Virtuoso has announced that its annual U.S. and Canada Forum convened 350 in-person attendees, besides virtual live streams. The event was held from January 26-28 at La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio, Texas, and included owners and managers from Virtuoso’s travel agency members in the U.S. and Canada, besides preferred partners for in-person networking and professional development.
During the event, Virtuoso polled its members and found that 97 percent of the attendees expect higher sales for 2022, with 36 percent anticipating sales to be 21 to 50 percent higher, while 23 percent expect sales to be more than 50 percent higher than 2021. As for factors that could potentially have the most impact on their businesses, mega viruses and epidemics understandably led the way, followed by geopolitical conflicts, the U.S. stock market volatility and staffing challenges. In fact, 38 percent of agencies said they were looking to hire independent contractors and 34 percent said they were bringing on management and support staff to help meet market demand.
The Forum played host to more than 1,300 one-to-one networking appointments, numerous professional development courses, and keynotes from adventurer and expedition leader Alison Levine, and author and marketer Ron Tite. Despite recent challenges, attendees indicated they see the potential of 2022. Virtuoso attributed the health of future bookings as a reason to be bullish. Advanced tour bookings are up by 35 percent when compared to January 2020, while on-site bookings are up 20 percent. Virtuoso’s 2022 future cruise bookings are 103 percent of what they were for 2019, which was the travel industry’s most prosperous year.
Besides holding a Q&A session exclusively for agency members, Virtuoso’s Chairman and CEO Matthew D. Upchurch addressed all attendees during the General Session, providing vision and inspiration. In addition, Senior Vice-President of Network Products and& Strategy David Kolner shared insights and updates on the more than 80 products offered to network participants, while Senior Vice-President of Marketing Helen McCabe-Young spoke on the company’s future plans for attracting new travelers into the network, reinforcing the efficacy of the group’s marketing by showing that clients who receive Virtuoso’s marketing spend 42 percent more than those who do not.
Upchurch spoke of the organization’s digital transformation aimed at attracting and engaging more consumers in support of its members and partners. Increasing the content-forward focus of its website, Virtuoso.com, along with rolling out a digital version of its “Best of the Best” hotel catalog and enhancing the online cruise experience, as well as integrating its travel dreaming and planning site, Wanderlist, has led to increased traffic to Virtuoso.com and users driven to personalized agency and advisor private label sites has grown by almost 230 percent.
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