Day Two at the NTA Annual Convention

November 4, 2006

Day Two at the NTA Annual Convention
Nov. 4, 2006 – The NTA Annual Convention is in full motion today, following last night’s fabulous performance by Tony Danza at the Tour Operator Dinner. The Tour & Travel Exchange begins today with DMO prescheduled appointments. According to delegates’ prescheduled appointments, the average number of appointments has increased by 11 percent over last year.

"At the 2006 NTA Convention, 63 percent of tour suppliers and 92 percent of DMOs will have more appointments this year than they did last year," said NTA Chairman and CEO Judith Thomas, CTP. "And these are just prescheduled appointments. Because NTA gives all members complete access to the business floor at all times, there is a great deal of opportunity to increase their total number of appointments even more."

NTA’s new Consecutive Appointments option will provide tour operators more opportunity for product development. During the appointment scheduling process, tour operators were able to book consecutive appointments with DMOs; in essence, allowing more time for product development. Tour operators requested more than 1,000 consecutive appointments.

Also today, adventurer Jamie Clarke will speak at the Learning Luncheon, chronicling his summit of Mount Everest and trek across Arabia’s Empty Quarter. Tonight, delegates will have the chance to experience Utah’s film and television industry at the Icebreaker event, which takes place at the Utah Olympic Oval. More than 700 films and TV shows have been filmed here in Utah and tonight’s activities will be based on some of the biggest movies filmed in Utah, such as "Footloose," "Thelma and Louise," and "Mission Impossible."

Stay tuned to This Just In for more coverage of the 2006 NTA Annual Convention. You also can check out some of the local coverage by clicking here to watch a live report from the local NBC affiliate.