ORLANDO -- The opening session of Vacation.com's 15th annual conference, held this week at the Walt Disney World Dolphin resort here, included highlights of the organization's growth, change and progress, a presentation of its first Roger Miller Spirit Award and a music and dance routine from the cast of the Broadway show "Spiderman: Turn off the Dark."
"This is our largest conference, drawing more than 1,300 attendees, including 850 agents with the balance being suppliers and staff," said John Lovell, V-com's president. "Our membership stands today at 5,100 agencies totaling 25,000-plus top sellers of travel, but we expect that number to rise by the end of the year.
"Our commitment to innovation and technology remains in the forefront of our efforts to today's agency owner," he said. "The challenges to our industry and to Vacation.com include advancing the pace of technology, expanding the existing customer base, moving more of the business to our preferred suppliers and attracting the next generation of leisure agents into the industry."
Vacation Vignettes, the name formerly used for its hosted departure program for premium cruise clients, now is called Distinctive Voyages, which in 2014 will include 300 hosted departures, the highest number ever, said Stephen McGillivray, the chief marketing officer of Travel Leaders Group, which owns Vacation.com.
Three more cruise lines will join the program, including Cunard, Windstar and Seabourn.
The Roger Miller award, in memory of longtime member Roger Miller, who died in May 2012, was presented to Jeff Sonenstein, president of Globe Travel Service in Bristol, Conn.
Follow Gay Nagle Myers on Twitter @gnmtravelweekly.