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Travel Leaders has launched a new Honeymoon and Destination Wedding Specialist certification program for travel agents.
“We knew from our research and a survey of our members that destination wedding and honeymoon travel is a growing segment for us and one in which many more of our travel agents would like to specialize. So, there was a natural need for us to design a defined program to help our agencies expand in this marketplace,” said Travel Leaders Franchise Group President Roger E. Block in a release announcing the new program.
Travel Leaders’ Certified Honeymoon and Destination Wedding Specialist training program offers its Travel Leaders specialists structured marketing programs that take separate content paths for each specialization – one for honeymoons and one for destination weddings. There are six components:
– Understanding the Honeymoon and Destination Wedding Customer
– Preferred Destination Knowledge
– Preferred Supplier Partner Knowledge
– Honeymoon and Destination Wedding FAM Trip
– Research
– Marketing Plan
– Honeymoon and Destination Wedding Sales
Each participant will need to complete 215 credits to become a certified specialist and, in addition to developing a marketing plan, will need to showcase their expertise by developing an online Agent Profile specific to honeymoon and destinations wedding travel. The Agent Profile will display on Travel Leaders’ national website, Travelleaders.com.
“In addition to honeymoon and destination wedding travel being a lucrative market for our members, the niche certification serves as an excellent pathway for our specialist to engage travelers under 35 and turn them into customers for life,” said Block. “Past industry research has shown that of the roughly two million couples who get married each year, approximately 20 percent want a destination wedding and that number is increasing each year. In addition, nearly 90 percent of newlyweds take a honeymoon. Thus, there is a lot of growth potential in these markets for our Associates looking to specialize in these niches.”
Nearly 71 percent of Travel Leaders Group agents booking destination wedding and / or honeymoon travel indicated the average revenue for those bookings is higher than their typical leisure travel booking, according to data from the organization’s 2014 Travel Trends Survey. Additionally, 64 percent of surveyed Travel Leaders Group agents indicated that a minimum of 10 percent of their leisure sales is derived specifically from serving the honeymoon and destination wedding markets.
Travel Leaders’ Certified Honeymoon and Destination Weddings Specialist program is one of four certified specialist programs currently offered to its members. Others include the Certified Leisure Travel Specialist designation, the Certified Luxury Travel Specialist and the Certified Business Travel Specialist.
