10 Things Cathy Greteman Wants You to Know (In case you missed it!) | Memphis ‘Open for Business’
May 10, 2011
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TODAY’S ARTICLES
10 Things Cathy Greteman Wants You to Know (In case you missed it!)
Industry Reps Connect with D.C. Legislative Leaders This Week
Calderazzo Resigns NTA Board Position
Memphis ‘Open for Business‘
Winning! Two Ways You Can Win Fun (and Delicious) Prizes
NTA Member Case Study: 3 Q’s with the Louisville CVB Twitter Tweam
‘I Want to Go Back, and Learn More!’ A Delegate’s Take-away from Jordan
Here’s How to Reach the Booming Chinese Travel Market
All Hands on Deck in Mystic
It’s Tradeshow Season! Here are 5 Don’ts and 6 Dos
Industry News
NTA Job Center
10 Things Cathy Greteman Wants You to Know (In case you missed it!)
Click below to watch the video NTA Chairman and CEO Cathy Greteman made last week from our new offices! It’s her quarterly update, so there’s a lot of important member information included.
Here’s what you’ll find in the video:
1:23 mark: Hear an exciting announcement from NTA member Patti Culp with the Alabama Travel Council.
4:37 mark: Learn about the Egypt and Jordan trip.
6:38 mark: Cathy talks about the Grassroots Congressional Summit happening this week and gives advocacy success examples.
9:58 mark: Cathy explains the three educational tracks at Contact.
11:01 mark: What happens in Vegas, won’t stay in Vegas! Hear why.
After watching the video, follow these links to get more information on the events and information Cathy discussed:
Photos from the 2011 May NTA board meeting
Lend support to tornado victims in the southern United States.
Grassroots Congressional Summit, May 11-12, in Washington, D.C.
Contact ’11, Aug. 1-3, in Newport, Rhode Island
Convention ’11, Dec. 5-9, in Las Vegas, Nevada
We hope to see you at an upcoming Business Builder event!
Industry Reps Connect with D.C. Legislative Leaders This Week
NTA and the Southeast Tourism Society are celebrating National Travel and Tourism Week by hosting the Grassroots Congressional Summit for Travel in Washington, D.C., on May 11 and 12.
Over the two days, a delegation of NTA members will meet with other travel associations, government agencies, cultural organizations and legislators to learn about and discuss issues that affect our industry.
"People dealing with travel and tourism every day will get to meet with the federal legislators who hold the keys to vital industry issues in Congress," said NTA President Lisa Simon. "This really puts some meat in the middle of National Travel and Tourism Week."
There’s still time to sign up; simply fax this registration form to NTA at +1.859.264.6570. It costs just $50 to join your travel industry peers in Washington, D.C., Wednesday and Thursday, to participate in:
- a Congressional tourism leadership luncheon, highlighted by remarks from Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Travel & Tourism Caucus, and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), sponsor of the Travel Regional Investment Partnership Act.
- an information exhibition in Dirksen Senate Office Building.
- an evening reception for attendees and members of Congress.
- a day of visits on Capitol Hill to speak with legislative leaders on tourism issues.
Help give the travel industry a strong voice on Capitol Hill.
As always, thank you to our sponsors:
Sports Leisure Vacations—Wednesday Luncheon
The Group Tour Company—Notebooks
Calderazzo Resigns NTA Board Position
Following the NTA Board’s meeting this past week, Nick Calderazzo resigned from his position as secretary/treasurer on the NTA Board of Directors. Calderazzo, who recently started his own tour company, cited the need to focus his efforts on his new business. "I am still and will always be a HUGE supporter of NTA," Calderazzo wrote in his letter of resignation to NTA Chairman Cathy Greteman and President Lisa Simon, CTP. "Serving on this board has been one of the proudest moments of my career and extremely fulfilling."
The NTA Board of Directors may fill this position on the board and will make that determination in the coming weeks. During the upcoming elections for 2012, qualified members may seek nomination for the secretary/treasurer position.
