By Michael Baginski/ The days of Jamaican patties on the buffet are long gone, but travel advisors across the country are nevertheless getting a generous helping of love from TravelBrands at three agent appreciation events this week, with close to 1,500 people expected across the launches, the first of them held in Vancouver last night (Monday), with Toronto and Montreal following on Wednesday (Oct. 8) and Thursday (Oct. 9) respectively. They are the first shows in 18 months by the tour company and the first in Vancouver since before the pandemic.
“We’re excited to go back to Vancouver. It was time to go back out west, we really have a really good clientele out west, so it was time go back and pay tribute and say thanks,” Nathalie Tanious, President & CEO of H.I.S. Canada Travel Inc., parent company of TravelBrands, told Travel Industry Today.
She also noted that both Toronto and Montreal shows will be bigger than their previous editions with Toronto alone anticipating about 750 agents on hand at the massive Universal Event Space north of the city.
“There’s a lot of demand and honestly, I don’t think we realized how successful (they were going to be),” Tanious added – and that includes both agents and suppliers, with over 80 of the latter to be exhibiting in Toronto alone.
A further delegation from Japan-based H.I.S global offices will be in attendance helping TravelBrands demonstrate its global reach, with Tanious explaining that those offices act as DMCs in their countries/regions, giving a “full-blown presence” to clients and offering “A to Z” service in destination and every step of their journey when travelling with TravelBrands.
Not surprisingly, extensive travel options to Japan – “a safe, clean, beautiful country with good airlift” – will be on the agenda as well, as will the full range of H.I.S.’ expansive global product line.
The H.I.S. connection is just one of half a dozen key talking points for the shows, which are themed “Change and Create.”
Another of them is the company’s upcoming introduction (on Oct. 14) of its new “A.I. With Emma” tool, which will enhance agents’ efficiency when booking TravelBrands by allowing them to access documents and invoices without having to speak to anyone, simply by keying in a booking number.
“That gives them the tools to quickly and efficiently process whatever request they have,” says Tanious, adding, “We do not feel that A.I. is doom and gloom to the industry at all. If anything, it augments the tools that a travel professional has in their arsenal to be able to grow their business, to make a reservation faster, to have all the information they need to close the sale.”
Tanious maintains agents are still 100% the lifeblood of TravelBrands.
“You can go and get information from Chat GBT, but then what do you do with that information?… There’s nothing like a travel professional to give the right information on what the next steps are to build that vacation.”
Another new tech tool will enable agents enhanced multi-destination booking capabilities – up to nine – at once, including flights, hotels, cars, transfers, and tours, all in in one transaction.
“We’ve really made an effort to listen to what the travel professionals are asking us and what they need, and the team works on how we can implement this.,” she says.
Taken together, new innovations and vast product portfolio and streams, Tanious says the shows are about “showcasing everything we have.” These include the following first-looks:
- Exotik Journeys is now bookable online on Access+.
- NDC-enabled air content across multiple carriers for even better optionality and pricing.
- Hotel Switch upgrades, unlocking expanded inventory and lower fares.
- TravelBrands announced the opening of new lodges in Africa with HIS Group next spring, responding directly to growing demand.
- The return of SeaU, sailing in partnership with Virgin Voyages on the Scarlet Lady in November 2026.
Tanious adds that anything that is being distributed at the shows will be available on the Access website.
Market trends
As for the market, Tanious says business is good – “We’re selling a lot,” she says, “except for the U.S. The levels haven’t come to what we would have liked them to be, even after 8-9 months.”
But the TravelBrands boss says Canadians love to travel and are simply pivoting elsewhere, such as destinations like Spain and Portugal for long-stays.
Also strong are the Caribbean and Mexico, and cruises – which is mitigating some of the lost U.S. business in places like Florida as clients pick up their ships in U.S. ports.
“And that choice,” says Tanious, “is still giving customers a lot of options to choose from.”
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