Abta chief keen to attract more agents to annual Convention. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer has acknowledged he would like to see more frontline travel agents attending the association's annual Travel Convention, while stressing that the event remains relevant to the trade. Speaking to Travel Weekly at this year's convention in Madeira, Tanzer recognised the challenges agents faced in taking time away from their businesses and said the growing number of supplier-funded conferences was making it harder to attract them to Abta's flagship event. Of the approximately 300 delegates attending this year's Convention, 13 are frontline travel agents, including 11 hosted by easyJet holidays. Other agency representatives including the heads of Barrhead Travel, InteleTravel, World Travel Holdings and On the Beach are also in attendance. Tanzer suggested agents were increasingly opting for supplier-funded events, where their attendance and travel costs were covered. He said the Abta convention had traditionally attracted significant numbers of hosted agents. "Tour operators would bring their agents here, and loads of agents came funded by the tour operators," he said. However, he noted that many suppliers now hosted their own events, giving agents more opportunities to network and engage with industry partners. Tanzer also pointed to changes in the agency sector following the pandemic, suggesting smaller businesses had fewer staff and found it more difficult to release employees for overseas conferences. "When Covid came, a lot of frontline agents, sort of owner-operators, downsized," he said. "Therefore, time out of the office for them is more challenging than it used to be because they've got fewer staff." He stressed that Abta had not deliberately shifted the convention away from its traditional travel agent audience. "It'd be nice to have more agents, but it's not a conscious move we've made to shift it away from them," he said. Tanzer maintained that agents who attended continued to respond positively to the event's content, describing it as relevant and stimulating. He said Abta encouraged tour operators to bring hosted agents to the convention but acknowledged that agents faced competing demands on their time. Abta head of media and communications Emma Brennan also highlighted the association's wider programme of engagement with travel agents, including monthly video meetings and regional gatherings. Tanzer said these initiatives offered additional opportunities for agents to access advice, training and networking without attending the annual overseas event. 'You can get a lot out of it' Shaun Taylor, owner of Inspire Travel by Shaun Shaun Taylor, owner of Inspire Travel by Shaun, which is backed by the Inspire Group, said more frontline agents could benefit from attending the convention, highlighting the opportunities to learn about the wider industry and make contacts. "I think you learn a lot, meet lots of new people and get to learn a bit more about the industry as a whole," he said, speaking to Travel Weekly at the 'Meet the Media' event, organised by Intrepid Travel. Asked whether the benefits justified the expense of attending, Taylor said: "I think it can be worth the price and you can get a lot out of it. You can make lots of connections, but also learn a lot as well." Taylor, who also attended the 2022 convention in Marrakech, said he believed there had been "a few more" agents at that event. On the Beach chief executive Shaun Morton also praised the Convention's content, telling Travel Weekly editor-in-chief Lucy Huxley he had been impressed by the sessions on the opening day.

