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HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Tara McCoy, owner of Two Sisters Travel Co. in Conway, S.C., began her career as an agent six years ago by exclusively booking Disney. Since then, she has expanded into cruises, destination weddings and other types of all-inclusive travel.
That was enough variety to enable McCoy to book more than $1 million in trips last year, the minimum threshold to be eligible to attend Travel Weekly’s Global Travel Marketplace (GTM) conference, which was held last week at the Diplomat Beach Resort here.
Still, when clients came to McCoy recently and asked for a specialized, international family vacation, McCoy felt she didn’t know where to begin.
“I didn’t have a clue,” she said.
McCoy eventually figured it out and booked the family on a $52,000 trip featuring a private yacht cruise in Greece.
But she’s expecting specialized international bookings to get easier as a result of her three days at GTM, where among the dozens of suppliers she met with were Tourism Ireland, Tourism New Zealand and South African Tourism.
“This is going to be a game changer for me,” McCoy said during the conference. “It is giving me the knowledge and the resources to expand my client base and also probably a little bit of confidence to go out and talk about these destinations.”
McCoy wasn’t the only agent among the 120 in attendance at GTM who sought to use the boutique trade show as a springboard to developing a new area of expertise.
Indeed, said Jacqueline Hurst, director of trade recruitment and engagement for Travel Weekly and Travel Age West, the show, with its carefully curated grouping of 123 suppliers, is the ideal venue for just that type of professional enrichment.
“We have a diverse supplier portfolio representing all regions of the world and all types of travel,” Hurst said. “This is exactly what a travel agent who is branching out and looking to expand her supplier portfolio needs.”
From the sound of things, Kristi Mackedanz, a Travel Leaders agent who is based in the St. Paul, Minn., suburbs, agreed.
Mackedanz said she did $1.1 million in sales last year, mainly on weddings, honeymoons and trips to warm-weather destinations such as the Caribbean.
But now, she said, she’s hoping to broaden into the Europe market.
Among the suppliers she met with at GTM was Black Forest Highlands, based in southwest Germany.
“I think they are going to be a good one pre- and post-river cruises,” Mackedanz said.
Michele Duquaine, owner of Dream Vacations in Milwaukee, also had her mind set on expanding her consulting prowess for overseas trips when she decided to attend GTM. Her 6-year-old agency specializes in cruising, destination weddings and Alaska and works with some suppliers in Italy, Spain and Ireland. But Duquaine wanted to increase her supplier contacts for upscale, customizable trips.
“My clients don’t want to be with 35 other clients,” she said. “They want a more intimate feel.”
Duquaine scheduled 52 appointments with suppliers over two days at GTM, and after the first day, she said, she had already met with five suppliers she would definitely do business with.
Among them were the upscale tour operator Kensington Travel; the religious travel specialist Osiris Travel, which focuses on Spain and Portugal; and the upscale cruise line Oceania.
Duquaine also stressed that she had learned a lot from the other travel agents at GTM.
The bottom line, said Two Sisters’ McCoy, is that GTM made her a more well-rounded agent.
“You need suppliers. You need connections,” she said.
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com