TORONTO — It was a perfect afternoon for a rooftop summer party, with sunshine, kebabs on the BBQ, lake views and the camaraderie of travel industry friends and colleagues at Travelweek’s Open House.
Perched high atop the 9th floor at 130 Queens Quay East, the party brought together suppliers, retailers and other industry partners with a beautiful backdrop of Lake Ontario and the Toronto skyline.
Guests first got a tour of Travelweek’s new offices on the 5th floor, where the bright and airy office space is showcased to great effect by floor-to-ceiling windows looking south to Lake Ontario, Sugar Beach, the Redpath Sugar Refinery and its giant ships, Corus Quay and the Toronto Islands.
Then it was time to head up to the 9th floor for BBQ, Travelweek-blue cocktails (they looked gorgeous and tasted great too, with Blue Curacao, vodka and lemonade) and a sun-kissed afternoon and evening of networking and friendship.
“I know many of you are long time friends and clients of Travelweek, and we really appreciate the support over all the years,” said Devin Kinasz, Publisher, Travelweek. “As you can imagine, we are so proud of our new space and we are glad you could join us today and hope you are enjoying the spectacular views and weather.”
She added: “Most of you know we are the #1 travel trade publication. We are also #1 in digital. We have the biggest daily newsletter database with Travelweek Daily, the highest ranked website with Travelweek.ca and the most social media followers, by far.”
” width=”673″ height=”427″>
” width=”673″ height=”427″>
In a 2018 cross-country survey of Canadian travel agents, Travelweek was named the #1 travel trade news source by travel agents across Canada, by a wide margin. Travelweek’s website, Travelweek.ca, is also #1.
Travelweek was also ranked highest for news interest and relevance. And asked if they could receive only one publication for their travel industry-related information, agents in the survey chose Travelweek as #1 by a 37-point margin, outpacing all other competitors.
Says Kinasz: “We pride ourselves on being a one-stop-shop for the trade, satisfying all your trade marketing needs from print to digital to e-learning to warehousing to virtual reality and more.”
On hand to represent the Travelweek Group at last night’s event, along with Kinasz and Travelweek Group Chairman Gerry Kinasz, were Travelweek’s Director of Business Development & Content Strategy, Annie Cicvaric and her sales team (with Cindy Worsley, Sue Winiecki and Ashima Dhingra)
Travelweek’s editorial team was also out in full force, including Kathryn Folliott (Editor), Cindy Sosroutomo (Deputy Editor) and Meg Griffith (Editorial Assistant).
Gwendoline Duval, Editor of ProfessionVoyages.com (Travelweek Group’s French-language travel trade news website) flew in from Montreal for the party, along with Elisa Hermet.
Travelweek Group’s distribution company, ENVOY Networks, was represented by President Glen Harwood and VP Marketing & Product Development, Toni DeFino.
WheelsUpNetwork, where the travel industry learns, earns and saves, was represented by BDM and Content Creator Laura Di Nardo, Content Manager Kate Ivchenko and Content Marketing Coordinator, Serean Bechara.
Representing ShipsAhoy.com, Travelweek Group’s dedicated cruise industry news site for the trade, was ShipsAhoy.com’s Sales & Marketing Coordinator Taylor Waver.
Rounding out the team was Travelweek’s Graphic Designer Andrew Campbell, Digital Product Specialist Zara Martinez, Digital Production Manager Jason Gouveia and Marie Mercado in Administration/Accounting.
While there won’t be an Open House next year – with offices this beautiful, Travelweek isn’t going anywhere – another rooftop BBQ to celebrate the best of the summer season is almost a certainty, says Kinasz: “Same time next year!”
