A record number of Independent Agencies, industry leaders and supplier partners were in attendance at the 10th annual Avoya Travel conference, where the focus was on networking and building a shared vision for the future of independent travel professionals and enhanced vacation planning.

The conference took place last month at Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego. Over the course of four days attendees participated in motivational general sessions and educational workshops and took part in team building sessions including a food packing event that provided more than 68,000 meals to people in need.

Avoya says it wants to aggressively grow the Avoya Network, elevate the role of independent travel professionals in vacation planning, and reach and connect even more new consumers with Independent Agencies through Avoya’s patented Live Leads program.

The group launched Avoya Infinity, a new marketing paradigm, at the conference, aimed at improving and streamlining the customer vacation planning journey by putting Independent Agencies in the Avoya Network squarely in the centre, enabling them to take advantage of the prospecting and loyalty loops.

Plans to rollout customer membership, significant investments in technology that will provide Avoya Network members with personalized consumer behavior metrics, and enhanced industry-leading support were also announced at the conference.

Avoya says it celebrated a record sales year in 2016 and is seeing continued best-ever sales in 2017, as well as record Avoya Network growth. The group has a handful of Canadian member agencies.

“This year’s Avoya Travel Conference was our best yet and we are thankful to the Avoya team, Avoya Network members, and our industry partners for making the event such a success,” said Avoya Travel President, Brad Anderson. “We were proud to share with our guests the many ways Avoya Travel is driving innovation to put travel professionals and the value they provide at the center of vacation planning and to support the Avoya Network in providing consumers with the best vacation experience.

“We look forward to building on the programs and continuing record growth and sales in the coming year.”