Tuesday Newsletter
July 25, 2006
Tuesday Newsletter July 25, 2006
Volume 26: Issue 30
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This issue of Tuesday is sponsored by VisitBritain. Find out more about developing tours to Britain by requesting an appointment with VisitBritain at this year’s NTA Convention. In the meantime visit our new Britain for Tour Operators Web site, www.visitbritain.com/operators. |
| Interested in becoming a sponsor for Tuesday? Contact Karla DiNardo at karla.dinardo@NTA.travel. | |
NTA Convention: Enhanced Appointment Scheduling a Reality
Related to the Annual Convention, tour operators consistently request more control and flexibility with their schedules and opportunity for product development. In response, the NTA Board of Directors has approved an enhancement for the 2006 Convention that will allow tour operators to request meetings with DMOs for two or three appointment times in a row, if they wish.
Appointment times in the Saturday Tour & Travel Exchange® (DMO prescheduled appointments) will be five minutes each. Therefore, a tour operator may meet with the same DMO for one appointment (five minutes), two consecutive appointments (10 minutes) or three consecutive appointments (15 minutes).
The NTA Board is taking a measured approach with this change. These consecutive appointments between tour operators and DMOs will be limited to 20 percent or less (about 65 minutes) of a tour operator’s total prescheduled appointments for Saturday. By adopting this enhancement for this year, it did delay the launch of appointment scheduling, which will now go live Tuesday, Aug. 1.
NTA will retain its innovative, signature open floor, so tour suppliers and DMOs can request additional appointments with operators for the Saturday Exchange during that day’s Appointment Scheduling Session, if they wish.
Appointments during the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday Exchanges will be seven minutes, and tour suppliers will have their prescheduled appointments on these days.
NTA will continue to communicate information on this innovation. If you have any questions, please contact NTA Member Services at 800.682.8886 (U.S. and Canada) or 859.226.4444 or via e-mail at questions@NTA.travel.
2007 Board Nominees Announced, Nominations from the Floor Deadline Approaches
The NTA Nominating Committee has selected nominees for the 2007 officer and board positions. The deadline for members to run from the floor is Aug. 18. The candidates nominated by the Nominating Committee for 2007 are:
Vice chairman/chairman and CEO elect
Treasurer
Secretary
Three tour operator director seats (two-year terms) will be filled. The candidates are:
One DMO director seat (two-year term) will be filled. The candidates are:
One tour supplier director (two-year term) will be filled. The candidates are:
Voting for all director and officer positions will occur via e-mail ballots, mailed ballots or in person at the Annual Convention in Salt Lake City. Watch Tuesday for further announcements. Ballots will be e-mailed to members with valid e-mail addresses in mid-September and immediately thereafter mailed to all other members.
To learn more about the candidates, check the elections page at NTA.travel in mid-August and the elections forum section of the NTA member forums.
NTA Opposes Alaska’s Proposed Cruise Tax
Citing the impact to tourism to the Pacific Northwest, NTA is voicing its opposition to the Alaska cruise tax, known as Ballot Measure 2. Among other provisions, the proposal would create a $50 per-passenger tax on cruise ship passengers.
Research conducted by local citizens’ groups found that Alaska could lose 10 percent of the state’s tourism visitors, costing the state millions of dollars and jeopardizing thousands of jobs.
"This proposal sends a negative message to the industry and potential passengers," said NTA President Hank Phillips, CTP. "A tourism-dependent state such as Alaska should be encouraging tourism, not enacting taxes to make tourism more costly and less attractive for budget-conscious travelers."
NTA first voiced disagreement to a similar proposal by former Governor Tony Knowles in 2002. As part of reaffirming its opposition to the tourist-targeted tax, your association sent letters to the Alaska Tourism Industry Association and the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce last week.
"NTA has a long-standing tradition of opposing local taxes on tourists to pay for local general revenue responsibilities," said NTA Legislative Counsel Jim Santini. "This reminds me of the industry efforts in the 1990s when NTA and ASTA co-chaired a campaign led by TIA to oppose exorbitant increases in hotel room taxes. Proposals such as this represent a terrible precedent for the other states to arbitrarily tax travelers."
Benefit Basics: Member Forums Create Community
The forums on NTA.travel were created to offer NTA members a platform to pose questions and house dialogue on topics and challenges that are facing the packaged travel industry. With thousands of members, the forums create a community of resources to help educate, inform and communicate on important topics like the extended appointments at Saturday’s Tour & Travel Exchange during the 2006 NTA Convention.
Your ID and password are required to access the forums. E-mail your NTA Member Services Department with any questions you may have. Happy posting!
Motorcoach Drop-off Spot at Lincoln Memorial Changing
Starting Aug. 14, the location of motorcoach and disabled visitor pick-up and drop-off for the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., will change. The rerouting is necessitated by the construction of a new visitor facility and on-going road improvement projects on the south side of the Lincoln Memorial, including to Daniel French Drive.
Typically, passenger drop-off takes place via Daniel French Drive, but now will be rerouted to the north side. During the construction, which is slated to go on for most of this fall, motorcoaches should use Henry Bacon Drive for pick-up and drop-off, except during rush hour (Monday to Friday from 7-9:30 a.m. and 4-6:30 p.m.). Constitution Avenue should be used during evening rush hour, but is available anytime after the morning rush hour, too.
