A Karryon reader recently shared their thoughts on the increasing number of industry events scheduled on weekends. The occasional conference is part of the job, they say, but the steady creep of Saturday and Sunday gatherings is beginning to feel like a calendar takeover. Do you agree?
The travel industry has always had a complicated relationship with weekends.
For some advisors, Saturday is one of the busiest days of the week for walk-ins and phone calls. And when something big hits the industry, a volcanic ash cloud, an airline collapse, or say a sudden declaration of war that strands your clients on the other side of the world, the idea of “weekend hours” disappears entirely. It’s all hands on deck, day, night, whenever the phone rings.
So no one is pretending weekends are sacred here.
But lately something else has started happening.
Weekends are being scheduled.
Not the occasional conference. Those make sense. A major annual gathering with panels, presentations and real learning opportunities can easily justify a Saturday. People share ideas, hear from industry leaders, and walk away with new insights and a few fresh contacts. That is part of the ecosystem that we signed up for.
The issue is everything else.
When weekends started disappearing
An awards night, a cruise ship in town for one day only… we get those. And we get that maybe you’ve got your bosses in from overseas for a limited number of days, but it’s all starting to add up.
At first it seems manageable. It’s only a few hours. You can squeeze it in between the grocery run and whatever mysterious life admin has been quietly piling up all week.
But travel industry events are rarely quick affairs.
There will be presentations. There will be updates. Someone will deliver a keynote about “exciting developments”. Someone else will mention the importance of connection in the industry.
Before long, half the day has disappeared into a hotel function room with surprisingly good pastries.
Of course, you could skip it.
Technically.
But the travel industry runs on relationships. Advisors want to support suppliers, hear product updates, and stay across trends that help them sell better. These gatherings are not only about networking. They are also about learning something useful.
New itineraries. Market insights. Destination developments. Tools that might help close the next booking.
Which is exactly why people show up.
And which is exactly why the calendar creep has started to feel noticeable.
None of this is malicious. In fact, most organisers are trying to solve a genuine problem. Weekdays are busy. Advisors are working. Suppliers want people to attend without pulling them away from the office.
But the result is that weekends, which were already doing quite a lot of heavy lifting in the travel industry, have started carrying even more.
They shouln’t become the default slot for every additional event as well.
A suggestion
None of this is a campaign to abolish weekend industry events. Sometimes a weekend really is the only practical time to bring everyone together.
But perhaps the industry could pause before automatically placing every extra event on a Saturday. Because there are five perfectly good weekdays available for launches, briefings, product updates and networking drinks.
And if the invite still lands on a Saturday, make it worth the sacrifice: teach us something we didn’t know on Friday, feed us well, and send us home with an idea that helps us sell better on Monday.
This piece reflects the personal opinion of a Karryon reader.
