Making news this week: Award-winning Direct Travel, Travel Leaders Network mixes it up, First in Service (F1S) convenes in Cancun, and Virtuoso agents are cruising to success.

Direct Travel

 It was an evening of celebration (banner photo) as Direct Travel won every Top Production Category at the Virtuoso regional awards gala evening, held earlier in March. The gala event, the second annual regional award celebration, was held at Quebec City’s Fairmont Chateau Frontenac as part of the luxury travel group’s Forum Canada.

Direct Travel won Top Annual Production in all five categories: Cruise, Hotels & Resorts, Tour, On-Site and Specialty. The Top Annual Production category recognizes the highest sales in each category, a remarkable achievement for a single agency group.

“To be recognized in each of these key categories is truly an honour, and is a testament to our incredible travel advisors who collaborate with their clients to create personalized travel experiences,” Stephen Smith, Direct Travel’s SVP Leisure Strategy and Marketing. “We did well last year with wins in three of the five, but this year are delighted to add Hotels & Resorts and Specialty.”

Travel Leaders Network 

Travel Leaders Network (TLN) has announced dates and locations for its 2025 series of mixer events, which provide a platform for key supplier partners to interact face-to-face with owners, managers and their advisors.

Hosted by Travel Leaders Network Canada’s Business Development Managers, Caroline Belgrave (Western Region) and Melissa Wheaton (Eastern Region), the 22 mixer events are free to TLN members and include an informal mini-trade show and cocktail hour followed by dinner during which each supplier partner delivers a brief overview of revenue-generating promotions and exclusive offers available to members. Following is the remaining schedule of Mixers for 2025:

• Eastern Canada: March 25 – London; April 01 – Windsor; April 15 – Cambridge, Ont.; May 13- Toronto; Sept. 23 – Moncton; Sept. 24 – Halifax; Oct. 30 – Toronto; Nov. 04 – St. Catharine’s, Ont.; Nov. 18 – Montréal; Nov. 19 – Ottawa; Dec. 02 – Richmond Hill, Ont.
• Western Canada: April 16 – Vancouver; May 13 – Edmonton; May 27 – Calgary; Aug. 26 – Winnipeg; Sept. 18 – Saskatoon; Oct. 07 – Calgary; Nov. 18 – Winnipeg; Dec. 03 – Vancouver.

 

Member agents can register for upcoming mixers through CanadaNet.

First in Service (F1S)

 First in Service (F1S) recently concluded its 2025 SUMM1T, bringing together its global network of travel advisors – including a number of Canadians (photo) – and supplier partners at the SLS Playa Mujeres resort in Cancun, Mexico. Using the theme, “Blueprint,” the conference encompassed two days of collaboration, education, and strategic planning.

Gina Gabbard, F1S Chief Strategy Officer cited a 23% increase in year-over-year sales and an average annual sales figure of $2.3 million per F1S advisor. She also broke down F1S’ four key advisor verticals: Leisure (65%), Entertainment (16%), Corporate (12%), Group (7%).

To support continued growth, F1S announced several major marketing initiatives, including the launch of an F1S Entertainment Program featuring 200+ luxury hotels tailored for entertainment travel, as well as country and vertical-specific advisor newsletters in respective native languages. Additionally, Gabbard announced the further Canadian expansion of F1S into Montreal with a new physical office later this year.

Virtuoso

Virtuoso revealed its 2025 Cruise Icons, a distinctive honour for advisors whose sales performance excels within the industry. This year a group of 185 advisors from 13 countries worldwide have received the Virtuoso Cruise Icon designation, a 27% increase from 2024. The accolade recognizes those who generate the top 1% of the network’s cruise sales.

Canadian honorees included:

Rose Coleman, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Georgetown; Erika Gal, Direct Travel – Ancaster; Sheila Gallant-Halloran, Lush Life Travel, an affiliate of Direct Travel Toronto – HQ; Nimet Jessa, Kerrisdale Cruise & Vacation Travel; Sandra Keeso-Hall, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Georgetown; Shawn Kilner, Imagine Cruise & Travel, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Victoria; Gerry Koolhof, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Toronto Downtown; Rhonda Leblanc, an affiliate of Trevello Travel Group; Grace Markus, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Vancouver; Magda Newman, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Toronto Downtown; Janice O’Neil, Travel Consultant, an affiliate of YYZ Travel Group; Sue Pechtel, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Government Centre; Linda Sim, Renshaw Travel; Samuel Spencer, Ocean & River Cruises; Alan Szeto, Direct Travel – Vancouver; Barbara Trotter, an affiliate of Direct Travel – Victoria.

In addition to industry clout and further reinforcing Virtuoso Cruise Icons’ position as leaders within the luxury travel industry, this prestigious status provides advisors with exclusive travel opportunities, quarterly collaboration sessions designed to foster growth and networking, access to invaluable insight and best practices within the network’s Cruise Community, and a private dinner during Virtuoso Travel Week, luxury travel’s preeminent worldwide gathering.

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