TravelAge West and Travel Weekly, two of the most influential and most honored B2B news resources for the travel industry, announced today the launch of a second elite, appointment-only event, GTM West, which takes place May 2 – 4, 2014 at The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, AZ. GTM West expands the franchise of GTM, which was successfully launched in July 2013 to unprecedented industry accolades
“Our flagship event, GTM, raised the bar on events in the industry,” said Alicia Evanko-Lewis, Vice President of Events.“We have created such a standard of excellence the next logical step is to expand the GTM franchise into another region. GTM West will deliver the same quality and professionalism as the flagship event and provide suppliers with direct access to highly qualified, influential travel agents from the Western states and provinces.”
GTM West carefully selects the industry’s highest producing travel agents located in the western part of North America to meet with global travel suppliers.“We’ve done all the work in identifying, qualifying and delivering the right influencer, so we’ve taken the most challenging part of the sales cycle out of the equation and made business development more efficient and productive,” said Evanko-Lewis.
In addition to face-to-face meetings, agents and suppliers have the opportunity to participate in “Boardroom” meetings.These 30-minute meetings take place in private conference rooms and allow suppliers to give intimate presentation sessions or run high quality focus groups.“Boardrooms give suppliers the ultimate flexibility in how they invest their time with their audience,” said Evanko-Lewis. “The unique format allows suppliers to really connect with their audience and build long term business relationships that drive revenue.”
“Following the success of GTM 2013, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is delighted to host two prestigious GTM events in 2014 at our Westin Resort properties,” said Chris Austin, Vice President, Global Leisure and Luxury Sales at Starwood Hotels and Resorts. “Our Westin Resorts will allow GTM delegates to expand their horizons and feel their best. Every element of GTM and their stay will be created to leave delegates feeling better than when they arrived.”
The inaugural GTM event received 500 applications, accepted 113 travel agent attendees, conducted 5,000 face-to-face meetings and hosted 144 presentation sessions.
“We were thrilled to participate in the GTM event and recognized that the quality of agents and their interest level in our industry was a great fit for us,” said Ron Fenska, U.S. Director of Sales, G Adventures. “They were the perfect audience to embrace our bold message of using travel to change the world for the better.”
About TravelAge West
TravelAge West is the leading trade magazine for travel agents and the travel industry in 14 Western States. Serving its 22,000 readers for over 44 years, the biweekly magazine and website, www.travelagewest.com are the main sources of news and product information for the region’s agents and travel executives
About Travel Weekly
Travel Weekly, the national newspaper of the travel industry, is the most influential provider of news, research, opinion and analysis to the North American travel trade marketplace. In addition to a weekly print publication, TravelWeekly.com, updated several times daily, is the most-visited industry website. Travel Weekly is a division of Secaucus, New Jersey-based Northstar Travel Media, the largest travel business-to-business travel publisher in the world.
About Northstar Travel Media
Northstar Travel Media is the leading provider of news, information and data for the travel, meetings and hospitality industries and parent of brands including Travel Weekly, Business Travel News, Travel Procurement, PhoCusWright, Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News, Incentive, TravelAge West, Family Getaways, Explorer, Your Travel Insider and Luxury Cruise News.
Northstar’s electronic directories — Travel Weekly’s Hotel and Travel Index, Official Cruise Guide, and M&C Facilities Search and Successful Meetings Facilities Search— provide in-depth data on hotels, meeting and convention properties, and business travel in the United States and internationally.
In addition to its directories and periodicals, Northstar publishes a number of online subscription information resources, including The Beat, Travel Weekly Plus, Travel42, STAR Service Online, Travel Weekly Plus, Intelliguide Corporate and BTP24.
Northstar produces more than 20 face-to-face events including The PhoCusWright Conference, CruiseWorld, Global Travel Marketplace, M&C InterAct, Successful Meetings Universities, The Beat Live, Tech Talk, Business Travel Trends and Forecast Forums and the Travel Weekly Leadership Forums.
Northstar also is an industry leader in marketing services, custom communications, content licensing and database management serving the travel and meetings industries. Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company also has offices in New York, NY; Glen Ellyn, IL; Los Angeles, CA; and Winston-Salem, NC.
Northstar Travel Media, LLC is a portfolio company of Wicks Group of Companies LLC, a leading private equity investor in the information and business services, communications, and media sectors.
