Tuesday Newsletter
December 19, 2006
Tuesday Newsletter December 19, 2006
Volume 26: Issue 50
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This issue of Tuesday is sponsored by Tourism Montréal.
Millions of destinations. One city.
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| Interested in becoming a sponsor for Tuesday? Contact Karla DiNardo at karla.dinardo@NTA.travel. | |
| NOTE – Everyone flying to the United States will need a passport, starting Jan. 23, 2007, including U.S. citizens. To learn more, click here. |
The NTA Board of Directors and staff would like to wish you a joyous and peaceful holiday season and thank you for being a part of the NTA family in 2006. We are happy you choose to belong to this association and look forward to working alongside you to make the coming year great.
This issue of Tuesday will be the final one in 2006, as one will not be sent Dec. 26. Tuesday will return to its weekly schedule Jan. 2, 2007.
2007 NTA Leadership Team Finalized
The list of members who will serve on the 2007 NTA Leadership Team has been finalized. The 40-member volunteer team, which provides guidance and broad member input to the elected board of directors, is split up into the following functional work committees – Communications & Education Development Committee, Convention Committee, Government Relations Committee, Membership Development Committee and Strategic Development Council.
The first 2007 meeting of the board and new Leadership Team is coming up Jan. 11-14 in Alexandria, Virginia. During the sessions, the group will meet as a whole as well as break out into individual committees to discuss what’s ahead in 2007.
If there is a topic you think needs to be brought before the leadership group, now is your chance to make your voice heard. Please contact NTA Manager of Member Relations Christy Stigall by Jan. 4 by calling 800.682.8886, ext. 3579 (U.S. and Canada) or 859.219.3579 or via e-mail at christy.stigall@NTA.travel.
NTA Spring Meet: Attendance Leads to Rewards
The Tourism Kelowna staff is so confident NTA tour operators will be wowed by their destination that they have developed an incentive program for those who attend the 2007 Tour Operator Spring Meet, April 26-28.
The program features two options for tour operators that bring groups to Kelowna following their introduction to the area in April.
- Option 1 – Operators who book a minimum of two consecutive nights (minimum of 35 room nights) in a Kelowna property with arrival prior to April 1, 2009, will receive a CDN$500 rebate from Tourism Kelowna.
- Option 2 – Operators who book an overnight stay (minimum of 35 room nights) in a Kelowna property with arrival prior to April 1, 2009, will receive a CDN$200 rebate from Tourism Kelowna.
Click here for details on the incentive program and check out the December issue of Courier magazine for more on the 2007 Tour Operator Spring Meet and host city Kelowna, British Columbia.
Online registration for the 2007 Tour Operator Spring Meet will open at http://springmeet.nta.travel/ Jan. 8. We look forward to seeing you in Kelowna in April.
What Will 2007 Bring for Your Company?
As we get ready to set aside the 2006 calendar in exchange for the blank slate that is 2007, we’d like to hear your thoughts about the new year. Please take a few seconds to answer the following two questions:
- What is one thing you are planning on doing differently in 2007 from a business standpoint?
- Are you optimistic or pessimistic about business in the year ahead?
Please send your responses to Courier Editor in Chief Penny Mullinix via e-mail at penny.mullinix@hostcommunications.com. Your thoughts may be used in upcoming articles in Courier or Tuesday.
O’Hare Offers Alternatives to Discarding Banned Liquids
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport has started a program that may help some passengers not have to discard items that are confiscated by security officials. For a fee, travelers have the option of shipping their items home or leaving them in storage in Chicago.
The program, which started last week, will have a two-month trial run at the world’s busiest airport. Six shipping kiosks, called Mail Safe Express, are located in terminals 1, 2 and 3 and allow passengers to mail their banned belongings home.
After travelers go through security, those with prohibited items – such as more than three ounces each of a liquid, gel or aerosol – can be escorted by a Transportation Security Administration officer to one of the shipping kiosks, where passengers can place their items in bubble-pack mailers and use a credit card to pay shipping costs and a fee.
The rates vary from $9 to $45 per package, depending on what the item is, with typical costs for liquids being $14 for domestic and $25 international. Alternately, travelers returning to O’Hare may check their items for $9.99 per envelope and they will be stored at the Hilton Hotel, located adjacent to the airport, for future pick up.
Final Call for Pioneer Award Nominations
Nominations for the NTA Pioneer Award are due this Friday, Dec. 22. The award, which honors individuals whose accomplishments have resulted in a significant change in the travel industry from which NTA and its members (specifically tour operators) have benefited, will be presented at the Tour Operator Spring Meet in Kelowna, British Columbia, April 26-28.
A nomination should include a brief narrative (approximately 250 words) about the nominee and any additional information or material may be included with the narrative. The NTA Board of Directors established the award in 2005 and presented the inaugural one at the 2006 Tour Operator Spring Meet to Charles "Chuck" West (posthumously).
Nominations can be made by any person employed by an NTA member company, although it is not required that nominees be NTA members. They should be sent to NTA Executive Assistant Celeste Moore via e-mail at celeste.moore@NTA.travel.
NTA Thanks Georgia Product Development Trip Sponsors
Five NTA tour operators experienced a delightful visit to the Georgia Coast where holiday cheer was entwined with southern charm during the Georgia Coast Product Development Trip. On the five-day trip, which took place Dec. 8-12, the group visited Savannah, Tybee Island and Brunswick and the Golden Isles (including Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island and Waycross).
