The Signature Travel Network recently held its 2024 regional events, reinforcing its efforts to educate and connect advisors and partners.Events held in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale attracted over 1,200 attendees, with over 7,000 bookings and over 50 presentations over the course of the month.
The Regional Championships will have three main components:
- Regional Management Meetings: Focus on priorities for network growth, sales performance and leveraging Signature’s marketing, sales, training and technology tools.
- Embark Sales Bootcamp: Designed for advisors new to the industry with a focus on building strong client relationships.
- Travel Exchange: Facilitate networking and experience sharing between advisors and Signature Preferred Partners.
As part of its regional management meeting, Signature Travel Network reported impressive sales growth across a variety of travel segments. Overall cruise sales in 2024 are up 21% compared to 2023, led by luxury and river cruises. River cruise sales in 2025 are showing impressive growth, up 45% compared to the same period last year. Within land travel, the FIT and luxury segments are performing very well, up 25% in 2024 compared to 2023. Additionally, guided tours and FIT/luxury trips are up 25% in 2025 compared to the previous year. Expedition trips, which include expedition cruises and active adventure experiences, are up 14% in 2024 and up 36% in bookings for 2025.
Each Travel Exchange location offered unique destination experiences, including evenings with South African Tourism, African Travel, Fiji Tourism Board and Aruba Tourism. In Chicago, Travel Weekly’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Ignacio Maza delivered keynote addresses on “Asia: Beyond Mediocre” and “Solo Travel: Our Next Big Opportunity.”
“The small group instruction was extremely beneficial,” says Amanda Arias, a travel advisor for SunTravel. “The combination of lecture time and group work fostered an open, collaborative environment that made for a fun and productive experience.”
“The opportunity to network and collaborate with passionate travel advisors was invaluable. In an industry driven by connections, nurturing and strengthening relationships with members across our network allows us to better serve our advisor partners and their clients,” said Corey Rathman, national account director for Villa of Distinction, a preferred partner of Signature Travel Network. “We truly appreciated the opportunity to engage with passionate professionals in this industry and look forward to continuing our collaborative relationship with Signature Travel Network advisors.”
As part of its commitment to supporting local communities through its Travel Elevates program, Signature Travel Network partnered with local organizations in Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale – Santa Monica Travel & Tourism, The People Concern and Visit Lauderdale – to donate supplies and proceeds to Sojourn, which helps victims of domestic violence, and Seafarers’ House, which helps refugees.
“This year’s Regional was amazing – we hosted seven events in four cities and were able to engage with 75 percent of our owners, 200 partners and over 1,000 advisors,” said Alex Sharp, president and CEO of Signature Travel Network. “It was inspiring to see the exchange of information and know that the knowledge and strong connections between advisors and preferred partners creates an even better travel experience for our member clients.”
The next opportunity for Signature Travel Network to bring together advisors and partners will be its annual conference, November 11-14, 2024, at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada.
