If there was one lesson that came out of the pandemic that we can all relate to, surely it is how important it is to have contact face to face. Whether is it with loved ones, friends, work colleagues, travel industry colleagues and suppliers, there is no substitute for actually meeting in person.

Seeing colleagues, friends, family on Zoom or Microsoft Teams or any of the other apps that rapidly took hold during the pandemic years is just not the same.

The travel industry has always been a very social one — there have always been numerous product launches, trade shows, fam trips, seminars and road shows. Sales reps and business development people would travel to visit agency clients. Travel agents would meet with their clients. Then all of a sudden that came to a complete halt.

With the rapid growth of home based agents and host agencies in our industry, the importance of getting together became even more important.

The Travel Agent Next Door has always recognized the importance of creating a sense of community for its home based travel agents and providing opportunities for face-to-face contact throughout the year at regional, national and international locations.

Suppliers are equally important in the TTAND community and the importance of meeting in person is highly valued.

TTAND holds an out of country conference annually that is well attended by its agents. Many attendees say it is hugely important for them to meet their fellow agents, mingle with suppliers and with TTAND executives and team members.

TTAND has always stressed its belief in the three W’s—A win for agents, a win for suppliers and a win for TTAND as being the basis for a successful relationship.

Facilitating opportunities to interact is an important part of that. TTAND recently completed a series of roadshows across Canada that hosted over 600 of the company’s agents in cities literally from coast to coast with several key suppliers taking part.

“These face-to-face meetings are invaluable for our agents – whether at conference or the road shows, they establish lasting relationships with suppliers and with each other and we encourage our agents to help each other throughout the year,” said Flemming Friisdahl, TTAND CEO.

The company also hosts all of its suppliers once a year at a VIP Supplier event where Friisdahl provides insight into the company’s performance and new developments.

“Our suppliers are as much a part of the TTAND community as our agent partners,” said Friisdahl. ”We have always been well aware of the importance of these relationships.”

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