By: Jimmy McKenzie
We recently attended the New York City Travel and Adventure Show without much of an agenda but came back with great ideas on the latest vacation spots around the world. Travel as we know it has greatly changed with the recent events of the Covid pandemic and as travel professionals, we came to discover the latest consumer preferences that are having a major impact on how the hospitality industry markets its products and services.
With the events of the covid pandemic behind us and with travelers eager to return to booking their next destination, the 16th Annual New York City Travel & Adventure Show featured over 300 amazing destinations to discover such as Croatia, Colombia, Florida, Dominican Republic, among a plethora of cruises, tours, and destinations options vying to gain the attention of those curious travelers.
What is the New York Travel and Adventure Show?
The Travel & Adventure show in New York attracted more than 14,000 attendees with over 200 exhibitors and hundreds of travel media professionals. The show provided visitors with an opportunity to network with tourism boards, tour operators, and travel companies offering consumers the latest advice on trending destinations and travel ideas.
With over 40 live consumer-focused travel sessions, travelers had the opportunity to learn about destinations on demand this year and the changes in travel since the pandemic. Featured speakers included Andrew McCarthy, actor, and award-winning travel writer; Samantha Brown, Emmy-award winning host of Samantha Brown’s Places to Love; Brian Kelly, Points guy founder; among others.
“As New Yorkers welcome back tourists to their city, many are also eagerly planning for trips that they’ve put off, so the energy from our attendees was palpable and invigorating. They are ready for their next adventure so what better way to decide where to go next than with the chance to personally discuss their travel plans with the people from destinations from all over the world, all in one place,” said Jonathan Golicz, Vice President of Unicomm, LLC.
Our Highlights from the New York City Travel & Adventure Show
The travel show had a great line-up of knowledgeable travel speakers, many of whom we had the pleasure to connect with and listen to their travel adventures. Our favorite speakers included Samantha Brown, Emmy Award Winning Host of “Places to Love, Making Travel Count”. Samantha’s insightful session provided the audience with great tips on how to get the most out of our travel experiences. Whether taking a brisk walk to take in all the sights, talking to the locals, or even identifying the emotional value of travel, Samantha left with us with one very important takeaway which is to always build personal connections when visiting another country.
Next, we attended a Fireside Chat with Brian Kelly from the popular travel blog the Points Guy. With so many travelers curious about exploring new destinations and getting back to booking trips, Brian shared the latest tricks on redeeming frequent flier miles and getting credit cards that have amazing offers for free airline tickets. According to Brian, the Capital One Venture Card offers a 60K bonus miles once you spend $3,000 within the first 3 months. With the bonus miles one can book an airline ticket to Italy or anywhere in Europe.
Finally, we got to hear from our friend Max Hartshorne, editor at GoNomad.com. Max’s expertise in the travel publishing market provided us travel writers with the latest tips on getting published and utilizing imagery to enhance our travel stories. Thank You Max!
During half of our day, we explored the exhibit hall where we met with destination representatives from Korea, Croatia, Florida, and Dominican Republic. We also played the roulette for our chance to win free trips and mingled with visitors eager to chat about their travel experiences.
With travel becoming again important to consumers and companies, helping other people is also part of the mission of the Travel & Adventure Show. Travel & Adventure show CEO, John Golicz had a special guest from the New York of the Consulate General of Ukraine. John announced that all proceeds from the Travel Trade Summit would be donated to help the refuges of Ukraine to ensure they receive the much-needed humanitarian help during these challenging times for the Ukrainian people.
If you missed this year’s New York City Travel & Adventure Show, you’ll have an opportunity to come back January 27-29, 2023. Next year’s show promises to have more opportunities to be inspired by travel with more exhibitors and even more destinations to discover!
