Destina Travel and the TTG Travel Heroes share virtual event advice

Destina Travel is no stranger to hosting client events, but this year, as the landscape of face-to-face interaction changed with the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, the Hagley-based travel agency found itself charting unfamiliar territory.

Forced to cancel its upcoming 50th birthday plans – which were meant to be all-singing and all-dancing – on 12 November, the agency decided it was time to venture into the realm of virtual events.

LAYING PLANS

Sam Tyers, head of leisure sales, wasn’t alone in planning Destina Travel’s first-ever digital client evening. As one of two agencies being mentored by the TTG Travel Heroes in 2020, she had the support of AmaWaterways’ Jamie Loizou, Gold Medal and Travel 2’s Nick Hughes and Travelsphere and Just You’s Sarah Weetman.

“Hosting a virtual client event [with the TTG Travel Heroes] was much simpler [than hosting a face-to-face event],” says Tyers.

“I tend to go a bit over the top on in-person events so they always take me a lot of time. I plan it like I would a wedding – for example I put a ‘thanks for attending’ ribbon on every attendee’s champagne glass,” she adds.

But this time around, with the TTG Travel Heroes creating all the marketing collateral and sourcing the digital platform for the event, it was only up to Tyers to distribute the invites – a welcome step back considering the agency is still operating on a skeleton staff force. Personalised emails were sent to 600 Destina clients and the event was shared in 15 local Facebook groups.