NI Travel News was delighted to be in attendance at Jet2holidays’ ninth annual VIP conference. Independent travel agents took a ‘Fight-or-Flight’ approach, with the UK’s largest tour operator giving delegates more tools than ever to react to challenges and grow their businesses.
Up to 350 delegates and top performing agents headed to the tour operator’s biggest ever conference, which took place from Monday 27th to Thursday 30th November 2023 at the Voyage Belek Golf & Spa in Türkiye.
The event drew on nine years of conference experience, with a programme that has once again had been specifically tailored for independent travel agents so that they can capitalise on the demand for Jet2holidays packages and grow their businesses.
A packed agenda of presentations and Q&A sessions equipped independent travel agents with everything they need to respond to, and overcome, threats or challenges. Speakers at the conference included Jet2holidays CEO Steve Heapy and Director of Travel Agent Relationships Alan Cross, as well as a celebrity guest speaker, Nicola Adams, who created history at the 2012 London Olympic Games when she became the first female to win an Olympic boxing medal after winning Gold for the Flyweight category.
This year’s conference included a session revealing a number of new updates, launches and announcements, including the introduction of Symi, Greece from Belfast International for Sumer 2024. There was also supplier showcases, awards, a gala dinner, as well as a boxing bootcamp hosted by Nicola Adams! This year also seen the introduction of a brand-new conference item – the Jet2holidays challenge which seen the Jet2holidays Trade Team go up against agents!
Alan Cross, Director of Travel Agent Relationships at Jet2holidays said:
“This year has once again seen our Partners2Success approach go from strength to strength, and we… very much {looked} forward to reflecting on our mutual successes with independent travel agency partners. As well as hosting our biggest and best event to date, we {used} this year’s conference as a chance to get together and understand how we can tackle challenges head on and capitalise on the many opportunities that are out there. Last year, we put our trade partners through an SAS bootcamp to train and prepare them for this year’s main event, which promises to be truly memorable.”
He added: “We have continued to support agency partners by investing in our Partners2Success strategy and we know that agency partners will be even more inspired to sell our award-winning package holidays following this conference. This will be the first time that the Jet2holidays Annual VIP Conference for independent travel agents has returned to a specific destination, but what better place to return to than stunning Türkiye and the luxurious Voyage Belek Golf & Spa.”
Delegates were flown to and from Türkiye on chartered Jet2.com flights from Birmingham and Glasgow Airports.
If you are an independent travel agent and are interested in learning more about how you could benefit from working in partnership with Jet2holidays, please visit the company’s dedicated trade site: trade.jet2holidays.com