Avoya Travel celebrates return of in-person events onboard Celebrity Apex

 Avoya Travel, one of the travel industry’s most innovative brands, has just concluded its first in-person educational and networking event since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic onboard the Celebrity Apex from October 24 – 28, 2021. The highly anticipated event, hosted in partnership with Celebrity Cruises, welcomed nearly 200 Independent Agencies and Licensed Agents in the Avoya Travel Network as well as over 20 of Avoya’s preferred supplier partners.

The optional networking event served as an opportunity for the Avoya Network to connect and network in-person after such a tumultuous time in the travel industry and to re-energize and connect with fellow Independent Agencies, supplier partners, and Avoya executives and staff. The majority of the event was structured to be an open schedule so attendees could interact with Network members and suppliers at their leisure and have time to truly immerse themselves in the Celebrity Apex product. Structured time was dedicated to the highly praised Roundtable Sessions, which served as a chance for Independent Agencies to have conversations with each supplier partner in intimate, small group settings where they could learn about health and safety protocols, new products, and ask questions to help them grow their independent businesses. 50% of the Independent Agencies in attendance booked at least $1 Million in sales in 2019 and 30% have already booked over $500,000 in 2021, offering an opportunity for travel suppliers to build collaborative relationships with a large number of highly successful Independent Agencies.

Avoya Network members in attendance felt recharged and energized by the experience of learning and networking in person once again and were raving about experiencing Celebrity Apex first-hand. “The Avoya Networking Event on Celebrity Apex was absolutely incredible. Celebrity Apex is beyond amazing in all she has to offer travelers, and the attention to every detail truly made the ship exquisite. I can’t wait to share the experience with my clients,” said Beverly Brent, owner of Brent Travel LLC, a member of the Avoya Network. “The dedicated time to network with fellow advisors and suppliers was a wonderful learning opportunity. I personally have learned so much from one-on-one time with them and also through the fabulous Roundtable Sessions. I can’t thank Avoya, Celebrity Cruises, and the supplier sponsors enough for the opportunity."

In addition to the valuable interactions with Avoya’s preferred supplier partners, Avoya executives delivered an insightful presentation to Avoya Network members highlighting the strength of Avoya’s model and the bright future of the company in 2022 and beyond as it continues to develop the Avoya 2025 plan and work toward being the number one vacation platform. Key elements of the presentation included the continual enhancements of the Avoya Marketing Resource Center and the importance of preparing for the steady increase in demand for leisure travel vacations as the world continues to recover from the effects of COVID-19.

“While Avoya has hosted many highly successful virtual events during the course of the pandemic, there is no substitute for face-to-face interactions and in-person education and networking; we are thrilled to have been able to gather together onboard the cutting-edge Celebrity Apex and celebrate a return to normalcy,” said Steve Hirshan, Senior Vice President of Sales at Avoya Travel. “The Independent Agencies in attendance were extremely engaged and excited for the opportunity to strengthen important relationships and work toward building their businesses back better than ever before as the return to travel continues in earnest. Avoya is grateful to Celebrity Cruises for hosting our event as well as our other supplier partners that participated.”

Avoya has several more in-person and hybrid events planned throughout 2022 and the 2021 Avoya Travel Conference will be held virtually December 6–10, 2021.