TL Network predicts a healthy 2018 with launch of new incentives

Last year was a very good year for TL Network, and with a series of new initiatives and trends underway, the company is already predicting a strong and healthy 2018.

Several board members from TL Network were in Toronto yesterday morning to deliver a report on new updates to the marketing and technology schematics, including John Lovell, president, Travel Leaders Network and Leisure Group; Roger E. Block, CTC, president, Travel Leaders Network; Christine James, vice-president Canada, TL Network; Stephen McGillivray, CTC, chief marketing officer, Travel Leaders Group; Jeremy Van Kuyk, vice president of technology, Travel Leaders Group; and Dina Ruden, senior vice-president of communications, Travel Leaders Group.

“Consumer confidence is at a 20-year high in the U.S., and that's really the best indicator for us, and that spend is continuing to work its way through the system," said Lovell. "The Canadian economy has been a lot more healthy than ours [the U.S] for the last few years and Canada has outpaced what we’d seen in terms of travel and growth on a year-over-year basis. I was really encouraged by what happened in Canada during 2017 in terms of passenger count and yield compared to what was going on in the U.S. market.”

In 2017, TL Network added 300 new agencies, including 51 in Canada, bringing the total to approximately 6,800 locations across North America.

2018 Travel Trends

TL Network predicts that the following trends will be strong in 2018:

Bleisure: For corporate clients looking to tack on a few extra personal days to a business trip.

“Sproup” travel: Clients requesting special access or group access to popular destinations. For example: seeing closed-off sections of the Vatican in Rome.

Bespoke travel: Creating customized tours and hand-crafted personalized itineraries.

Wellness travel: Encompassing mind, body, and spirit through travel and travel-related activities.

Adventure travel: For clients looking to climb to new heights and experience new things, through sport, activity, or touring.

Baby Boomer bucket list: Older clients looking to cross just one more trip or experience off their list of lifetime travel achievements.

Sustainable tourism: Socially responsible travel.

The human touch: Millennial clients are currently the highest percentage to book with a travel agent because they want affirmation of their tourism dollar spend.

Last chance tourism: A chance to visit destinations with objects or things that are at risk of disappearing. For example: travelling to Africa to see the Big 5.

New seasons: More clients are visiting destinations during shoulder season and taking advantage of low pricing and less crowds.

Agent Profiler

Last year, TL Network combined their three separate websites: Vacation.com, Travel Leaders and Results! Travel, and ultimately streamlined the booking process for both travel agents and clients.

In January 2017, TL Network also launched a brand new website for the Canadian market called www.CanadianTravelAgent.ca, which now operates single-handedly as the largest travel agent portal available in North America. The program is powered by Agent Profiler, a unique tool that allows clients to connect directly with a travel agent using a fully-integrated content marketing approach.

Agent Profiler consists of 488 travel agent professionals who have created an online profile lending their expertise across 11,698 destinations, representing 5,251 interests, be it fly-fishing in the Andes, or treetop trekking through the Costa Rican jungle. Call it the Tinder of the travel agent network, but by using Agent Profiler to match potential clients with experienced agents, TL Network has successfully captured a 47 per cent YOY growth in lead distribution, which represents on average, a $5,000 USD spend per client.

“The amalgamation of Vacation.com, Travel Leaders and Results! Travel into one big powerhouse has been accepted by the membership incredibly well, and it was such a win-win for everyone,” said Block. “We started looking at the best attributes of each website, took the best of the best, and started offering it to everyone. New customers need professional advice and by combining Agent Profiler, clients can see how passionate our agents are and how they can help.”

Unlike browsing endless advertisements for travel across the internet, Agent Profiler calls upon real-life experiences from agents who have visited the destinations and can translate these unique experiences to their clients. It further exemplifies the importance of promoting a “human touch” while booking travel.

“Now, I as a client can be matched with the best agent for me,” Block explained. “Because of the original content [through the profiles] and because of the breadth of it, our leads have gone up 47 per cent and that is huge. We’re experiencing a one in four close ratio of leads. It’s tremendous for customers looking to purchase travel who have a fairly decent budget so it’s profitable for our front-line retailers."

Travel agents aren’t dead, they’re evolving

Besides using Agent Profiler as a smart tool to jumpstart bookings, TL Network provided a series of updates on several of its training programs and available learning courses. Over 40,000 agents participated in at least one of TL Network’s OnDemand online lessons last year alone.

