When luxury travel network Virtuoso opened registration for its Virtuoso Travel Week, taking place August 10-13, it received over 1,000 registrants in the first 24 hours. Virtuoso Week has been ongoing for more than 30 years, with more than 6,500 attendees last year. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 marks the first time the event has moved from Las Vegas to a virtual format online.
Here’s what advisors and supplier partners can expect:
Participants will be able to hold private, 10-minute appointments that flow in succession in virtual breakout rooms. Preferred partners who attend can have upwards of 106 individual appointments with a level of choice not previously available through the in-person event. Meeting requests and scheduling are left to partners, who can select which Virtuoso advisors they want to see over the course of the four days.
Virtuoso has also organized a comprehensive line-up of educational sessions hosted by outside speakers aimed at helping navigate and manage for a new future. In addition to 50 destination-focused trainings, there are 20 professional development classes that fall into four categories:
- Connect with Yourself
- Connect with Your Team
- Connect with Your Clients/Guests
- Connect with Your Business
Attendees can set their own schedule.
Virtuoso’s sustainability summit, “Under One Sky,” also returns for a second year, with new sponsorships from andBeyond and the Monaco Government Tourist Office. This meeting, hosted by Virtuoso vice chair and sustainability strategist Jessica Hall Upchurch, brings together some of the most notable voices in sustainable tourism for a discussion surrounding what Virtuoso considers the three pillars of sustainability: Celebrating cultures, supporting local economies and protecting the planet. As Virtuoso looks to help make sustainability a greater factor in consumer choice, it will highlight how this pandemic has led to a tipping point, where the traveler’s heightened level of awareness makes sustainability not just good practice but good business.
Virtuoso says that its media events will also be part of the schedule. Virtuoso will share trends and insights that are emerging now and that will carry travel into the future.
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