A file with a map and exact routing details is available if you click here. That file also includes information regarding where motorcoaches are allowed to park, since the streets listed above are for loading and unloading only.
When the exact date that this will take effect is announced, a follow up article will appear in Tuesday. Additional updates on the project also are available at www.nps.gov/linc.
Tour Suppliers Meet Via Teleconference This Thursday
The next Chairman’s Conversation Club, to be held Thursday, July 27, from 3-4 p.m. (ET), will feature tour suppliers. Advance registration for the call is necessary so that a toll-free dial-in number can be sent to all participants. Please e-mail NTA Executive Assistant Celeste Moore to sign up for Thursday’s call.
NTA Chairman and CEO Judith Thomas, CTP, hosts the monthly phone calls as a way to allow members to share ideas and gather input on industry- and business-related topics. Each call includes participants within a specific membership category. If you want to see what fellow NTA members are saying, visit the Chairman’s Conversation Club page at NTA.travel.
Want to Host an NTA Product Development Trip in 2007?
NTA is seeking proposals for 2007 Product Development Trips for both North American and international destinations. These trips allow destinations to showcase the best their areas have to offer to NTA tour operators. The 2006 lineup of trips has been outstanding, with domestic trips to Rhode Island, Oregon and the Georgia Coast and an international trip to New Zealand.
Guidelines for submission of Product Development Trip proposals can be found at NTA.travel if you click here. Proposals for 2007 should be submitted to Lisa Nelson via e-mail at lisa.nelson@NTA.travel by Oct. 31.
Help a Tourism Cares Scholarship Student at NTA Convention
Tourism Cares will once again be hosting scholarship recipients at the NTA Convention. Invitations have been extended to students of travel and tourism who were awarded one of 37 scholarships managed by Tourism Cares and, in many cases, funded by NTA members.
This year, the students will have the opportunity to experience all aspects of the Convention by shadowing tour operators, DMOs and tour suppliers at four different Tour & Travel Exchange sessions. They will attend caucuses with their DMO mentors and attend professional development seminars. These future industry leaders also will learn the importance of "giving back" by volunteering at the live and silent auctions and at the Rock for Tomorrow dance party.
NTA members can support the student program at Convention by sponsoring a student at the Issues Luncheon. For a reduced fee of $40, you can host a student at this luncheon where they will learn about the impact of government policies on their chosen profession. In turn, you also are supporting NTA’s government relations, since the Issues Luncheon raises funds for its effort.
For more information about supporting the student program at Convention, please contact Carolyn Viles at Tourism Cares via e-mail at carolynv@tourismcares.org.
Tour Suppliers and DMOs, Send us Your Photo CDs
Tour suppliers and DMOs … the Courier editorial staff needs your help. If you are a city, state/provincial or country DMO, or a museum, theater, railroad, hotel/resort or other type of tour supplier, please send us the latest version of your photo CD.
Even though many destinations and suppliers have a photo gallery on their Web sites, it is possible that those images are not high resolution/print quality. Whether you have an existing updated CD or have recently uploaded new photos to your Web site and want to burn those to a CD, it is important for Courier to have CDs with the higher-quality photos.
Photo CDs should be mailed to:
Doug Rentz, Managing Editor
Courier magazine
546 E. Main Street
Lexington, KY 40508
If you have any questions, please call Courier Managing Editor Doug Rentz at 800.682.8886, ext. 4235 (U.S. and Canada) or 859.226.4235 or e-mail him at doug.rentz@hostcommunications.com.
The August issue of Courier profiles a broad range of topics and destinations – from theaters to national parks to Latin America to Lewis and Clark-related tourism. The trip planners provide updates on Atlantic City and Latin America, and the August travel guides put Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ontario and Wisconsin in the spotlight. The issue also includes a series of articles on the national parks systems, including interviews with Dean Reeder of the U.S. National Park Service and Carol Sheedy of Parks Canada.
UPCOMING DEADLINES:
November Issue – Ad Space: Aug. 25; Editorial: past
Dining; Shopping; Chicago; America’s Historic East (Colonial Virginia, D.C., Maryland & Pennsylvania); Delaware; New Brunswick; Newfoundland & Labrador; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; New Jersey; New York; Quebec.
December Issue – Tour Operator Spring Meet – Ad Space: Sept. 27; Editorial: Aug. 1
Tour Operator Spring Meet Preview Issue; Military History; The Rockies (Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, Montana & Utah); Smoky Mountains (Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge); Alabama; Florida; Louisiana; Mississippi.
January Issue – Post-Convention – Ad Space: Oct. 27; Editorial: Sept. 1
2006 Convention Coverage; Cruising: Overnight/Daytrips; Antebellum South (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina & Tennessee); British Isles & Ireland; Alaska; British Columbia; California; Hawaii; Nevada; Oregon; Washington.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Autry National Center – The Berkely Group (TPP) – Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn – ITS Design & Printing Inc. – Maid of the Mist – Menopause The Musical – Mesa CVB – MotorCity Casino – Niagara Parks, Restaurants & Attractions – North Dakota Tourism Division – Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp. – Rapid City CVB – Salt Lake City CVB – Sears Tower Skydeck – Top of the Rock – Treasure Island Resort & Casino – Walt Disney Theatrical Productions
Please click on the years to view the 2006 and 2007 Editorial Calendar online.