The Travel Agent Next Door Welcomes Nearly 400 Aboard Celebrity Silhouette for its Annual Conference

In every gathering since its inception a dozen years ago, the annual conference of The Travel Agent Next Door has increased in size. This year is no different, as close to 400 participants boarded the Celebrity Silhouette in Miami for an eight-day combo platter of business and pleasure.

The business comes in the form of four full days of speakers, supplier presentations, panels, sunrise business sessions, one-on-one supplier meetings, a first-ever trade show and a gala awards evening. 

The pleasure includes three days in port at the southern Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, the manifold attractions of cruising with Celebrity, cocktail parties, dinners and networking between friends and colleagues old and new.

By the numbers, this year’s TTAND conference under the theme ‘Leading the Way,’ features 309 travel advisors, 28 TTAND support stuff, 58 supplier representatives from 46 suppliers, three outside speakers and three media representatives, including Travel Market Report Canada.

The conference comes four months after The Travel Agent Next Door entered an ‘equity partnership’ with Manchester, UK-based Travel Counsellors, an agency that hosts more than 2,200 home-based advisors. Coupled with TTAND’s 1,840 primary and associate members across Canada, the company hosts more than 4,000 travel advisors. Travel Counsellor annual sales top $1.8 billion CAD, while TTAND currently hovers around the $600 million mark, with plans to achieve $1 billion in annual sales within the next few years.

TTAND founder and CEO Flemming Friisdahl says that while Travel Counsellors CEO Steve Byrne and three other representatives are attending the conference, TTAND’s acquisition by Travel Counsellors has changed very little about the company.

“Why would you change something that is working? Travel Counsellors likes the way we’re run and managed, and they only want to help if we want the help. But there’s lots of interest among our members to understand the relationship and how we can all benefit.”

Friisdahl says a hallmark of the TTAND approach is its transparency with members. “We talk about everything with our agent partners. Each year at conference we hold a town hall, and it doesn’t end until every question they have is answered.”

He says suppliers appreciate the many opportunities they have to connect with TTAND advisors during the conference. Each supplier gets 13 minutes on stage to present their offerings, and each is allotted more than 50 one-on-one meetings with interested advisors. At five dinners in Celebrity Silhouette’s main dining room, each supplier has a dedicated table where they are invited to network with the advisors who bring their products to the public. 

Adding a trade show for the first time enables one more opportunity for connection. “I believe we offer suppliers the best conference value for the lowest price,” Friisdahl said. “We had to limit the number of suppliers simply because there was more demand than we could accommodate.”

First-time suppliers for 2026 include Explora Journeys, Universal Studios, FlexPay, Crystal  Cruises and Club Med.

Friisdahl says the cruise/conference offers great value to members as well. “We include WiFi, gratuities and a drink package. It can be tougher to hold a conference on a cruise because the ship has to accommodate other guests, but I know that Celebrity is going to do a great job.”

While communication is a constant at TTAND, through webinars, Zoom meetings, phone calls, the company intranet and email, Friisdahl says the annual conference is essential to the ongoing success and growth of the company he launched in early 2014.

“The number one thing I get excited about is the mixing of our support team, agent partners and suppliers. Every one of them makes us who we are today and there’s nothing like being together in person, talking and sharing body language. I love the community and no one feels like a number at TTAND.”

The annual conference always features a philanthropic element, through a ‘giveback day’ in destination and through fundraising efforts for the host agency’s longtime charity recipient Pencils for Kids, which provides classroom supplies, programs, libraries and schools to communities in need, in the West African nation Niger.

Friisdahl is sporting a moustache for the first time this year, which surprised many who hadn’t seen his normally clean-shaven visage for some time. The story is that Celebrity’s National Director, Market Sales for Canada Allan Brooks challenged Friisdahl to nurture some upper lip hair, a friendly taunt that turned into a bet which will ultimately benefit Pencils for Kids.

To win the bet, Friisdahl has to keep the moustache – for which he is being mercilessly ribbed – until at least the opening session of the conference. It won’t last much longer than that – “I can’t stand the thing,” Friisdahl said.Stay tuned for more conference coverage over the coming days, both here and on our Facebook page.