Be A Leader

School’s not out for members of Travel Leaders Network.

The network hosted its second 2018 Ontario regional in Toronto Thursday, and will hold similar events in Calgary and Edmonton later this month.

Christine James, Travel Leaders Network’s vice president Canada, says the annual gatherings benefit Travel Leaders Networks members who attend, among other things providing an educational component that will translate into more money in their bank accounts.

“It brings our agents together to interact with each other and network with our suppliers and we also have workshops,” she told Press Today.

Attending members will hear about the likes of “best business practices, how to control expenses, and improving efficiencies,” she continued.

“We are big on education, big on marketing.”

James said Travel Leaders Network is now the largest travel agent network in North America, with over 6,000 members. In contrast, the next largest has under 2,000, she added.

In this country, it has just under 700 members, including ones in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

James said Travel Leaders Network’s size is an undeniable advantage for its members.

“When we sit down to the negotiating tables [with preferred suppliers] we have more clout,” she said. “It’s do do with critical mass. If we’re having a bad year, they [preferred suppliers] are having a bad year so they’re going to want to listen to us because they don’t want to have a bad year.”

James added that she’s confident agents who join Travel Leaders Network will find it rewarding.

“We offer so many programs and solutions to help our members and we want them to take advantage of the programs because the more successful they are, the more successful we are.”

In the photo

Seen here are Travel Leaders Network’s Suzanne Fleming, James, Anju Bliss and Polina Rabenok.