5Continents’ Road Show brings fresh selling ideas to travel advisors

What do Greece’s lesser-known islands, K-pop in South Korea and a solar eclipse over Egypt have in common?

For 5Continents, they’re all opportunities for Canadian travel advisors to rethink what they sell and build trips around their clients’ interests.

Those ideas took centre stage Monday evening (Oct. 19) as about 130 professionals gathered at the Oasis Convention Centre in Mississauga for the opening stop of 5Continents’ third annual Eastern Canada Road Show.

During the dinner and networking event, destination specialists shared new ways to explore Greece, Spain, Egypt, South Korea and the Alps2Adriatic region.

David Boigné, founder of 5Continents, said the road show gives advisors direct access to the people who deliver travel experiences on the ground.

“We’re looking at bringing some new and different products and, you know, always innovating and giving real training to agents from people who are actually operating on the ground,” Boigné said.

Working exclusively with travel advisors, 5Continents develops customized trips through local destination partners, coordinating accommodations, transportation, guides and other arrangements.

Sabrina Greca, the company’s national director of business development and marketing, kept the evening lively with humour and personal travel stories, encouraging advisors to look beyond the usual tourist trail.

Fresh perspectives on familiar destinations

Presenting Greece, Natalia Kataras, sales and marketing director at Athens Express, encouraged advisors to look beyond Santorini and Mykonos, highlighting Crete, the Peloponnese and northern Greece for road trips, regional cuisine and cultural encounters.

“You can spend two weeks on Crete and not have enough time to see everything, and people just literally go there for three nights,” Kataras said.

She suggested pairing popular islands with lesser-known neighbours and stressed the value of local support when ferry cancellations or weather disrupt travel plans. 

Athens Express assigns a dedicated contact to each booking.

Greca offered her own example, recalling how she asked Athens Express to recommend a Greek island where she could rent a car, explore beaches and go hiking for a week.

The recommendation was Karpathos, an island near Rhodes.

Spain presented similar opportunities to explore beyond its best-known attractions.

Manuel Robles, sales and operations manager at Europe Incoming, highlighted an eight-day itinerary connecting Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastián and Barcelona, with Rioja wine tastings, cooking classes and pintxos tours along the way.

He also highlighted extended winter stays stays in the Canary Islands and wellness retreats through Ertha, Europe Incoming’s wellness division. 

South Korea offered a different selling angle, with Boigné highlighting how K-pop, Korean dramas and K-beauty are drawing visitors whose interests can inspire trips around filming locations, food, neighbourhoods and seasonal attractions such as cherry blossoms.

For advisors less familiar with the country, he emphasized the importance of destination education.

Noha ElZayat, CEO of Emeco Travel, encouraged advisors to look beyond Egypt’s archaeological landmarks, highlighting experiences beyond the country’s archaeological landmarks, including cooking with local families, exploring Nubian culture in Aswan and sailing the Nile aboard traditional dahabiyas.

“Every region in Egypt has a different culture, has different food, has different cuisines,” she said.

Other possibilities included Siwa Oasis, luxury desert stays and Red Sea activities, along with specialized itineraries planned around the total solar eclipse on Aug. 2, 2027.

The Alps2Adriatic initiative brings together destinations in western Slovenia, northeastern Italy, northern Croatia and Austria’s Carinthia region.

Robert Dee, co-founder of New Deal Europe, which promotes the region to travel advisors and tour operators, illustrated how easily travellers can explore multiple countries in one trip. 

He asked advisors to guess the driving time from Trieste, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, to the Alps. 

The answer was approximately two hours and 10 minutes.

Greca, who grew up in the region, shared an example from her childhood. 

Her family could have breakfast at home in Italy, cross into Slovenia for lunch and finish the day with dinner in Austria.

The region offers cycling, wine tasting and culinary trips, wine tasting and culinary trips, with Trieste also providing opportunities for pre- and post-cruise touring.

Tine Murn, CEO of New Deal Europe, highlighted the region’s appeal to Canadian travellers.

“Canadians are really well travelled. Canadians understand Europe, Canadians appreciate Europe and Canadians appreciate the type of offer we see there,” Murn said.

Alps2Adriatic is developing cross-border programs for advisors and tour operators, with plans to bring destination partners to Canada for trade events in the coming months.

Less rushing, more experiencing

For Greca, rethinking travel also means giving clients more time to enjoy each destination.

She encouraged advisors to reconsider itineraries packed with early departures and constant hotel changes 

“People are tired of getting up at 6 a.m. every day to put the suitcase back into the bus,” she said.

5Continents’ Stay, Explore & Belong collection follows that approach, offering seven-day stays in one destination, with guided excursions alternating with time to explore independently.

“Every other day, it’s a free day. Nothing on the agenda. Just live there,” Greca said.

Advisors can also request customized, client-ready proposals featuring their agency name and logo, day-by-day itineraries and pricing. 

The company works with its destination partners to coordinate the arrangements.

The Eastern Canada Road Show continues through Oct. 22, with stops in Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax.

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