The Travel Network Group - An Opportunity To Host

An opportunity to host

Corporate Travel

Solutions

Background The Travel Network Group The Travel Network Group is the UK’s largest independent travel consortia. With over 800 Members, the Group’s core brands include: Worldchoice, The Travel Trust Association (TTA), Independent Travel Experts (ITE) and Adeona Travel. Members range from family-owned high street retail travel agencies and call centres to large online travel businesses, with a combined turnover in excess of £1billion across 2 million passengers.

In the last 2 years The Travel Network Group has hosted two very successful Conferences. In September 2011 its ‘Strength and Vision’ Conference was hosted at Spain’s PortAventura resort and, more recently in May 2013, it’s ‘Shaping Your Future’ Conference at Lake Bled in Slovenia.

The Group is now planning its next overseas Conference to take place in the autumn of 2014.

Video highlights from the 2013 Conference are available to view on our YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/TravelNetworkGroup.

Please find below comments received from our Slovenian hosts from our most recent Conference: During the conference 300 delegates were able to discover why they should consider Bled for their customers holidays.

It was a great experience for us and the best way to promote us as a destination. We welcomed The Travel Network Group as potential business partners and they left us as friends....

Mojca Gobina, Sava Hotels & Resorts

The Travel Network Group has been a fantastic partner for Slovenian tourism. We were thrilled to welcome this important UK gathering to facilities at our prime holiday destination, Lake Bled, and have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback received since from delegates. From the Slovenian Tourist Board’s London office, I would also like to thank our local partners and tourist workers for all their efforts in staging such a professional event.

We look forward to welcoming many of you back to Slovenia in the future.

Tine Murn, Spirit Slovenia

We were very proud to host The Travel Network Group’s 2013 conference at Lake Bled. It was the first major UK travel industry conference ever staged in Slovenia, and the response from the 300 delegates attending was overwhelming. We are very confident that now they have had first hand experience of what is on offer from Slovenia in terms of a holiday / leisure break destination the inbound visitor numbers will increase.

Very close working relationships were forged between the Slovenian Tourist Offices and The Travel Network Group in preparing for the event, and this resulted in a spectacular and very professional conference being achieved.

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THE TRAVEL NETWORK GROUP

Andrew Page, HM Ambassador

ATTENDEES Membership Attendees will include approximately 200 Members of The Travel Network Group and its core brands of Worldchoice, Travel Trust Association and Independent Travel Experts.

Business Partners Attendees will also include up to 150 Business Partners - which will comprise many of the UK’s biggest travel brands - that will participate in many of the core elements of the main Conference as well as a Business Partner Forum. Our Business Partners include:

> Tour Operators (for example Kuoni and Thomas Cook); > Cruise Lines (for example Royal Caribbean and Silversea); > Accommodation Providers (for example GTA and Hotels4U); and > Other companies representing flights, rail, ferry, transfers, ground arrangements etc..

Media Also in attendance will be the UK travel trade press. Last year we had reporters from Travel Weekly, TTG and Travel Bulletin at Lake Bled.

These publications are distributed to the vast majority of UK travel professionals.

We also like to maximise social media with live tweeting from the event, which was so successful last year that #lakebled13 was trending globally.

Conference Opportunities

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OUR REQUIREMENTS Conference facilities

Welcome Party

The Travel Network Group is looking to host the event in a convention centre/hotel that has facilities to host 350 plus delegates. The venue should have facilities to accommodate both plenary sessions and workshop activities.

The Conference facility should also have a room or rooms that can accommodate a Business Partner Forum. This will take the form of a trade fair where business partners have a table and chairs to display their corporate literature and have 15-minute sessions with Members.

The Hotel/Conference facilities A good standard of accommodation should be available with a mixture of single and double rooms.

Preferential room rates are required to ensure that we achieve maximum Membership attendance.

The Hotel facilities should be near the Conference facilities if they are on different sites – either by foot or by short coach journey.

One of the most important factors is the efficient service provided to our guests, from arrival at check-in through to service at dinner and staffing of a late night bar. We would like our guests to be attended to at the highest level.

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THE TRAVEL NETWORK GROUP

The Welcome Party is an informal event, held on the evening of the day of arrival. This can be hosted at an alternative venue, not more than 30 minutes from the Conference hotel.

