The Golden Age of the Travel Advisor continues for Travel Leaders Network

On a cold February morning (Feb 12) in Toronto with a major snow storm threatening, top executives from Travel Leaders Network were in town to warm things up a bit.

And the news they brought with them certainly did the trick.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but 2024 was a “very, very good year” for the organization as it posted a 17% increase in its overall sales compared to 2023; its year over year land sales rose 9.7%; and its cruise sales grew by 25.1% year over year.

Led by John Lovell, CTC & President of Travel Leaders, the executive group included Stephen McGillivray, Chief Marketing Officer, Travel Leaders Group Cory Voss, Vice President, Product & Solutions, Travel Leaders Group; Christine James, Vice President Canada; and Lindsay Pearlman, Senior Vice President, Travel Leaders Network.

Lovell also celebrated the fact that, along with its strong sales results, member retention was at an all-time high and the consortium’s recruitment efforts also hit record levels.

“While our recruitment has always been strong, 2024 marks our highest number of new member agencies to date across North America,” Lovell said.

Here in Canada, Travel Leaders Network welcomed over 40 new agencies that collectively generated $128.4 million in overall sales. Those new members span a wide range of specialties, including luxury, corporate, family and group travel.

As Lovell sees it, the business diversity of the new members, underlines the fact that Travel Leaders Network is open to any kind of agency – no matter its size or specialty.

“The message,” Lovell observed, “is we’re the place to come. We’re not one size fits all.”

He continued: “In 2024, I talked about it being the golden age of the travel advisor and that proved itself out. Consumers are looking for the validation that travel professionals provide.”

And it appears that is continuing to be the case so far in 2025 with Travel Leaders Network’s cruise sales up by 18% overall and its land sales up by 9%, leading Lovell to ask: “Where does the growth end? I don’t know.”

In fact, he points out that: “2024 is our high-water mark now and 2025 looks like it will set another high-water mark,” before adding “and the consumer is driving this.”

Stay tuned for more on Travel Leaders Network in upcoming issues of Travel Courier and Canadian Travel Press.

In the photo 

Seen here from l to r, are Cory Voss, Lindsay Pearlman, John Lovell, Christine James and Stephen McGillivray