TORONTO — As WestJet Vacations gets ready to celebrate its 10th anniversary on June 1, the tour operator is lauding agents for their hard work and support. “They have been with us step-by-step,” said VP Tim Croyle. “And we’re looking forward to another great 10 years.”

The trade certainly came out in droves for WestJet’s Travel Trade Expos, the latest taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre last night. The lively events have attracted a few thousand travel agents overall and connected agents with even more hotel and resort partners than ever, with 70 – 80 property reps at each show. “The Expos have been really well received,” said Croyle. “They’re not just about how to better sell WestJet Vacations product. We’ve brought in more partners so agents can make those connections.”

WestJet Vacations recently debuted its new 2016/2017 brochure with 324 pages and some 450 hotel descriptions. The beefed up brochure, a return to the brochure format from a few years ago, was the direct result of agent feedback. “When we launched our digital brochure a few years ago, we started to skinny down the paper brochure. We took a lot of the hotel content out. Agents told us they liked the digital brochure but they also told us they wanted all the hotel information in the paper brochure as well. Our focus has really been about helping agents,” said Croyle.

A lot of that feedback comes via WestJet’s Canada-wide travel agent advisory board. More than 40 agents offer their insights to the company, meeting as a group every eight weeks. “They’ve been fantastic,” said Croyle.

More than 50% of WestJet Vacations’ bookings come through the trade, he added.

Croyle is keeping mum on new destinations but there may be a few surprises when the winter schedule comes out July 25. “We always have more destinations on our wish list than we have planes,” he said. WestJet also has a history of opening up “new and unique” destinations, like Loreto and more recently, Merida, he added.