With COVID-19 continuing to shut down traditional leisure travel, travel advisors worldwide are looking for ways to create safe domestic travel packages for their clients. We brought in a panel of destination experts to share unique travel experiences for travel advisors that reside in their respective destinations.
The destinations we will be highlighting are:
- Alberta, Canada
- Great Britain
- Oregon, U.S.
- Utah, U.S.
Each panel expert will share a 5-10 minute presentation each on how to sell each destination to your clients and what makes it special and unique. All experts have also created itinerary examples that you can find below for inspiration and you can even copy them directly to your Travefy account!
Webinar Recording:
View panelist’s presentations:
- VisitBritain Presentation
- Visit Alberta Presentation
- Visit Utah Presentation
- Travel Oregon Presentation
About the Speakers:
Jody Blaney
Global Markets Specialist, Visit Utah
Jody has been in the hospitality industry for over 25 years, working for several hotels, leading sales and marketing in the Salt Lake City area. She has a degree in hospitality and tourism, and the travel industry has always been her passion.
Jody joined the Utah Office of Tourism International Team in April 2020 as a Global Markets Specialist. Jody handles domestic travel trade, secondary markets, international travel trade, domestic trade shows, MICE, Yellowstone Loop & other partner cooperative programs
She is a Utah native, who grew up spending summer vacations on the road, traveling all over Utah to national and state parks and all the hidden gems between. She has a love for Utah and all it has to offer visitors and residents alike. Jody is an animal lover who lives in Alpine with her three cats.
Email: jblaney@utah.gov
Greg Eckhart
Director of Global Sales, Travel Oregon
In this role, Greg is fortunate enough to direct Travel Oregon’s efforts with trade and international media, sharing the abundance of activities, unique experiences and authentic travel opportunities that Oregon has to offer.
Greg worked as a corporate travel agent for Rosenbluth International and later as a luxury leisure travel consultant for Burns World Travel in Savannah, Georgia. After moving back to Portland in 2001, Greg worked at Travel Portland for a decade and during that time served as the consumer leisure programs manager and spent the majority of his time there as the tourism sales manager directing efforts in the U.S. and Canadian travel trade markets. Greg also served as a board member and executive committee member with the National Tour Association for three years.
Greg is passionate about preserving Oregon’s authentic experiences while sharing them with visitors from around the world. In his personal time, Greg enjoys camping with his children in Oregon’s award-winning state parks, and cruising the farmer’s markets with his family and finally bringing that bounty to the dinner table with his passion for cooking.
Email: greg@traveloregon.com
Jonathan Heasman
Travel Trade Manager Western USA, VisitBritain
Jonathan Heasman is the Travel Trade Manager for VisitBritain covering Western USA. VisitBritain is a national tourism agency, a non-departmental public body, funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Working with a wide range of partners in the UK and abroad, VisitBritain’s mission is to grow the volume and value of inbound tourism across the nations and regions of Great Britain and to develop world-class English tourism product to support our growth aspirations.
Jonathan has worked in different parts of the tourism industry with Chelsea Football Club in England and prior to his current role, with The Travel Cooperation under their Trafalgar brand. Born and raised in England, now based in Orange County, California with his American wife, twin sons and the cat. He enjoys returning to his home land and exploring new countries.
Email: Jonathan.Heasman@visitbritain.org
Rhonda Hughes
Manager, Business Development, Travel Alberta
Rhonda has worked in the Tourism Industry for over 20 years, from hotels to restaurants, to DMOs and now with Travel Alberta (PMO) for the last 7 years. She has worked in almost every position within a hotel to Director of Sales and now manager of Business Development at Travel Alberta. Rhonda has travelled all over the world for both work and personal, including Europe, Asia, and North America. She has her Bachelor’s of Commerce Degree specializing in Tourism and loves to share her passion and knowledge on Travel. She has a three year old boy who keeps her busy and loves to spend any free time enjoying the outdoors.
Email: rhonda.hughes@travelalberta.com