First-Ever TMP on the River Kicks Off Onboard AmaCerto

After many successful years in Toronto and Vancouver, Travel Market Report’s popular Travel Market Place conference officially took to the water with the debut of its first-ever TMP on the River. The one-week conference officially kicked off on Wednesday evening with a cocktail reception.

For its first year, TMP on the River brings 115-plus travel advisors together onboard AmaCerto for daily educational sessions, and the chance to meet and mingle with AmaWaterway’s vice president of operations John Burrows, and director of national accounts for Canada Sandra Gardiner.

Advisors, many of whom have never been on a river ship before, are also immersed in the AmaWaterways’ experience, with a full schedule of excursions in every port of call, nightly entertainment, dining, and more.

“When I had the idea of putting together an educational experience there was nobody better to partner with than Travel Market Report,” said Gardiner. “Because Travel Market Place, which takes place across Canada, brings advisors together in an educational aspect so that they learn, and by learning they turn around and their revenues grow. For me, what a great a venue to bring everybody together – it’s very intimate – and allow them to learn and grow.”

“After many successful years on land, we were thrilled when AmaWaterways came to us with this idea of bringing Travel Market Place to the rivers,” said Brian Israel, senior vice president and publisher of Travel Market Report. “River cruising is a rapidly growing segment of travel that clients are asking for and the chance for advisors to both experience the AmaWaterways product and enrich their selling and marketing skills is exactly what Travel Market Report is all about. We’re thrilled to officially kick off our first-ever TMP on the River.”

The conference schedule kicked off yesterday morning with educational sessions from photographer Dan Galbraith on how to take the best photographs when traveling with your cell phone, and Rita M. Perez, of Take the Helm, a marketing strategy consultant for travel advisors, on how to use those same photos for marketing.

AmaWaterways’ Burrows then talked about what’s new with AmaWaterways on Thursday morning, followed by a behind-the-scenes sneak pick at what goes into creating river cruise itineraries, mitigating high and low waters, sustainability, and more on Friday morning.

Burrows also revealed a few new aspects of the onboard and shoreside experience including new two-hour rest periods before lunch and dinner, and longer active hikes like 10-kilometer treks that are split into five kilometers in the morning and five in the afternoon.