BRANTFORD — More than 130 travel agents and partners took part in TravelOnly’s inaugural ‘Symposium at Sea’ onboard NCL’s Norwegian Getaway.
The educational and sales-focused itinerary included TravelOnly’s ‘Training Day at Sea’ where agents benefitted from product updates from preferred partner reps onboard, including NCL’s Mary-Jo Cutaia, Kim Barbisan of WestJet Vacations, AmaWaterways’ Sandra Gardiner, Tracy Emberson from Manulife Insurance and Diana Winters of Palace Resorts.
Participants also took part in one-on-one sessions with TravelOnly execs, including: Patrick Luciani, Chairman of the Board; Gregory Luciani, President and CEO; Ann Luciani, CFO; Sinthia Gawlak, Senior VP of Marketing and Sales; and members of the marketing, recruitment and operations staff.
Rounding out the itinerary were team-building exercises, exclusive specialty dining experiences and everything Norwegian Getaway had to offer.
Gregory Luciani, President and CEO of TravelOnly, described the company’s agents as “partners on this journey”, with the Symposium serving the valuable purpose of helping associates “remain competitive in the most competitive industry in the world today.”
On the final morning of the cruise, attendees heard from Dana Gain, NCL’s National Director of Sales, Canada, as she discussed her journey as a leader, the importance of always moving forward, and that positive thinking and optimism are keys to achieving your goals.
TravelOnly is adding another brand to its portfolio in 2018, with the launch of Cruise TravelOnly. “As a separate brand, it’s another way to position ourselves in the marketplace,” said Luciani. “We know from our market research that people, especially first-time cruisers, like to buy cruises from companies with the word ‘cruise’ in it. That vernacular makes customers feel more confident.”
This approach will see TravelOnly increasing its investment in cruise marketing for cruise sales, resulting in higher sales volumes and commissions for agents. “We’re going to invest in a new marketing budget for our Associates so if they’re going to do consumer shows, cruise shows, cruise nights in their local communities, we’ll have more funds available to them to support these initiatives,” Luciani added.