NTA would like to thank trip sponsors – Coastal Tours, Old Savannah Tours/Coastline Transportation, Hampton Inn and Suites, Old Town Trolley, Savannah Convention & Visitors Bureau, River Street River Boat Company, Savannah Theatre, The Crab Shack, Brunswick & Golden Isles CVB, Skipper’s Fish Camp, Blackbeard’s Restaurant, Waycross Tourism Council, Okefenokee Swamp Park, Days Inn & Suites Jekyll Island, Golden Isles Touring Company, Liberty County Tourism Office, Georgia Department of Economic Development Tourist Division and The Inn at Ellis Square.
NTA has three Product Development Trips scheduled for 2007: Poland, May 19-27; Alaska, Sept. 6-13 and Peru, Dec. 6-12. To view the preliminary itineraries for these trips, click here.
Tourism Cares Announces December Grants
Tourism Cares is pleased to announce its latest round of grant recipients. The following seven nonprofit groups received funding through the Tourism Cares Worldwide Grant Program this month:
- Fès World Forum (Fès, Morocco) to restore Dar Tazi, a traditional palace at this UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Friends of the Music Hall (Portsmouth, New Hampshire) to help renovate this nationally significant theater built in 1878
- Friends of the Waterfront Inc. (Louisville, Kentucky) to expand two historic riverboats into interpretive learning centers
- Historic Hudson Valley (Tarrytown, New York) to restore walls at Philipsburg Manor, a living history museum of slavery in the North and a National Historic Landmark
- The Museum of African American History (Boston, Massachusetts), the oldest African meeting house in the United States, as part of their Bicentennial Preservation Project
- The Center for Wooden Boats (Seattle, Washington) for restorations to make the center more accessible
- The Elfreth’s Alley Association (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) to help complete its permanent outdoor exhibition on the nation’s oldest residential street
This round of grants brings the total of grants given by Tourism Cares in 2006 to $368,000.
Tourism Cares would like to thank NTA members for all of their support in 2006 and wish you all a warm and happy holiday season.
Stay in Touch with NTA Community Through the Family News Page
One of the main things members say they enjoy most about the NTA Annual Convention is the family feel of the event. A way that you can keep that sense of community alive all year long is to keep up with the Family News page at NTA.travel.
A recent update to the page included the news of the birth of a son to the International Spy Museum’s Group Sales Manager Bill Adams and his wife, Tara. To read this, and other postings on the Family News page, click here.
If you have a similar thing – milestone birthday, an award you received or some other personal item – you’d like to share with your NTA colleagues, please forward it to NTA Communications Specialist Pat Henderson via e-mail at pat.henderson@NTA.travel and it will be posted on the Family News page.
Florence "Flo" Grossman, wife of NTA Past President Bill Grossman, passed away Sept. 25 after a nine-year fight with cancer. She worked in the travel business for eight years with Bill when they owned a tour company in the 1980s.
If anyone wishes to make a memorial contribution in her honor, donations should be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. That address is 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021. Cards can be sent to Bill at Central Holidays, 250 Moonachie Road, Moonachie, NJ 07074.
The January issue of Courier revisits the high points of the 2006 Annual Convention. First-time delegate Seth Downs describes his experience in the end-page essay, and member Lee Morris, CEO of Tourism Kamloops, reflects on the post-Convention Indiana Jones Fam tour. There is a section which includes a sampling of the feedback received in the Tell Us How Lounge and suggestion boxes, and another story recaps Dr. Peter Yesawich’s fact-packed seminar on cultural trends and their impact on the travel industry. This month, the trip planners focus on the U.S. Antebellum South and the British Isles and Ireland, while the travel guides highlight Alaska, British Columbia, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
UPCOMING DEADLINES:
April Issue – Ad Space: Jan. 25; Editorial: past
Historic Homes & Gardens; Wine Tours; New York City; Great Lakes Loop (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Ontario & Wisconsin); Arkansas; Mexico; Oklahoma; Texas.
May Issue – Annual Preview to Convention Issue – Ad Space: Feb. 23; Editorial: Jan. 1
Preview to Convention; Beaches; Canyonlands (Colorado, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Sedona & Utah); Asia; Iowa; Kansas; Missouri; Nebraska; Northwest Territories, Nunavut & Yukon.
June Issue – Ad Space: March 30; Editorial: Feb. 1
Native American, First Nations & Western Heritage; Student and Youth Travel; Canadian Maritimes & Quebec (New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island & Quebec); Gulf Coast (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi & Texas); Maryland/D.C.; Pennsylvania; Virginia.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Algoma Central Railway Inc. – Autry National Center – The Berkely Group (TPP) – Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn/Universal City – Greater Birmingham CVB – Boyds Bear Country – Chase Paymentech – Circle Line Sightseeing Yachts Inc. – Coach America – The Liberace Museum – Maid of the Mist – Norfolk CVB – Philadelphia Museum of Art – Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism – Primm Valley Resorts – Reno-Sparks CVA – Salt Lake City CVB – Sonoma County Tourism Bureau – Spokane Regional CVB – Staples – Wales Tourist Board
To view the 2007 Courier Editorial Calendar, click here.