For over a decade, CAA has used the collective experience of its several hundred travel advisors to pick the best in the travel industry, based on quality of the product, level of service and support for CAA Members and travel advisors. 

In addition to the Travel Partner of the Year awards, CAA Travel also gave out two Travel Advisor Choice awards. CAA has just over 400 travel advisors across 135 locations in Canada. Based on popular vote, two partners stood out to our group of advisors: luxury train company Rocky Mountaineer and Trafalgar.

The conference was also an opportunity to highlight top CAA Rewards partners, who provide value to CAA Members. The CAA Rewards program has grown exponentially in the last several years, offering CAA Members regional discounts at over 280 locations in Canada. Montana’s, a national restaurant chain, Dulux Paints, Connect Hearing, and AMJ Campbell, a moving and storage company, are among the top partners recognized this year for contributing to the growing program. 

About 150 delegates got the pleasure of learning from keynote speakers Karen Howe from the Township Group and Peter Rose from Kantar Consulting, marketing and sales professionals. Howe presented several examples of global creative travel marketing trends and Rose discussed consumer ecommerce trends. 

Disasters abroad are happening more often these days, so it is important for those in travel to be ready to help their clients. CAA travel delegates and travel partners got the chance to attend an information session hosted by Global Affairs Canada, a federal department that manages diplomatic and consular relations, to learn about what Canadian travellers should do in case of an emergency. CAA travel agents pride themselves on excellent customer service, and this type of information will contribute to better educated agents who can help in all kinds of scenarios.