Travursity’s Bright Outlook After 1st Successful Season Concludes

Travursity Travel Showcase has wrapped up its first season and with it comes a bright outlook for the show’s future. From Ft. Lauderdale to New Jersey and many events along the way; Travursity has welcomed travel agents and travel suppliers in a united effort to build relationships that strengthen the bottom line of everyone who... View Article

“As we wrap up our inaugural Spring season of Travursity Travel Showcase, we would like to reflect back on the journey and look forward to the future of these shows. Because we are also travel agents; we believe how important these events are to business development. Since our first show in Ft. Lauderdale FL, we have sent out surveys to all the travel agents that attended and have accumulated a great amount of perspectives from the responses we received. We would love to share the feedback we have attained so far!

First off we want to express our gratitude to all the supportive agents and suppliers that have participated in our events this past season. Although there have been some stumbling blocks along the way, we are confident that these events will continue to improve and become a valuable option to any travel agent’s educational portfolio. We are excited to bring these events to the travel community and we work hard to meet our high standards. We continue to take the feedback very seriously and will use the information provided to improve our events.

One of the most important components to making these events work is the effort that gets put forth in the background which goes mostly unnoticed. Long hours are spent determining schedules and venue locations such as the specific city or region as well as the event hall to host our events. We take many factors into consideration as we determine the locations for our future events. We want not only the best locations, but a venue that will provide a quality atmosphere as well as convenience for the agents to attend. Unfortunately we cannot always be next door to every agent; however, we strive to make every event accessible.

Although, we personally, are not new to the industry, Travursity Travel Showcase is new to the regional travel tradeshow market. As with any new venture or start-up, we are still experiencing growing pains. One of our biggest comments we receive from our surveys, is that the agents want more suppliers at our events. We hear you and promise you we will continue to grow in this regard, but it takes some time. Over the last six shows we have brought in over thirty suppliers to participate in our events. We certainly expect an increase in supplier participation as our shows become more recognized by the industry.

Conversely, the suppliers tell us they want more agents in attendance. Our goal is to fill our events with every agent that has registered; however, this has not been the case. Yes, most of these shows have been full on the day of the event, but we have also experienced a large number of no-shows as well. The suppliers see this trend and honestly, this is a major reason why they are hesitant to participate. We invest a great deal of our own time and money to put these events on and, quite truthfully, the expense is extremely high to pay for agents that do not attend. Due to the popularity of our events, we have had to implement waitlists for our registrations and may have to add credit card guarantee’s in the future to reduce the number of no-shows. Unfortunately the no-shows that do not cancel ahead of time end up preventing other travel agents the opportunity to attend as well as causing unnecessary expense and losses.

Another point to ponder from our surveys is feedback about the length of our events and that they are “too long”. We understand your time is valuable and we take this into consideration as well. If we put the event on earlier, we have agents that cannot attend because of other work or responsibilities. If we go later, then others might not attend because it may go later than they want or are capable of committing to. We start our main event at 6:00pm and are usually wrapped up by 8:30pm even though we clearly state on our website, marketing materials, invites and agent registration page that our events take place between 5:00pm and 9:00pm. Due to the format of presentations, networking and dinner, it is difficult to find a way to shorten this experience without making it less productive. Ironically, our surveys the agents submit to us contradict themselves because in one field the response is the event is too long and in the next response, is that the agent wants more suppliers. Honestly the more suppliers in attendance, the more presentations will be delivered resulting in an increase in the events total time.

Finally, being travel agents as well, we understand how important events such as these are to our business and clients. We all have our specific products we offer to our clients and the niches we have built our business around. Travursity Travel Showcase cannot be everything to every agent and we do not expect to convince you of that. Our shows are designed for agents that want to invest in their growth and education and the time and effort to attend is solely up to the individual. We also understand that our events might not fit your needs or that other shows do it differently. Travursity is another option in the landscape of industry education and personal enrichment. We hope you enjoy what we put together and continue to participate because it is important and worthwhile to you.

We are extremely happy that Travursity Travel Showcase has received over 90% positive feedback on our surveys in regards to our events! We have received many wonderful accolades and reviews from the travel agents about their experience and we continue to hear how much they enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to attend and learn about new products and destinations. These reviews have consistently demonstrated that we are doing something right and it is being valued by the target audience we are working for. Not every event is perfect; it is not about the food, location or if the prizes are valuable enough; it is about the investment in your business. These events are truly a networking experience that improves client retention and increased sales.

Thank you again for your support and participation. We look forward to seeing the travel agents and travel suppliers that register and commit to attending our events. We appreciate your involvement and hope that we have added some level of value to your business or even just your day!”

Monique FitzPatick & Vince Yeck

Travursity Travel Showcase