Travel Village Group has confirmed the dates for its 2023 conference after it hosted more than 650 customers at a consumer event in Blackpool last weekend.
The agency, which includes Travel Village, Cruise Village, The Holiday Village, Southampton Cruise Centre and River Cruising, will host staff and media at the Athena Beach Hotel in Paphos, Cyprus, from December 1 to 4.
Group managing director John Warr said: “We’ve taken on some feedback from tour operators and agents from last year’s conference and we’re going to build that into the schedule this year.
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“There will be more time to network with some of the senior leadership team. We’ll also look to train agents ahead of the 2024 wave season.
“The agents have been asking for social media training so there will be an element of that too.”
Travel Village Group’s customers attended a showcase event at the Village Hotel in Blackpool on Saturday (January 21) which generated more than £120,000 in bookings.
Sales staff are currently working on more than 60 additional enquiries from the event.
Warr noted how around 60% of the consumers who visited the day event had not made a booking through a Travel Village Group brand before.
Suppliers such as P&O Cruises, AmaWaterways, Uniworld, Wendy Wu Tours and Royal Caribbean International gave presentations at the Blackpool-based firm’s event.
Warr added: “We held it locally to support the sales team and it was completely rammed and most of the presentations were full.
“People want to travel again and had come to this showcase event to find some inspiration. The market is strong at the moment.
“Business is such a success that we’ve already booked the event for next year at the same venue.”
Warr hinted that showcase event may run over a longer period in 2024.
“A lot of the focus was on the river and ocean cruise sectors so we might broaden it out to the family market too,” he added. “We’re just discussing how we do it next year.”
Pictured (from left): Suzanne Warren, Constantinou Bros Hotels; Warr; Paula Nuttall and Jess Clayton, all Travel Village Group