TORONTO — Growth is good. Smart growth is better. And Nexion Travel Group definitely knows what kind of growth it wants.
“We donʻt want to be that agency that goes out there and lets anyone join. Itʻs important for us to have smart growth,” said Jackie Friedman, President, Nexion Travel Group.
The host agency – owned by Internova Travel Group, and sister company to Travel Leaders Network – makes sure its members, especially newcomers to the industry, “know this is a business, itʻs a career, itʻs not a hobby,” she added. “We want to bring in new entrants and we want to make sure theyʻre well-trained. We want to make sure they know what theyʻre getting into.”
Speaking to trade media at a luncheon yesterday, Friedman – who is based in Dallas but is Canadian through and through, growing up in Toronto and attending Western University – said Nexion currently counts just shy of 600 members in Canada. While not in Quebec, Nexion has a growing presence in the Maritimes, and a strong showing in Ontario.
“Weʻre seeing steady growth” in the Canadian market, said Friedman, with 8-12 new members per month. About 80% of those are new-to-industry.
As reported in Travelweekʻs April 2025 interview with Friedman and her Canadian colleague, Esther Roemmele, Nexionʻs Canadian expansion started in 2013.
At that time Mike Foster owned a London, ON-based agency that was acquired by Nexion Travel Group and re-named Nexion Travel Group-Canada. Over the next 10+ years Foster took Nexion’s presence in Canada to new heights. In fall 2024 he announced his retirement, after which Friedman absorbed Foster’s role while Roemmele, a long-time member of the Nexion team who previously served as Director of Member Services, was appointed Director of Canadian Operations.
“Mike was such an important part of Nexion Canada,” said Friedman yesterday. “It was key for us in the early 2010s to expand into Canada, and back then Mike saw where the industry was going and he really believed in the home-based agent model. The Canadian market is very important for Nexion.”
On the heels of Nexion’s two Regionals this spring, the host agency is now looking ahead to its four Mixer events in this market. Roemmele is also conducting virtual meetings with members, to connect and get a sense of their priorities.
Canadian members can also look forward to a “signature multi-day event” in Canada in 2026, said Friedman, promising more details to come.
Nexion also hosts luxury-themed events, and groups-themed events, and just wrapped its first-ever Cruise Sales Summit in Canada. “We want to spend more time in the Canadian market,” said Friedman.
The five-year goal in Canada? “It would be great to get to 1,000 members here,” she said.
Nexion Travel Group’s training program is called ‘Roadmap to Success’, and Roemmele noted that agents are able to log into the Nexion portal and do the modules at their own pace. The course takes an average of three months to complete.
BOOKING TRENDS
Friedman’s update yesterday also included a quick snapshot of booking trends.
Cruise bookings were up 8% year over year in the first four months of 2025. “The real growth is in upper premium, luxury and river cruising. Weʻre seeing some softness in cruises sailing out of the U.S., but many clients are just choosing to sail in Europe instead,” she said, adding that this trend is fuelling last-minute bookings for European river cruises.
There are also more close-in bookings, and more bookings 18+ months out.
Echoing feedback from other travel retailers in the industry, Friedman added: “Weʻre definitely seeing some cancellations but we think those bookings will come back when things stabilize. Also many of those people are choosing to travel elsewhere.”
Nexion recently asked its Canadian members about the challenges they may be facing with bookings and cancellations. “Number one was the geopolitical situation (58%), number two was economic concerns (47%) and number three was the currency situation (45%),” noted Friedman.
The survey gathered responses from nearly 80 Nexion Travel Group members in Canada.
“We understand from this survey of our Canadian members that there are broader concerns affecting travel,” said Friedman. “Despite those issues, Nexion travel advisors are still seeing steady demand from their leisure and business clients, who are planning and booking a variety of trips.”