General Sessions
September 30 - October 1st, 2009 • 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. EST
- One-on-One Interviews
- Richard Fain,
Chairman & CEO, RCCL - Randy Garfield,
Executive VP Worldwide Sales and Travel Operations Disney Destinations & President Walt Disney Travel Company, Disney - Mike Going,
President, FunJet
- Consumer behavior and lifestyle marketing for the travel industry.
- Speaker:
- Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D., Saint Joseph's University
- Ship Inspections: Inspections of Crystal Cruises' Serenity, Holland America's Eurodam, SeaDream Yachtclub's Seadream II and AMAWATERWAYS MS La Marguerite.
- Destination Showcase: Great Britain
- Social Networking workshop
Panels
- Tours
- This panel of top industry pros will focus on the most important issues involving the sale of tours and packages by travel agents during a difficult economic period and what tour operators and wholesalers are doing to improve the process. We’ll also discuss what tour companies think travel agents should be doing to grow sales and what tools they have available to help agents do so, among other topics.
- Speakers:
- Steve Gorga, President/CEO, Travel Impressions
- Nico Zenner, President, Travelbound
- Brian Stack, President, CIE Tours
- Cruises
- This panel of top industry pros will focus on the most important issues involving the sale of cruises by travel agents during a difficult economic period and what cruise lines are doing to improve the process. We’ll also discuss what cruise lines think travel agents should be doing to grow sales and what tools they have available to help agents do so, among other topics.
- Speakers:
- Vicki Freed, Senior Vice President, Sales and Trade Support & Services, RCCL
- Mark Conroy, President, Regent Seven Seas
- Neil Palomba, COO MSC Cruises USA
- Maurice Zarmati, President & CEO, Costa Cruise Lines
- Resorts
- Las Vegas resort executives will focus on the most important issues involving the sale of resorts by travel agents during a difficult economic period, as well as what’s going on in the Las Vegas market today. We’ll also discuss what travel agents can do to help grow sales and what resorts are doing in terms of education, training and incentives for agents, among other topics.
- Speakers:
- Donna Marcou, VP of Leisure Sales of PH Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Planet Hollywood
- Gail Fitzgerald, Vice President Sales & Marketing, CityCenter
- Michael Larragueta, Director of Leisure Sales, The Venetian
