Buyer Registration Opens Strong For Travel Exchange ’17

June 3, 2016

Buyers are signing up for Travel Exchange ’17 at double the pace of 2016, and that makes NTA President Pam Inman breathe easier.

“We have twice the number of buyers compared to this time last year,” Inman said. “Frankly, we had concerns about going into a year with two conventions, but the early commitments from tour operators have put those concerns to rest.”

After several years of conducting Travel Exchange in the first quarter of the year, NTA will hold the annual convention on fourth-quarter dates, a move requested by members seeking a more favorable period for planning itineraries. 2017 will be the transition year, and the association will hold Travel Exchange in both the first and the fourth quarters of the year: St. Louis, Feb. 26–March 2; and San Antonio, Dec. 14–18. NTA has named Milwaukee as the site of Travel Exchange in 2018, slated for Nov. 4–8.

“Members have been asking how to handle two conventions,” Inman said. “I tell them the convention cycle will be only slightly shorter. If they miss St. Louis, they’ll go almost two years between this year’s convention and San Antonio. And if they go to St. Louis and not San Antonio, they’ll wait 20 months before Travel Exchange in Milwaukee.”

Travel Exchange enables NTA buyers to meet with tour suppliers and destination representatives to collaborate on packaged-travel itineraries. In 2015 NTA tour operators moved nearly 15 million travelers, generating total sales of $10.5 billion.