The next Travel Industry Exchange event will be held Dec. 13-15, 2016, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront in California, it was announced today.

The inaugural 2015 event came to a successful close last week in Orlando, Florida, underscoring the value to travel professionals of becoming more niche-focused. The event’s over 50 sessions focused on revenue-generating niche segments, including certification programs in luxury, cruise and romance travel as well as concentrated educational programming in technology, trends, destinations and millennial travel.

John McMahon, Questex Travel Group executive vice president, said specialization is “a major business driver” that represents the next “great wave of opportunity” for travel professionals, based on the company’s research and consumer trends and feedback.

“The positive feedback we received from both travel professionals and global suppliers has been tremendous,” he said. “Attendees were able to really build connections for new business and fine-tune the skills that will propel them into the future. As more consumers look to travel professionals for expert advice, we see untapped potential in specialty markets.”

Suppliers attending next year’s event in San Diego will benefit from the “best of both worlds,” McMahon said, with the nation’s top travel professionals expected to attend “from the East and West coasts.” Suppliers this year included destinations, hoteliers, cruise lines, tour operators, transportation providers, technology companies, spas and resorts from around the world.