships.
Founder and president James Ferrara will update agents on the most successful year to date for InteleTravel, which now has 20,000 UK and Ireland agents.
He will be joined by the US technical and operations team who will outline the company’s latest innovations.
Dimitris Kafetzis, captain of Celebrity Ascent, will also talk to agents.
Tricia Handley-Hughes (pictured), InteleTravel UK and Ireland managing director, said: “The conference has been the biggest event challenge to date.
“The strong attendance numbers represent the opportunities that lie ahead for both agents and suppliers to work together and help combat the current practice of discounting by online travel agents.
“We all need to work smarter and our technology will play a big part in this.”