SALEM, Ohio — Panama City Beach, Florida, will welcome group travel planners and the travel industry February 28-March 1, 2021, as the host city of the Select Traveler Conference. The Select Traveler Conference is the nation’s premier travel meeting, bringing together group travel planners of banks, alumni and upscale groups with the travel industry.
The Select Traveler Conference will mark the first group travel industry conference of 2021 and showcase the rebirth of group tourism.
“Our travel planners have members with a pent-up demand for packaged travel, and they have told us that they will choose destinations and hotels that support them and show up at the conference,” said Charlie Presley of The Group Travel Family.
While the travel industry has been greatly affected in 2020, all indications are that group travel will lead the charge back to full speed beginning this fall and into the 2021 travel season. Most industry experts predict the group travel return based on the community outreach of the group leaders. Most of their travelers know one another and travel as much for the camaraderie as the travel experience.
“I think that is true; group travel is greatly about human interaction, and people are reaching out for that now,” Presley said.
While the Select Traveler Conference will be the first major group travel meeting of 2021, it will benefit from knowledge gained through the operation of sister conference Going On Faith that was held in August 2020. The Going On Faith Conference was successful in bringing church and faith-based travel groups together at the French Lick Resort.
“We learned how to manage safety concerns while delivering an enjoyable meeting and will bring that knowledge to the Select Traveler Conference,” Presley said.
The Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf and Spa Resort will be the official hotel of the Select Traveler Conference, which will use its attached convention center.
If you are a group travel planner or a travel industry member interested in building tourism knowledge and contacts while on the beach in February, reserve your spot at this meeting today.
Register at 800-628-0993 or with Tara Holl at tholl@grouptravelfamily.com.
