The celebration has traditionally been held on the eve of the school summer holidays. However, Intrepid’s head of business development and partnerships, Jo Reeve, on Tuesday morning said this year’s event would instead be held on Friday 8 September "to make sure more of the industry can get involved".
"While the last Friday before the school holidays worked for the past few years, it doesn’t as much now with people away on holidays," said Reeve. "We hope that by moving the date it will become accessible for more suppliers and agents.”
Intrepid, though, rolled back on its announcement of the new date on Tuesday afternoon owing to the amount of activity already planned for Saturday (22 July) and said the celebration would move to September from 2024.
“We have been moved by messages today telling us how much activity is already planned for National Travel Agent Day this weekend," said Hazel McGuire, Intrepid general manager UK and Europe. "Having said all along the event was not an Intrepid day but an industry day, we have made the decision that the show must go on.
"As a result, our initial decision to move the date to September will now take effect from next year, after taking account feedback the July date wasn’t as easy to accommodate now travel is back. We look forward to celebrating agents with offers this weekend on 22 July.”