NTA members in Memphis, Tennessee, asked us to pass the following along from Kevin Kane, president of the Memphis CVB:
Industry Colleagues—
Thanks to you all for your concern about the high water situation in the Memphis area. We’ve been tracking river levels very closely and, with the Mississippi River having crested today, water levels have begun to recede. We will see a slow but sure return to normalcy in the coming weeks.
We have watched, amazed, at national media coverage of this event. Just to set the record straight, 98% of our community is dry, water-free and open for business. Inundating national news reporters with these facts has not tempered the headlines.
Here are the facts:
- All hotels, restaurants and attractions are open with absolutely no threat of being impacted by the Mississippi River which for the most part borders parkland in Downtown Memphis.
- The Mississippi River is at its widest span in Memphis and is over ½ mile in width here. Currently it is about 3 miles wide in the area, with almost all flooding taking place in uninhabited flood plains and bottomland across the River from downtown Memphis.
- Fewer than 1% of Memphis households have been affected by rising waters and less than 20% of the City’s land area. Most affected are outlying communities, where some residences have been built in flood plains of the Mississippi’s tributary rivers.
In downtown Memphis, water has lapped into three of our parks. It has encroached over Riverside Drive and pooled at the west end of Beale Street. This pool of water—depicted so ominously on national news—actually is sitting at the base of a long slope, four blocks west and well below Beale Street Entertainment District. Located on a bluff that is 30 feet higher than the river’s crest, Beale, FedExForum and our major downtown hotels are all open and operating at capacity. The airport and our conference and convention facilities are operating at capacity. Restaurant and attractions are ready for visitors … and the weather is perfect!
To our friends, thank you for your calls of support and concern. We are doing great. To our visitors, we are OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
For up-to-date information on Memphis, Tennessee and Mississippi, please visit the following links:
Memphis:
http://www.memphistravel.com/
Memphis Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ilovememphis
Memphis CVB blog: http://ilovememphisblog.com/
Memphis CVB twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ilovememphis
Tennessee Department of Tourist Development:
http://www.tnvacation.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tnvacation
Blog: http://mytnstory.com/blog/entry/tennessee-storms-create-a-surge-in-the-volunteer-states-spirit/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/tnvacation/
Mississippi:
http://www.visitmississippi.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/visitmississippiorg/89799817604
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/visitms
http://www.mississippi.gov/ms_headlines.jsp
Winning! Two Ways You Can Win Fun (and Delicious) Prizes
We all like to win. Here are two ways you can:
- Register for Contact. There are 11 weeks left until Contact, Aug. 1-3, and we’ll be drawing a winner each week from our list of registered tour operators. Prizes include Rhode Island gift baskets and lobster dinners!
- Check out the JP’s Rhode Island trivia question on Facebook. Contact Chair JP Dansereau will be posting weekly trivia questions about Rhode Island and Contact on NTA’s Facebook page. Any NTA member who’s a fan of NTA on Facebook can answer the questions, and the first correct answer will win!
Contact, the next generation of NTA’s popular Spring Meet, is where tour operator owners/CEOs and their employees go to expand their professional education and share ideas, partner and network. Connect at Contact. Register today.
And, good luck!
NTA Member Case Study: 3 Q’s with the Louisville CVB Twitter Tweam
The Kentucky Derby was over in 2 minutes, but it made a huge impact on the city of Louisville. Louisville drew more than 1.5 million visitors this year during Kentucky Derby Festival activities, and 150,000 race fans descended on Churchill Downs for this past Saturday’s race. The crew at the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau was busy last week, but Nancy A. Stephen, communications manager for the Louisville CVB, made time to answer three questions for Tuesday.
Q: You’ve got a big-time Twitter program. How do you organize it?
A: There are five people on our "tweam" who participate in our three Twitter accounts: @GoToLouisville, @JustAddBourbon and @MeetLouisville. I’m the lead on the @GoToLouisville account, where we tweet news and events for our city’s attractions, festivals and restaurants. We like to include tips and tricks that interest both locals and visitors. We follow local restaurants, attractions, hotels and festivals that are also tweeting, which allows us to interact with them, as well as retweet and share their news with our followers.
