Travel Trade Veterans Introduce Fam Trip Business

Oct 11, 2015

What:
Gary and Melody Fee, co-founders and former executives of national travel trade association Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN), have launched FamTrips.travel, as well as its parent corporation, Travel Industry Educational Services LLC. Through FamTrips.travel, the Fees will work closely with leading suppliers to co-host fam trips for travel agents.

Why It Matters:
The husband-and-wife duo, who founded OSSN in 1990, are longtime supporters of travel agents. Now, they will focus on agent education by curating exclusive fam trips and helping to build and strengthen agent and supplier relationships. This new type of middleman may benefit agents who are inundated with fam trip invites and could use a helping hand in filtering the great from the not-so-good. What’s more, FamTrips.travel will sponsor various philanthropies founded by agents and industry leaders, starting with nonprofit organization Acts4Rwanda.

Fast Facts:
- There are currently three fam trip offers available: an eight-day European river cruise from late December to early January, co-hosted by AmaWaterways; a 10-day trip through India in February, co-hosted by Tours4theWorld; and an eight-day trip in Sicily in March, co-hosted by Journeys Connect Group Travel.

- To receive fam trip invitations, travel agents simply need to fill out their name and email on the FamTrips.travel website.

- Acts4Rwanda was started by Lynda Weir, a travel agent. FamTrips.travel will help sponsor the education of three students in Rwanda.

What They Are Saying:
“Our goal is to work with leading travel industry suppliers who can offer the best in product and training to help agents really develop strong sales relationships with them,” said Gary Fee. “Agents work hard to find the right suppliers, and we hope to put them in a positon to find the right partners to help build their business to new heights.”