TORONTO — “Half a billion in sales. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?”

That’s an understatement, and The Travel Agent Next Door is understandably proud of its strong 2025 so far, and its 10+ years in the industry.

TTAND founder and CEO Flemming Friisdahl shared the host agency’s latest numbers at last night’s VIP Supplier event at the Fairmont Royal York. The popular annual get-together gives TTAND an opportunity to showcase its operations to its valued supplier partners.

And they are valued. “Without you we simply wouldn’t have a business. We appreciate your support, it means the world to us,” said Friisdahl to applause.

Collette’s Ron Lonsdale and Brett Walker

Earlier this year TTAND wrapped up its 10th anniversary celebrations, but that doesn’t mean the host agency is resting on its laurels.

New developments for 2025 include TTAND’s new ITC booking platform. “In Q2 2026 we’ll have an app for it too,” said Friisdahl as he provided a demo of the site. “It also has a Groups module. 35% of our ITC business is groups. If we make it simple for our customers – the agents – then they’ll use it.”

Dynamic packaging “will be part of our future,” he added.

Speaking of agents, TTAND now has 847 Primary agents and 842 Associate agents, for a grand total of 1,689. “By end of 2026, we expect to have 1,850 agent partners,” said COO Jeff Element.

TTAND got its start in 2014 and in its first year in business brought in $7 million in sales. Now the sales forecast for 2025 is $530 million.

Along with travel advisor members and sales, TTAND is also growing its employee roster. “Our staffing is now at 73. We continually invest in the company, we hire more staff, we don’t just increase the workload on our team,” said Friisdahl.

Rhonda Stanley, who heads up TTAND’s New Agent Development division, said TTAND has 350 new agents in its ranks.

“We need new people coming into this industry. The travel industry has become very attractive to new entrants,” she noted. “Those 350 new agents, that may not sound like a lot, but it’s quality over quantity. We charge for our training program. It’s a complete program. We run live, instructor-led training. We want to make sure our new agents are a good fit and that they’ll be successful.”

An RCMP officer who joined TTAND two years ago, “just retired from the RCMP, because he’s been able to replace his income by working as a travel advisor,” she said.

TTAND will know when it has enough agents, added Friisdahl. “When is enough enough? When we can’t answer the phone in 30 seconds or less. When we can’t check in with all of our members every three months. When you can’t talk to me pretty much whenever you want. That’s when we have enough.”

Flemming Friisdahl and Jill Wykes

NEW LUXE INITIATIVE

Christine Ufniak, TTAND’s Marketing Director, announced the brand new LUXE by The Travel Agent Next Door,

“We want to empower travel advisors to deliver the extraordinary,” said Ufniak, adding that luxury is “all about personalization, exclusivity and authenticity.”

Luxe by TTAND’s pillars include branding for the division, supplier strategy, new marketing and site and agent education and training. “A lot of work has to go into these pillars to make them work,” said Ufniak.

TTAND travel advisors will be immersed in selling luxury with new program Luxe Mastermind. “It’s not about selling luxury, it’s about becoming luxury. When agents complete Luxe Mastermind, they’ll come away with clarity and confidence. Agents are so ready for this,” said Ufniak.

More news at last night’s event included a heads up about TTAND’s upcoming Conference, scheduled for April 18-26, 2026 onboard Celebrity Silhouette.

There was plenty of applause for TTAND’s longtime charity partner, Pencils for Kids. To date TTAND and its agents and supplier partners have raised $387,000 for Pencils for Kids.

Friisdahl also honoured three industry veterans who have worked with TTAND from the very beginning: Jill Wykes, Dan Galbraith and Brad Miron.

Friisdahl ended the night with a shout-out to TTAND’s supplier partners, still low in number relative to industry standards – and that’s just the way TTAND wants it, said Friisdahl. “With suppliers, less is more, I truly believe that,” he said.

And as always, any new project won’t get the go-ahead unless it passes the TTAND test: “A win for our suppliers, a win for our agent partners and a win for TTAND,” said Friisdahl.

Flemming Friisdahl and Brad Miron