Last month, TTC Tour Brands kicked off an innovative, ambitious new initiative called “Tour Week.” The plan involved hosting more than 500 advisors on 13 simultaneous fam trips across the company’s portfolio of six brands.
The goal? To showcase the breadth and depth of experiences available under the TTC Tour Brands umbrella, as well as to generate buzz within the travel advisor community by hosting so many agents at once. (Editor’s Note: Northstar Travel Group, the parent company of TravelAge West, helped recruit agents and create promotional content for Tour Week.)
"In such a hands-on and competitive industry, our goal was to empower and invest in our travel advisors by showcasing the diverse range of guided tour options designed to meet every traveler’s unique needs,” said Whitney Ramirez, senior vice president of sales for TTC Tour Brands. “By hosting more than 500 advisors across our brands and operating all the fams simultaneously, we aimed to spark industry-wide conversations on social media about the value of partnering with TTC Tour Brands.”
Out on Tour
Agents crisscrossed the globe on fam trips ranging from Trafalgar itineraries in Alaska, Costa Rica and Germany to a solo-travel-inspired Insight Vacations journey in Morocco.
Tour Week stands out as one of our most ambitious initiatives yet.
Contiki hosted a group of advisors under 40 (the brand caters to travelers in the 18-35 age range) in New Zealand — a fam trip I joined — while another group traveled with Costsaver on a wellness-focused experience in Bali. Advisors also explored ancestry travel with Brendan Vacations in Northern Ireland, while additional fam trips took place in the U.S. Canyonlands and Italy.
With so many moving parts, pulling off the plan was no easy feat — but the TTC team was up to the challenge.
“Our team has extensive experience crafting specialized fam itineraries, and Tour Week stands out as one of our most ambitious initiatives yet,” Ramirez said. “Our operations team has a local presence in the destinations we visit, so we worked with this global community of trip designers and partners to create exceptional itineraries.”
Trafalgar hosted advisors on its brand-new Alaska Northern Lights itinerary.
Credit: 2025 Theresa Chu-BermudezAnother standout feature of the program? TTC’s focus on letting travel advisors experience the products just the way their clients would. Ramirez says that the company made a conscious decision to avoid site inspections, “opting instead for engaging discussions about the experiences and how advisors could … better sell [TTC trips] and grow their business.”
On the Contiki fam, this translated to interactive brainstorming sessions on reaching new clients, marketing strategies, group trips and sales tips, along with informal training on the Contiki brand and its offerings. In addition, advisors were treated to a wide variety of activities that are typically offered as optional, extra-cost add-ons, providing a truly in-depth look at all the available possibilities for clients.
“This fam trip was different because it was targeted to a specific type of traveler,” said Andi Elliott, a AAA travel advisor in Huntington Beach, California, who traveled on the Contiki fam. “Some of the experiences and circumstances that came up during the fam also helped remind me why it is so refreshing to be on a trip with a travel director or trip manager who is handling everything for you along the way. I have been able to easily discuss the numerous benefits of TTC Tour Brands with all of my clients after my recent experience.”
Selecting Advisors
In order to choose the agents who participated in the fams, the TTC team had to evaluate some 1,000 applications, picking advisors who they felt would be the best match for each brand and trip theme.
“It wasn’t easy,” Ramirez said of the process. “We had to narrow down the list in a way that was fair … We also wanted to recognize our top producers and ensure they were able to experience the brands they support firsthand.”
But making those critical matches has paid off, as Ramirez says that 96.6% of advisor participants who completed a post-trip survey expressed that they “had a positive experience with the tour brand and would recommend it to a client.” And the immediate feedback as participants traveled was overwhelmingly positive, too.
Advisors explored Bali with Costsaver.
Credit: 2025 Jennifer Kellum“Through hundreds of social posts and real-time, in-person commentary, one thing was clear: The most impactful part of the initiative for travel advisors was seeing firsthand how their clients will be treated and what they’ll experience,” Ramirez said.
Elliott agrees, describing the New Zealand trip as a “thrilling experience” that allowed agents “to do very big bucket-list things that most of us may never have done otherwise.”
Following the success of the inaugural Tour Week, TTC is already hard at work on a second iteration of the program, a set of 10 tours that will take place this November. While Ramirez says she can’t divulge all the details yet, she did tease that “advisors can look forward to saying aloha with Trafalgar and exploring ancient civilizations with Insight Vacations.”
For the chance to participate, agents should keep an eye out for fam trip opportunities announced via email and available exclusively through TTC’s Travel Agent Portal. Ramirez also recommends that advisors register on the portal, which will sign them up for the company’s newsletter, as well as provide access to incentives and bonuses, sales, TTC training and more. Advisors can also connect with their TTC sales managers, who can assist with the application process for fam opportunities such as Tour Week.
“Initiatives like Tour Week are a massive undertaking, and we feel privileged to offer it to our partners because we believe in the advisor community,” Ramirez said. “Travel advisors are essential to our success, and there’s no better way to show our appreciation than to invite them to experience our tours firsthand, so they can have the same enjoyable and effortless vacation their clients do — and also come back ready to sell and grow their business.”