Intrepid Travel expands 2027 portfolio with 50+ new destinations. Post date: Oct 14 2026 TORONTO - Intrepid Travel is taking travellers off the beaten path in 2027 with more than 80 new trips spanning 50-plus destinations. The expanded portfolio spans Walking & Trekking, Cycling, Wildlife, Explorer, Expedition, Short Breaks, Family and 18-35s categories. The itineraries aim to spread tourism benefits across local communities while catering to different ages, interests and budgets. In Thailand, the 14-day Hidden Gems of Thailand takes travellers beyond Chiang Mai to rural mountain villages, while the 12-day Turkey Black Sea Adventure explores lesser-known destinations along the country's Black Sea coast. Closer-to-home options include Costa Rica's Guanacaste region, Matagalpa in Nicaragua, Canada's Yukon territory and several regions across Mexico. Intrepid says Canadian bookings within Canada and across Central America have recorded double-digit growth over the past two years. Five new trips also feature Indigenous-led experiences. "Travellers are looking for more meaningful ways to explore, whether that's discovering lesser-known places, travelling close-to-home, getting out in nature or finding experiences that fit different life stages and interests," says Erica Kritikides, General Manager of Experiences at Intrepid Travel. "Developed in close collaboration with our local teams, our new trips respond to these evolving preferences, offering immersive experiences for travellers while helping to spread the benefits of responsible tourism more widely across local communities." FAMILIES & NEXT GEN TRAVELLERS Intrepid is introducing 15 new family trips, along with itineraries for younger, more budget-conscious travellers. Family highlights include the 10-day Morocco Premium Family Holiday, featuring a stay at a desert camp, and the 6-day Norway Family Holiday with Teenagers, combining outdoor activities with Viking history. The 10-day Taiwan Family Holiday includes cultural experiences, snorkelling with sea turtles and beach time. New trips for younger travellers include the 7-day Simply Northern Thailand and 6-day Simply Egypt, which features a sleeper train journey between Cairo and Luxor, as well as the 15-day 18-35s Essential Barcelona to Berlin, travelling through France, Belgium and the Netherlands. WALKING, CYCLING & WILDLIFE Active and nature-based travel remain a focus, with new walking and trekking trips in Spain, Georgia and Sri Lanka, cycling adventures in New Zealand and Rwanda, and wildlife experiences in South Africa, Namibia and Kenya. Highlights include the 7-day Hiking in Picos to Europa in northern Spain, the 9-day Georgia: Trekking the Transcaucasian Trail through the Caucasus Mountains and the 11-day Cycle Rwanda Expedition, which includes sections of the Congo Nile Trail and the UCI Road World Championships route. The 10-day Kenya Safari Adventure combines visits to the Maasai Mara and the lesser-known Samburu National Reserve. Lead image caption: Intrepid Travel in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco - Credit Intrepid Travel

Intrepid searches for a president to lead its United States growth. Intrepid Travel is recruiting a president for its United States business, reporting to North America president Leigh Barnes, against stated US revenue of about US$100 million. Intrepid opens a search for a United States president. Intrepid Travel is recruiting a president to lead its United States business. The Melbourne operator revealed the search in a Travel Daily report published 2 October 2026. The recruit reports to Leigh Barnes, president, North America. "The USA is central to our growth ambitions through 2030 and to get there, we need a leader focused entirely on this market," Barnes said. "We are looking for someone ambitious who makes decisions and cares about people." The remit covers key network partnerships and brands. That half of the role runs through white label sales and industry partnerships across Intrepid's North, Central and South America business. The figures Intrepid gives for the US. Intrepid states that the US generates around US$100 million in annual revenue and is supported by a team of around 100. It states the goal is to grow revenue to over US$350 million by 2030. Both figures reach the trade from the operator through the Travel Daily report, and Intrepid has published neither as an audited figure. The US$350 million target appears elsewhere with a different measure and a wider scope. TravelAge West quotes Barnes setting a target of "US$350 million in bookings for North America by the end of the decade", and the Travel Daily report gives the figure as revenue for the US. At group level, Intrepid's own release on its 2023 results states the 2030 strategy as 600,000 customers, revenue and earnings of over $1.3 billion, and 1 per cent of revenue contributed to purpose. Where the trips go. Barnes has been based in Seattle for almost two years. He told Travel Weekly that outbound travel from the US is performing strongly, with growth in premium customers and higher spending on experiential travel. Inbound travel to the US is softer on his account, with fewer Australians, Canadians, Britons and Germans arriving. Domestic travel and national park visits offset part of that decline. More than 90 per cent of Intrepid's US trips visit a national park in some capacity, and the operator has launched a series of Activism trips built around the parks. Barnes said one departure sold out in less than 10 minutes. Barnes framed the market's size as the operating constraint. "It's such a big market, and you need to be incredibly focused from a travel perspective on what you do and don't do because you can chase your tail a lot from all the opportunity that does exist in the market," he told Travel Weekly. Intrepid publishes its releases and leadership pages at intrepidtravel.com/Group Travel/newsroom.