Blog Archives

Congratulations to Gifted Travel Network member Kara Robinson on her appointment to Carnival Cruise Line's Travel Partner Advisory Committee for 2017.

On this Travel Talk Live, Vanessa McGovern talks to Adolfo Perez, the Vice President of Sales & Trade Marketing for Carnival Cruise Line. Watch to get inspired to travel with Carnival Cruise Line.

On this Travel Talk Live, Vanessa McGovern talks to Edie Rodriguez of Crystal Cruises. Under Edie's leadership, Crystal has transformed into the world's premier luxury and lifestyle brand portfolio which includes Crystal Cruises, Crystal Yacht Expedition Cruises, Crystal River Cruises, Crystal Residences, Crystal Luxury Air, Crystal Air Cruises.

I get it.  For the budding travel entrepreneur, the turn-key website offered by many host agencies and franchises can seem very tempting.  Within just a few moments and very little investment (like $50), you can have a website up and running that has lots of fancy bells and whistles.  Show your friends and family, and they will be impressed with the legit-ness of it and might even take your business seriously.

Gifted Travel Network (GTN) is proud to announce the launch of the new year of its web show, Travel Talk Live, starting on Tuesday, January 17th at 12pm Eastern. The first episode of 2017 will feature an amazing guest who is an influential figure in the travel industry. GTN is thrilled to announce that the first guest of Travel Talk Live will be the President and CEO of Crystal Cruises, Edie Rodriguez.  “We are honored to have Edie Rodriguez as our first guest to kick-off the new year of Travel Talk Live,” says Vanessa McGovern. McGovern is GTN’s Executive Vice President and host of the weekly web series.

Gifted Travel Network (www.giftedtravelnetwork.com), in Mooresville, NC, has been recognized by Travel Impressions (http://www.TravelImpressions.com), one of the country’s largest tour operators selling destinations worldwide, as a "Best of the Best" travel agency.

E&O is an abbreviation for “errors and omissions.”  E&O insurance is professional liability insurance that protects companies and their employees from costly mistakes and lawsuits that may stem from the professional services they provide.  Basically, anyone who provides a service to a client for a fee - like insurance brokers, financial planners, lawyers - should have E&O coverage.  Travel agents, whether you have your own credentials, book though a host agency, or work for a travel agency, need E&O insurance.

Believe it or not, this is actually a pretty complicated question.  The answer is:  it depends.  Travel agents book through travel suppliers, and you need to have travel industry credentials to do that.  (Read more about that.)  The good news is that most travel agents belong to a host agency and use the host agency’s credentials, so you don’t have to worry about getting your own.

On this Travel Talk Live, Vanessa McGovern talks to Heather Christopher of Heather Christopher Travel Consulting about her recent trip to Italy.

Now that you’ve made the decision to become a travel agent, developing a solid marketing plan can seem daunting!  It’s likely you are overwhelmed with the options in terms of where and how to market and are scratching your head trying to figure out where to begin.  Perhaps it feels like there is a big, thick, cloud of confusion?  Should you advertise here or there?  Should you exhibit at this festival or that one?  Do you participate in the direct mail campaign provided by your consortia?  And then there is the big, bad world of social media.  Oy Vay!  And the list of questions goes on and on.