“What’s most encouraging about our specialist programs is the thirst for learning in our membership,” Block said. “One of the things we’ve been able to do is to take the best of the breed and in this particular case it was in our franchise program. The difference with ours is that it’s a parent/child type, where you as an agency can have your own site and put your own content on it, but we as a national organization can drive that content down to all the sites across Canada, so the agency owner doesn’t have to constantly update their sites everytime Network comes out with a promotion. The agencies which are adopting that can now have more relevant content on their sites, and they can still promote their own global specialties, local promotions and staff but it allows them not to have to worry about continuous updates.”

TL Network’s Specialist Programs had 430 new enrollees in 2017 with leisure travel and luxury travel programs showing the most significant growth. Of those 430 enrollees, 59 new graduates came out of the specialist programs. While that number may seem small, as Block points out, the emphasis on a TL Network membership is on quality, not quantity.

“We have four different specialist programs today, which are luxury, leisure sale, action and adventure, and corporate," Block said. "They're not a short program, like some industry trade groups who let you become a specialist in 30 days. I'm not disparaging them, but tell me you can call yourself a luxury specialist when you're doing it 30 days part-time? Our courses take on average 12-18 months to complete and this is not something that people just jump into. We want people who are serious about going through the whole program."

The program fee costs $325 and features a diverse selection of online programs, face-to-face programs, conference calls, workbooks, quizzes and exams, and much for for a well-rounded educational experience.

“A lot of people over the last 10 or 15 years have said the travel agent is dead; that we’re a dying breed and going out of business,” Block said. “The truth of the matter is, the travel agencies of today have evolved. When you stop and think that over 40,000 of our agents participated in at least one of our learning programs, which is darn close to 100 per cent, that says something that today’s agent realizes that they need to continue to learn or they will not be affective, or be able to survive in the future.”

TL Network reports that 11,489 agents signed up for the very first time in 2017 to take an educational program using LMS, an online learning platform. An additional 556 agents went through the agent orientation program.

TL Network will launch three major new training programs for 2018 which include:

• Successful Selling: Using the Leisure Sales Process: A 16-week comprehensive study program will explore what it takes to be successful at Leisure Sales, including an interactive e-learning platform with a weekly peer group session.
• Group Travel Specialist Program: A complete training opportunity about planning, selling, managing and marketing group travel. Graduates earn a “Certified Group Travel Specialist” designation.
• New Meetings and Events Workshops for TL Network Associates: A two-day on-site training event for corporate-focused Associates and their agents providing an in-depth understanding of meetings and event planning from hotel contracts to technology to marketing to corporate accounts.

TL Network is also set to launch a new incentive that will create a well-rounded lineup of preffered suppliers and FAM opportunities for TLNetwork adventure travel agents, alongside a brand new Active & Adventure Travel Specialist certification curriculum for 2018, an exclusive program with the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA).

Cruising into 2018

For the first time ever, TL Network will host river cruises on Crystal River Cruises, including the Crystal Mozart and the Crystal Bach as part of its 2018 cruise program.

This year's cruising options feature more than 3,500 specialty cruise itineraires across 17 cruise lines. The Distinctive Voyages line alone grew by 20 per cent in 2017 to more than 17,000 passengers, due in part to the success of TL Network's Private Car and Driver program.

"We started with ten departures in 2017 and we're doubling that number in 2018," Block said. "On Distinctive Voyages sailings, these are not your avergae price-point customer. These are affluent, well-travelled persons looking to make the most of their vacation, and when you book with us, it's all included. Elsewhere offshore, you can expect to pay anywhere from $800-$1,000 for car rental, but with TL Network, you can choose to take a tour, or do things your own way in a Mercedes or Audi."

In 2018, TL Network's specialty cruise offerings will include the following:

• 359 hosted Distinctive Voyages sailings across nine cruise lines.
• 2,382 non-hosted sailings with extra amenities like specialty dining or ship credits across 17 cruise lines.
• 96 culinary-themed sailings with extra demonstrations from world-class chefs, cooking classes, and wine and spirit tastings across 11 cruise lines.

For more information, and to stay up-to-date on current incentives, visit www.tlnetwork.ca. To learn more about Agent Profiler, or to create an account, visit www.CanadianTravelAgent.ca