Nearly 26,000 travel professionals took advantage of the programs and services of The Travel Institute during its 50th anniversary in 2014 – a number that will grow in the coming year as the organization launches a number of new initiatives for the industry.

“We were blown away by the overwhelming response to our new offerings like the “Promote Your Professionalism” PR program in July and updates to several destination and niche-lifestyle courses and CTC and CTIE curriculums,” said Pat Gagnon, CTC, director of program development for The Travel Institute.

The new quarterly promotions are similar to the popular Promote Your Professionalism program that featured an overall theme with different areas of concentration each week. The first promotion in 2015 – “Preparing for a Travel Career” – will be held in February with weekly topics set for “Getting Started,” “Building Your Career,” “Sales and Customer Service,” and “Balancing Work and Home.

” Participants will learn through a series of webinars conducted by industry experts; e-books containing tips, articles, and blogs related to the weekly focus; plus special editions of The Travel Institute’s popular Hot Tip Tuesday newsletter and Friday Five blog.

Additional special incentives and training opportunities are currently being finalized and will be announced in early January.

“Our ‘New to the Industry’ webinar that we introduced in 2014 has been our most popular – sometimes drawing close to 100 participants,” said Patty Noonan, CTC, director of sales for The Travel Institute.

“With that type of following, we know the ‘Preparing for a Travel Career’ promotion will serve a real need in our industry and the perfect theme to kick off the year.”

Additional quarterly promotions from The Travel Institute in 2015 include (with working titles): April – Get Social,” July – “Promote Your Professionalism,” and October – “the Value of Specialization.”

The Travel Institute, www.thetravelinstitute.com