Food, drink and entertainment are required but please note that this is a low-key occasion, with the main event being the Gala Dinner on the Saturday night.

There should be provision for a late night bar after party.

Gala Dinner One of the Conference’s highlights is its Gala Dinner which takes place on the Saturday night of the Conference. This can either be hosted in the Conference hotel, if it has a suitable room, or another venue that is accessible and not more than 45 minutes from the Conference hotel.

The venue should be suitably fitting for a Gala Dinner and a prestigious Awards event. The evening will include a 3 course, sit down meal with wine service, followed by entertainment and dancing.

Location

There should be provision for a late night bar after party.

Production Services The Group will provide its own production company that will deliver the lighting, vision, sound and staging.

The venue and location of the Conference should be easily accessible from the UK with cost effective flights (or alternative transport methods) available. It should also be ideally not more than one hour from the local airport.

The Travel Network Group is known throughout the UK travel industry as being passionate and innovative, therefore we would like our Conference venue to be in an inspirational location. We would like to introduce our Members to a part of the world that they are unlikely to have visited before.

Weather Due to the timing of the event we will be looking for a location which benefits from good weather at this time of the year (September 2014).

This is your opportunity to showcase your destination and promote inbound tourism to 350 plus influential delegates from the UK travel industry. In addition to the location, we would like your country, it’s culture and history, to be represented through the food, wine and entertainment during the weekend.

Conference Opportunities

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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE Conference Timetable Friday PM Arrival Delegates arrive,

check-in and familiarise

themselves with the

venue

Friday Evening

Welcome Party

Cocktail reception Dinner Saturday

Morning – Plenary /

Business Partner Forum

Lunch

Afternoon – Plenary /

Business Partner Forum

Closing speech Saturday Evening Gala Dinner & awards

Entertainment

Sunday Plenary session Conference closes

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at lunchtime

THE TRAVEL NETWORK GROUP

What we are looking for from our Tourist Office Partner to provide: > A visit to review facilities 12 months prior to the Conference for TTNG Conference Organisers;

> All Conference facility requirements, including coffee breaks;

> Facilities by the main Conference venue to host a Business Partner Forum;

> Transfers for delegates from the arrival airport to the hotel and their return;

> Transfers to all off-site activities (i.e Gala Dinner if it’s not in the hotel);

> The facilities and catering for a Welcome party; and

> The facilities and catering for the Gala Dinner.

What we are looking from our Hotel Partner: >

500 rooms – a mixture of singles and doubles - at preferential rates

What The Travel Network Group can offer you: > Your commitment to our Conference is the

beginning of an 18 month relationship with the UK travel industry. In additional to your participation at the Conference, we have numerous opportunities to feature and promote your destination to our Members and their customers.

Our aim is to bring your destination to life within our network of travel businesses.

During the Conference > An opportunity to showcase your destination to over 350 of the UK’s leading independent travel agents and travel providers;

> Introductory speeches at the Welcome

Party from local, senior, representatives i.e.

Ambassador/Mayor/Head of Tourist Board;

> Attendance at Welcome Party and Gala Dinner;

> 10 minute presentation at the opening plenary session at the Conference;

> 10 tables at the Business Partner forum. This is

an opportunity for you to include regional tourist offices, hotel groups, ground handlers etc.;

During the Conference > Inclusion in our national retail window

campaign (sent to over 200 retail travel agents);

> Digital marketing display space on the following websites:

www.adeonatravel.co.uk www.worldchoicetravel.co.uk www.independentholidayexperts.co.uk www.mylocalcruisespecialist.co.uk

> Article promoting the destination in the

Conference edition of our internal magazine, Insight;

> Inclusion within national, in-store, customer magazine;

> Direct to consumer marketing campaign and

national newspaper adverts, featuring a travel promotion to your destination; and

> Educational webinars post-Conference to assist travel agents with selling your destination.

Conference Opportunities

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PROPOSALS The Travel Network Group September 2014 If you would like your destination to be considered for The Travel Network Group Conference in September 2014, please provide a declaration of interest by 31 July 2013 and submit a proposal by 31 August 2013, with a view to a recce trip taking place in September 2013.

The Group would like to be in a position to announce the destination and dates in October/November 2013.

If you have and questions or require further information please contact Sarah Toogood on 01483 545 787 or email: conference@thetravelnetworkgroup.co.uk