Tisson Travel celebrates one year as advisor-supplier relations strengthen in Alberta

A company that was created to elevate and support travel advisors in Alberta is celebrating its one-year anniversary.

Calgary-based Tisson Travel Group celebrated its inaugural year this week. The company, which identifies as a “community” (as opposed to a host agency) is the brainchild of Tannis Dyrland, an experienced travel advisor who left her host agency in 2023 to create a space built around mentorship and supplier contacts in Western Canada.

“It’s been such a good year,” said an elated Dyrland on Tuesday (Sept. 3), speaking to PAX via video link.  

Tisson’s network, which has doubled in size (and revenue) over the past 12 months – growing from five advisors to ten – consists of travel professionals, all women, who are “incredibly skilled at their craft,” Dyrland explained.

The philosophy at Tisson is to give travel advisors the autonomy to “design what their business looks like,” Dyrland said, from deciding who their preferred suppliers are to determining how those relationships are built.

Seeing advisors feel empowered about their business, whenever progress takes shape, has been a highlight this past year, Dyrland said.

“I love watching each one of them soar,” she said.

Building business in Alberta

Establishing stronger connections with suppliers, and other agents, is what gave birth to Tisson – a word that refers to someone who is strong and resilient – in the first place.

The company was developed to support travel pros specifically in Alberta, a group that, in Dyrland’s view, is traditionally underserved.

“We’re lacking a local connection here in Western Canada,” Dyrland told PAX in an interview last year as the travel industry focused on its post-COVID recovery. “We’ve lost Transat, and over the past year or two, we’ve noticed how a lot of offers, like FAM opportunities, are based in the east.”

READ MORE: “This is a rocket ship”: Suppliers, agents light up Tisson Travel launch in Calgary

Leveraging partnerships that serve advisors in Alberta, and Alberta only, is at the core of Dyrland’s model (which also doesn’t split commissions on service fees).

"The east doesn’t understand west. But we understand the west. The world is at people’s fingertips in Toronto, and we’re just trying to get to Toronto,” Dyrland told PAX in 2023.

A “night and day” change

Looking back on the past year, Dyrland (who is also registered psychologist) said she has seen a “night and day” change in the levels of support that are available to travel advisors in Alberta.

“There are suppliers who are so interested in working with us and joining our community,” she said, name dropping Irene Wong, WestJet Vacations’ BDM in Calgary, for being a “text message away.”  

Dyrland went on to say that the trade's supplier relationships in Alberta have “strengthened.”

“We have some projects we're working on and all of our suppliers are on board,” she said. “They’re jumping at opportunities to work with us. It’s such a wonderful feeling for them, a year later, to trust that we will take their product and promote and sell it properly. It's a two-way street for sure.”

What’s it like being a travel advisor in Alberta right now overall? “Amazing," Dyrland continued. 

“The nice thing about being in Alberta is our access to Asia, Fiji, Australia, Hawai’i and anything Paul Gauguin sells,” she said. “And Vancouver is right next door.”

“We need to focus on what we do have access to, instead of worrying about what we don't. We don't have to sell the Caribbean because we have all these other cool places.”

What’s more is that “people in Alberta use travel advisors,” Dyrland added.

“They just do,” she said.

Agencies who join Tisson are all independently owned, but are powered by Tisson Travel Group, which is part of TRAVELSAVERS (however, there is no tier system for when it comes to booking specific brands).

And the idea is to promote travel experiences that are different and fun. For example: this year, one of Tisson’s advisors, who owns three local F45 gyms, hosted a group trip for her members that involved climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with G Adventures.

Meanwhile, thanks to a technology partnership Ryan McElroy of Travel Agency Tribes, Tisson advisors receive a website that comes equipped with artificial intelligence tools, such as a feature that allows clients to shop around for itineraries online, but still book directly with an advisor.

Lean on me

How do travel advisors join Dyrland’s community? It all depends on the candidate, their contracts, and what they bring to the table.

Interested agents must first apply through Tisson Travel Group’s website, here, and a discussion about sales and supplier relations will follow.

Dyrland’s plan, for now, is to keep Tisson contained within Alberta (one of the main reasons for this is because provinces, like British Columbia, have different licensing requirements), and to maintain a regular schedule of one-on-one meetings with her network.

The most fulfilling aspect about running Tisson, Dyrland said, is seeing her community of advisors lean on each other.

“We're a quirky little family,” she said. “We have a lot of respect for each other. Everybody works well together. There's no competition, there's only accolades. Nobody's threatened by anybody. If something good happens to one, the whole team celebrates it.”

For more on Tisson Travel Group, click here.

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