The highly anticipated Air Canada Race is back with 45 travel professionals jetting off from Toronto on Air Canada rouge for the 8th edition of the national travel agent competition, this year in Kissimmee, Florida. The competition is meant to not only encourage comraderie among agents, but also drive incremental business to Kissimmee, Air Canada and the agents themselves says Steve Goodfellow, Air Canada's Director of Sales, Eastern Canada in an interview with TravelPulse Canada.

Agents will compete in teams of five for a chance to win amazing prizes, including air seats for two to Orlando (MCO), a vacation home rental courtesy of Global Homes along with theme parks tickets for the winner and one traveling companion.

"We're in our eigth year and from what I've seen, year after year, is we're a sought after ticket for agents across the country," says Goodfellow. "It's become a very prestigious event agents want to attend, we see high engagement and lots of questions already as to when the next one will be."

Participants came from far and wide to compete with agents hailing from as far West as Prince Rupert in British Columbia to Goose Bay in Labrador and every province in between.

For the first time in Air Canada Race history, the competition is being held in North America. Kissimmee is home to world famous theme parks, including Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando along with stunning natural surroundings, all of which will set the scene for the obstacles along the race.

"We're very proud to partner with Kissimmee tourism, they've been phenomenal to work with. We have agents here from across the country and it's a great opportunity to promote the destination as well as Air Canada," adds Goodfellow.

Follow along the race on social media with the official hashtag #ACRaceKissimmee