The 20th Travel Centres Conference took place in Kildare over the weekend in the cosy Lawlor’s of Naas Hotel, offering the consortium’s travel agents an opportunity to connect, collaborate and grow new opportunities with a bevy of travel suppliers. The theme of the conference was 20:20 vision, exploring how revisiting the past can help us visualize the future. From closed-door meetings to conference speakers, speed-networking to the gala ball- the conference continues to be a success thanks to the dedicated work of Dominic and Bernie Burke. The event was jointly sponsored by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, with Jennifer Callister and Valerie Murphy on hand as respective representatives of their sister brands.
The conference weekend began on Friday at 2pm with Sean Fahey, founder of Fahey Media, a marketing and communications agency based in Dublin. He took the crowd through the theme of the conference, combining AI with a Human Touch. He spoke to how travel agents can utilize AI tools in their everyday business- with custom automations and prompts whilst still retaining the personable aspect needed for travel agents big and small to survive in the current market. Following Fahey’s talk, there were a number of closed-door sessions for agency managers to discuss ongoing issues and ideas in a collaborative setting.
The evening events began with pre-dinner drinks, sponsored by Sunway followed by an Owners/Managers dinner sponsored by MSC Cruises and after-dinner entertainment sponsored by Sun Transfers. As more industry representatives began to arrive in to Lawlor’s of Naas they enjoyed a fantastic dinner of mushroom tartlets with a cod or chicken option for mains and a lovely strawberry cream dessert paired with red and white wine sponsored by Hertz.
On Saturday, the conference began in earnest with registration and an official opening by ITAA president Tom Randles followed by a sponsor presentation by MSC Cruises and their Irish counterpart, Suzanne Rowe. Moderator Eoghan Corry introduced the next talk of the day, presented in a panel discussion by John Sheehy and Eimear Gray on “Package Holiday Litigation – the Litigator’s Perspective”. After a refreshment break sponsored by TUI, Sandra Corkin took the stage for a fascinating presentation on her company, Oasis Travel titled “Surviving the High Street”. On a much-enjoyed walk-through on how Corkin and co leverage community engagement and social media to develop their brand awareness in Northern Ireland, travel agents came away from the talk excited and inspired on ways that they can develop their travel agent brand on the high street. Corkin made a few points clear: engage with community, it will be both professionally and personally rewarding, invest in your people- use social media to communicate a clear message to your audience and don’t be afraid to have a little fun!
‘Jennifer Royal’ and ‘Celebrity Val’ took the stage to tell us more about the updates on their worldwide network of ships. Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas will be arriving in summer 2026 in the Western Mediterranean, followed by a Fort Lauderdale winter in 2026/2027. This ship has recently announced that their 2026 onboard show is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and reminded agents their new concept ‘Ultimate Destinations’ will see their successful Bahamas Cococay concept open in Mexico in 2027 under the name a “Perfect Day”. This will host the world’s longest lazy river, “with some bars along the way!” Callister reminded the crowd to much applause. Alongside this, building on the success of the Royal Beach Club Nassau, their first European beach club will be rolled out in Santorini in the next few years. The big news is that Celebrity Cruises is launching their Xcel cruise out of Fort Lauderdale this month with seven new spaces and one big secret- that Katie will be reporting for you live next week!
In the final presentation of the day renowned performance coach, Gerry Duffy took the stage to present “Boarding Passes for All: Goal Setting that Fuels Transformation” in a motivational speech that had travel agents figuring out a numerical riddle designed to demonstrate where the limitations of thought processes lie in the mind of leaders. This excellent speech served as another inspiration for agency managers and directors to rethink their goals for 2026, overcome limitations and develop processes that can exponentiate their growth.
Following a lovely lunch, travel agents and suppliers sat down for an afternoon of speed networking where agents were able to get 1:1 time with key travel trade suppliers- from airlines to bed banks, river and sea cruising and much more. Agents had an opportunity to learn more about each supplier, ask questions and get answers to their queries.
After some time to get glammed up, the Gala Ball began that evening with an amazing line up of prizes sponsored by a range of travel suppliers before a night of awards stay tuned tomorrow for a full list of winners!
