All About The Advisors: TravelPulse Canada Celebrates Five Years

They said it couldn't be done. They said there was no room in the Canadian travel trade media market for a new player. They were wrong.

It's been five strong years of TravelPulse Canada engaging with our audience every day; talking with them, not at them. Five years of building mutually rewarding relationships with key suppliers and employing new technologies in innovative ways.

It's been quite a ride - with no shortage of daunting obstacles -- and we're proud to share with you some of the milestones along the way that we hope both at times empowered and enlightened our readers.

TravelPulse Canada founder John Kirk has decades of high-level industry experience, on the wholesale and retail sides. Among his many achievements, he was a pioneer in retail travel e-commerce, served six years with Thomas Cook North America as SVP Retail and E-Commerce and played a key role in building the Porter Escapes vacation division of Porter Airlines.

"It is so exciting to hit this milestone. Having spent most of my career, in the retail and wholesale side of the business, from the day we set out on this journey I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what retail travel professionals needed when it comes to their daily dose of news and information," said Kirk.

"When I look back to the moment I decided to take a chance and email TravelPulse.com founder Mark Murphy in late fall 2016, to pitch him on bringing TravelPulse to Canada, to a handshake deal a few days later, then to launching TravelPulse Canada all in the span of roughly 60 days, to where we are now, five years later. Wow!"

From Day One, TravelPulse Canada took a different approach from the established legacy players. We were the first to deliver live gala events via webcast. We took a lead position in social media, recognizing its soaring importance. We broadcast live on location over Facebook. We interviewed industry leaders We put out a daily newsletter at 7 am, ensuring that advisors start their day with the information they needed. And we made professional travel advisors our first priority, because they are 90% of our audience.

In 2018 TravelPulse Canada launched the Readers Choice Awards, celebrating the suppliers best-loved by Canadian travel advisors, voted on by the industry. We brought together 400 members of our industry in downtown Toronto to create a smashing success and that was followed by a second edition in 2019.

After a two-year pandemic pause, the awards will return again this spring, celebrating a rejuvenated industry with what is already being billed by suppliers and advertisers as the 'Party of the Decade.'

For decades, the Canadian travel industry has struggled to get the attention it deserves. TravelPulse Canada changed that in 2018 by creating the Canadian Travel Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame celebrates the efforts of those visionary leaders who have enabled millions of Canadians to escape winter and explore the world with affordable travel options and who helped to make the travel industry into what it is today.

The inductees were honoured in front of their peers at our Readers Choice Awards in 2018 and 2019. Stay tuned for an announcement on this year's list.

In March, 2019, TravelPulse Canada was acquired by travel media giant Northstar. The company recognized TPC's modern, nimble, innovative approach that was so different from the established players.

"It was so exciting and validating to be acquired by Northstar," says Kirk. "They're the best in the business and they have given us the resources to do an even better job. More importantly, they have recognized that Canada is a distinct market and given us full autonomy. TravelPulse Canada is run by Canadians and for Canadian travel advisors."

Recognizing the distinct market of Quebec, TravelPulse Canada created a French-language offshoot catering to the unique information needs of travel advisors in La Belle Province. Through our unique offerings, we are able to attend FAMs and deliver key articles in both French and English.

When the industry was shut down by the global pandemic in March 2020, TravelPulse Canada's ability to be nimble came to the fore. We were able to keep business at a level where we didn't have to accept government funds or let go any of our team.

Relationships with our key partners continued and strengthened, and we were able to use our virtual events platform to keep them in touch with Canadian travel advisors.

And we kept advisors informed and entertained through it all, in the darkest period of our industry's history.
When we saw the impact the pandemic was taking a toll on all of our mental health and relationships, we created TravelPulse Canada BINGO! where we could all connect for an hour to win prizes and .... laugh. (and we sure did that!)

"I'd like to offer a huge 'Thank you' to the current TravelPulse support team -- Marsha, Catherine, Alexandra and Bruce -- and those like Jim Byers who have contributed to our content and success over the first five years," says John Kirk.

"To our advertising partners who believed in our model and most importantly to the retail travel professionals out there, thank you for your support. We look forward to continuing to support you. If there is something you think we can do better, please drop me a line [email protected].

The pandemic has proved the value and continuing relevance of professional travel advisors, whose perseverance is the stuff of legend. Consumers of travel have learned the importance of vacations to their mental health and general happiness. They will no longer take travel for granted, and are much more likely to seek expert advice.

The future looks fantastic.