Elevate Canada a ‘huge’ success as Travel Leaders Network takes members to a new level

While it may have started out as a gamble, but Travel Leaders Network’s reinvention of its Canadian regionals has certainly paid off.

Elevate Canada, the new, two-day regional, mini-conferences that were held in Vancouver (Oct. 20 to Oct. 21) and Toronto (Oct. 28 to Oct. 29) has received rave reviews, proving the simple principle that if you give your members what they want, they’ll show up and they’ll take advantage of everything that’s on offer.

The Vancouver edition of Elevate Canada welcomed 175 members of Travel Leaders Network and between 65 to 70 supplier partners. The Toronto event was attended by 240 members (including a lot of first-timers) and 101 supplier partners.

Travel Leaders Network’s President, Lindsay Pearlman offered some background on the thinking behind the decision to move to the two-day format, explaining: “We announced last year that we were going to go down this path and try to turn the great job that Christine (James) and her team did on regional meetings into, for lack of a better term, a mini-conference.”

Pearlman continued: “What drove that was a recognition that Canadians, as a whole, aren’t comfortable travelling to the U.S. for whatever reason … now this was a big gamble and the question was would members be receptive to this? Would they show up for one day and not the next day? And would the supplier partners believe in it and invest in it because this doesn’t happen without our supplier partners.”

“And the results have been phenomenal,” Pearlman said. “You walk in that room next door right now and the room is full on Day 2 and you always expect a drop-off and we have not seen that.”

While she admits that it was a huge undertaking, Christine James, Travel Leaders Network’s Vice President, Canada, said: “It has been an amazing success,” noting that both the Vancouver and Toronto editions of the inaugural Elevate Canada produced record attendance numbers.

“The feedback that we’re getting from both the members and the suppliers has been fantastic. We expanded [Elevate Canada] into two days to allow for more networking opportunities with suppliers, more training for members, more presentation time from our senior executives and people are really absorbing it.”

Pearlman agreed, observing that: “People are making the investment. We don’t take that for granted and we want to make sure we deliver high value.  Overall, the focus has been on two areas … and this is what we started in Vancouver and in Toronto with … focusing on what drives additional revenues and focusing on what drives efficiencies and that will differ by business model and how somebody works and what their needs are.”

And he added: “So, the message [to those attending] is basically if you focus in on two things and then identify through the next couple of days what is going to bring the best value to your business the rest is noise – focus in on what works for you – and that will vary from individual to individual.”

IN OTHER NEWS …

In other news from Travel Leaders Network, Pearlman addressed the high cost of jet fuel, pointing out that planes are full these days as people continue to travel and observing that he doesn’t believe that high fuel prices are a long-term situation.

And he added that Canadians have an “appetite for travel” and those consumers appear “willing to pay the price,” pointing to the fact that luxury travel continues to boom.

As for the outlook for the upcoming 2026-2027 winter season, James said that looking at the mass market, Travel Leaders is “sitting in a really good place — a really, really healthy position,” and the booking window is expanding.

So what about all of the disruptions that keep happening?

Pearlman observed that in the past, the industry would be going along nicely, taking care of business and there’d be a disruption that caused things to slowdown or shutdown, the turmoil would pass and things would gradually return to normal.

Today, the pattern sees consumers simply shifting where they’re going when there’s a disruption. For advisors, Pearlman said, the challenge is to pivot and know where to send clients when these events happen and clients want to go somewhere else.

Christine James Takes A Bow

As Travel Leaders Network celebrated the success of the inaugural editions of Elevate Canada, the group also took time to celebrate Christine James, the organization’s long-serving Vice President, Canada, who is retiring at the end of this month (October).

Asked about this, James admitted that she has had some ‘mixed emotions,’ but is pleased that she has had the opportunity during the Elevate Canada events to see (yes, and hug) a lot of her friends in the industry and say ‘good-bye.’

She observed that Travel Leaders Network has great members and is well-positioned for the future, and “as I walk away, I fee comfortable that its [Travel Leaders Network’s] success will continue.”

As for her plans for her retirement, James said she’s going to take some time and relax, but did admit that “it will be tough to slow down, but nice not to have six conference calls first thing in the morning.”

And with the success of the inaugural Elevate Canada mini-conferences, James is certainly going out on a high note.

As for Pearlman, he celebrated the fact that James was leaving on a high note, offering her a “huge thank you,” for her efforts and wishing her well.”

A FINAL NOTE

On a final note and stepping out of my role as an editor here, I’d like to offer Christine my best wishes for her retirement. I have known her for a long, long, long time and seen how hard she works. As well, she has always been happy to answer my sometimes foolish questions with patience and insight.

And that has always been much appreciated.

So, take time for yourself, Christine, enjoy … 

One more thing … back in July of 2024, Christine was featured in Canadian Travel Press’ Voices of Travel series and I thought some of you might like to watch it again … just CLICK HERE to watch.