YTB Conventioneers Undeterred Despite Probes Into Business

STLtoday

Wood River-based travel company YTB International may be under a growing cloud of scrutiny over its business practices, but Friday morning, they still threw quite a party.

Some 18,000 YTB travel agents and sales reps came to America's Center for the company's annual convention, a four-day festival of inspiration and marketing themed "Liberty and Travel for All." And while by Friday they'd all pretty much heard about the $25 million lawsuit filed this week against YTB and its top executives by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, they didn't seem to be letting it much bother them.

They chanted "YTB! YTB!" before the show started and got to their feet time and again to applaud the company's founders and top salespeople. They wore matching T-shirts or YTB-themed Hawaiian shirts. They waved flags and snapped pictures. Some took careful notes.