Suppliers Offer Special Incentives in Honor of National Travel Agent Day

With National Travel Agent Day just one day away – Tuesday, May 2 – suppliers are showing the love. The official holiday, organized by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), aims to spotlight the value of travel agents as advocates for the traveling public.

ASTA suggests agents use #TravelAgentDay to share a story with local media networks to promote the importance of the profession, as well as connecting with local and federal lawmakers to remind them of the importance of travel agents to the travel economy.

Some suppliers are offering agents higher commissions and bonuses to show their appreciation. Here is the updated list:

AmaWaterways
River cruise line AmaWaterways is offering $25 on select sailings booked between May 2 and May 31. All of 2018’s Taste of Bordeaux, Rhine & Moselle, Danube Serenade, Medieval Treasures, and November Europe Cruises are included in the offer.

AMResorts
AMResorts is honoring agents with its “Amazing May” promotion.

During the entire month, AMResorts is giving agents the opportunity to take advantage of special agents rates, including at Zoetry Wellness and Spa Resorts, Secrets, Breathless, Dreams, Now and Sunscape Resorts and Spas.

AMResorts is also running a “Win a Free Stay Contest” where agents can submit a short story and photo of their proudest moment selling AMResorts for a chance to win a three-night stay.

It is also giving agents double points when entering bookings into AMRewards for select Sunscape Resorts and Spas.

Air Canada Vacations
Agents can receive an additional 2 percent commission on any Air Canada Vacations package, including flight and cruise options for bookings made by May 10.

Austin Adventures
Dan Austin, the company’s founder and president, said: “A major reason that we can enjoy and maintain our position as a leader in the world of active and adventure travel is the relationships we have with our travel agent partners. We’ve learned over the years that a good travel agent is worth their weight in gold. Our goal is to make each agent we work with a hero to their customers — and our lifelong friend.”

Throughout this month, in addition to its 12 percent commission, Austin Adventures will offer these travel agent rewards, bonuses, and incentives:

• A bonus $50 Amazon gift card to agents per person booked.
• A $1,000 Amazon gift card awarded to the top-selling agent in May.
• A $50 Amazon gift card per person booked on agent-to-agent referrals (if one agent recommends them to another agent and a successful booking results, both the referring agent and referred-to agent receive a gift card).
• A $100 Amazon gift card to the agent who most successfully promotes Austin Adventures on their personal or agency Facebook page – the posting with the most interactions (likes, comments, etc.) wins.
• A $500 Amazon gift card for the most unusual and inspiring custom trip request that results in a successful booking (this bonus reward is on top of all the other incentives and commissions already being earned).

Avanti Destinations
Avanti Destinations is offering a $50 bonus commission on all bookings made between Apr. 30-May 4, 2018. The Portland, Oregon-based wholesale tour operator creates and sells custom-built independent itineraries in Europe, Asia, Central and South America, exclusively through travel agents.

“Our travel agent partners are essential to Avanti’s continuing growth,” said John Hanratty, Avanti’s chief marketing officer. “We’re offering this bonus commission celebrating Travel Agent Day to show agents how much we appreciate all that they do.”

Club Med
Club Med is celebrating Travel Agent Day with a 2018 Agent Calendar. Starting May 1, Club Med is going to offer activities and the chance to win prizes through the travel agent portal on its website.

Club Med will give agents a chance to win a spot on its agent advisory board at the end of each week and, at the end of the month, it will also offer 30,000 Great Agents reward points, equal to five free nights in a Club Med resort.

Globus
Globus is offering two free fam spots during Travel Agent Month. Each booking made during the month with any of the Globus brands will equal an entry into a random drawning.

One winner will receive the choice of a nine-day Bavarian Highlights fam or a nine-day Dublin to London fam, both departing in October. The second winner will receive the other fam.  

Insight Vacations
In celebration of the company’s 40^th Birthday, Insight will be drawing grand prizes on Travel Agent Day for any agent who made a booking from April 1 to May 1.

Sunwing
Agents booking with Sunwing during May will get trip le the STAR Agent Reward Points, which convert to cash. Included in the offer is 30 percent off select excursions departing between now and Oct. 31.

Sunwing is also giving away 30 different excursions to agents during the month. Each booking will earn agents a ballot for the daily drawing.

Trafalgar
For May, Trafalgar is rolling out a new #MayWeThankYou campaign to celebrate its agent partners.

It will be sending out a #MayWeThankYou mailer to past guests that can be sent to their booking agent. Those who share the postcards on social media with the #MayWeThankYou hashtag will be entered to win $1,000 toward a future Trafalgar vacation.

All month long, Trafalgar will be rewarding agents with a number of potential surprises including in-person gift deliveries, Starbucks gift cards, and the opportunity to be featured on its social media channels.

Trafalgar is also planting 100 trees for Travel Agent Day through non-profit organization One Tree Planted. According to Trafalgar, 70 percent of its guests are now using e-docs instead of paper as part of its sustainability push.

Transat
On May 2^nd only, Transat is offering extra Bonbon Rewards to agents who book South, Florida, Europe, or cruise packages and flights only. Agents can get more if they combine the offer with Transat’s Early Booking Promotion.

Travel Impressions
As part of TI’s “A Million in May!” promotion, the tour operator is giving agents a chance to win one of five grand prizes (a slew of LoyalTI First points) and a number of different weekly giveaways.

The grand prizes will be awarded to those agents who make the most FIT bookings overall during May. Each FIT booking an agent makes will equal one entry toward one of ten weekly prizes to be selected at random.

Agents have to be registered with LoyalTI First to qualify.

Travelex Insurance Services
Three travel agents will win a Travelex Partner Advantage trip cancellation plan and Bigger Carry-On smart suitcase from Away. To enter the contest, open now through May 9, travel agents can go to Travelex’s Facebook and leave a comment about how they saved the day for a traveler. Winners will be randomly drawn and announced on May 14.

WestJet
WestJet’s offer will be announced on May 2^nd.