Q: Is there a certain type of tweet—a Twitter photo, question, etc.—that gets the most reaction and retweets?
A: We’ve found that our most successful tweets are ones that garner personal interactions and comments from our followers. We try to respond as quickly as possible to tweets from people asking us about attractions to visit and places to eat when they come to Louisville.
Q: We all want to have 7 million followers like Kim Kardashian. How has the Louisville CVB grown your followers list?
A: As mentioned, we follow local restaurants, attractions, hotels and festivals that are also tweeting, which allows us to interact with them, and hope they follow us in return. I also search Twitter for people who are visiting Louisville. I welcome them to the city and ask them to share their experiences by tweeting about their trip. It’s a great customer service tool for the CVB. And frankly, the tweam has fun doing it!
Thanks, Nancy and Louisville!
Do you have a social media success story you’d like to share with other NTA members? Send your success stories to Kate McLean, NTA’s Manager, e-Services.
‘I want to go back, and learn more!’ A Delegate’s Take-away from Jordan.
It’s been three weeks since the "Restoring the Journey: Support Travel to Egypt and Jordan" trip made by NTA’s chairman, Cathy Greteman, and president, Lisa Simon, CTP, and other U.S. travel industry leaders, and we’re still hearing stories from the delegates. (For a reminder of the mission and delegates, read this previous Tuesday story.)
We wanted to share this take-away from NTA member Marie-Rose Lohier (with Academic Travel Abroad):
While I’ve traveled to Egypt several times over the past 13 years, this was my first trip to Jordan. I’ve always wanted to visit the country, meet its people, view its varied landscape and explore its treasured sites for myself.
Jordan’s people are open, warm and generous. They want to share their country, their traditions and especially their food with you (and believe me, it is delicious!).
The country itself is safe and has not suffered the turmoil that so often affects the region. A constitutional monarchy headed by a king who is well-liked and respected, Jordan is open for business and an attractive option for those seeking to understand the various dynamics of the region from a safe location.
After returning home, I reflected on two specific "aha moments" that struck me on the trip. Those moments were tied to the Jordanians’ progressive approach to conservation and nature, and I believe those two things represent firm building blocks for the future of other countries.
I learned a lot during my three days in Jordan—not least of which is that I want to go back and learn more!
For more photos and follow up from the trip:
- NTA’s Facebook (photos)
- Flickr ( NTA’s photos)
- DowntownTraveler blog
Reach the Booming Chinese Travel Market through NTA’s China Group Leisure Directory
The Chinese travel market is one market to pay attention to if you’re looking to expand your customer base and grow your business. Here are the facts:
- Inbound travel from China moved into the top-10 ranking for the first time last year, spending a total of US$3.5 billion in the U.S.
- At least 200 million Chinese are financially able to travel overseas (according to The China Outbound Travel Handbook)
- As of November 2010, total visitation from China to the United States had increased by 54% since 2008
How can you reach them? Through NTA’s China Group Leisure Directory. This directory promotes NTA tour operators registered to serve group leisure travel inbound to the United States, making it the go-to resource for Chinese travel professionals looking for North American product. There’s no better way to reach these travel buyers as they plan than by advertising in NTA’s China directory. This publication is directly distributed to:
- All NTA tour operator members, including those operators approved to do business with the Chinese Travel Agents.
- Chinese travel agents/tour operators in China through trade shows, road shows and NTA’s Center in Shanghai.
And, it’s available electronically to the projected 50,000 individual Chinese travelers at CITM and 3,500 Chinese outbound travel buyers at COTTM.
Display advertisements and listings are available. Contact advertising@ntaservicesinc.com or +1.859.264.6559 today to reserve your space!
Cloudless, clear-blue skies and ample sunshine greeted the more than 350 volunteers who came to Mystic, Connecticut, Friday, May 6, to participate in the ninth annual Tourism Cares for America clean-up project. This year’s event was held at Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea, a 19-acre living history maritime museum that doubles as a working shipyard.
"This one in particular was special to me because I’ve lived in Connecticut all my life," said Tauck’s Tom Armstrong, who made the 90-minute drive east from his base in Norwalk to lend a hand. "It’s almost a rite of passage when you’re a kid growing up in Connecticut that you come here with your school group. To be able to contribute to make it even better made for a special day."
Many participants stayed busy giving 30 of the 100 on-site structures a fresh coat of paint, while others did landscaping, swept docks, cleaned buildings, cleared brush and weeds, split and stacked logs, and scraped and painted a mile of fence.
Bruce Beckham, Tourism Cares’ executive director, also presented a US$10,000 grant to the non-profit institution’s president and CEO, Stephen C. White. The seaport is home to more than 500 historical watercraft, which includes the 1841 whale ship, Charles W, Morgan, the last wooden whaling vessel in the world. The special grant will be used for tools and supplies for the facility’s maintenance.
At the end of the day, many agreed the chance to give back and spend time working with industry colleagues makes the event memorable.
"It’s not so much a particular site or particular project, it’s the people you’re with," said John Stachnik, president of Mayflower Tours. "Over the nine years we’ve been doing this, the new friendships that are made probably are the most important things that I take away."
Want to see more from Mystic?:
- Visit NTA’s Facebook page for photos
- Watch more videos on NTA’s YouTube channel
Tourism Cares for America is a volunteer program to help preserve, conserve and protect tourism-related sites in America that are in need of care and rejuvenation. To learn more about the philanthropic event, visit http://www.tourismcares.org/.
It’s Tradeshow Season! Here Are 5 Don’ts and 6 Dos
Do you have new sales representatives heading into tradeshow season? Or, do you need a refresher on working tradeshows? If so, Tradeshow Joe has some great tips and no-no’s for working any industry trade show. A few of Tradeshow Joe’s tips:
5 don’ts:
- Don’t mingle with your show friends – open yourself to prospects instead of surrounding yourself with tradeshow friends.
- Don’t leave the booth unattended without a note or having someone cover for you. If you leave a note, leave your business card on the table and ask prospects to leave theirs, too.
- Don’t be late—it will look like you don’t care.
- Don’t give uninviting signals: Don’t cross your arms, stand with your back to the aisle or lean on booth furniture.
- Don’t use inappropriate language, complain about the show or badmouth your competitors.
Do make your show successful by:
- Preparing three to six engaging questions for prospects before the show. Practice in your hotel bathroom. (Don’t forget to smile!)
- Create the right first impression—dress well, be clean and make your booth look inviting.
- Have some open-ended questions prepared, too. It’ll keep conversation going. And, make sure your questions relate to your business.
- Network off the tradeshow floor. Sit with new faces during a luncheon or on the shuttle, and be inviting! Connect new and old friends to build relationships.
- Always, always carry your business cards. And, make sure you bring enough!
- Smile.
For more tips or to sign up for a newsletter with tips from Tradeshow Joe, visit www.tradeshowjoe.com/. These are also valuable tips for NTA’s Convention.
- International visitation was up three percent in January 2011 (OTTI)
- The U.S. Department of Commerce just announced that international visitors spent an estimated US$11.6 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of February—nearly US$970 million more (9%) than was spent in February 2010—marking the fourteenth straight month of growth in U.S. travel and tourism exports.
Gilmore Entertainment Group, a leading live show entertainment company in the Southeast for 25 years, located in Myrtle Beach, SC, is seeking a Group Sales Director. Gilmore Entertainment’s flagship theater is The Carolina Opry Theater; productions include The Carolina Opry, Good Vibrations, The Carolina Opry Christmas Special, and LIGHT laser shows.
Position involves leading company’s group sales department including its marketing and sales.
Skills and Experience:
- 10+ years experience in the Group Sales Industry
- