News / Air & Airports

WestJet honours top travel partners in Toronto

Blake Wolfe

10-27-2017 10:46 am

Blake Wolfe

Blake Wolfe is an award-winning journalist and editor, who joined PAX after nearly 10 years in Canada’s newspaper industry. In addition to PAX, his work has been featured in publications such as the Metroland Media group of newspapers and the Toronto Sun.

WestJet’s travel partners were in the spotlight last night, as the airline honoured key trade relationships at its 2017 Travel Partner Awards.

The annual event saw a full house as hundreds of travel industry members attended the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto to honour their peers in 13 different categories. The evening was sponsored by Bahia Principe, Barbados and AMResorts, which saw presentations from the three WestJet partners highlighting their current programs and initiatives.

Hosted by comedian Sandy Jobin-Bevans, the evening also featured an address by award-winning advertising writer and creative director Ron Tite, delivering his vision of the travel industry’s future and how agents can adapt: specifically, in a digital landscape dominated by the Internet and social media, the “battle for time” is won by providing individualized service to clients who want to spend their free hours on personal pursuits.

“We’re not competing against other agents – we’re competing against the internet,” Tite said. “Last year, the use of travel agents increased again - travellers are realizing they don’t want to be travel agents, they want to spend that time doing things they love.”

Lyell Farquharson, WestJet’s vice-president, sales and distribution

In his closing remarks, Lyell Farquharson, WestJet’s vice-president, sales and distribution, outlined the year ahead for WestJet, marked by a number of new developments including the arrival of the airline’s new B787 Dreamliners in 2019 and an increased focus on the “premium traveller.”

“We have a global expansion coming with sales starting next year – growth is what it’s all about,” he said. “We know the value you bring and we look forward to your partnership over the next few years as we truly go global.

“We’ve been talking about the premium traveller for about a year now – who can be travelling for leisure or business, anyone who going to buy in the front of the cabin. The 787s will have wider business class seats and we’ll be looking to fill 500,000 of these seats per year. We’re looking for your support and we thank you for all you’ve done over the last year.”

WestJet’s 2017 Travel Partner Award winners are: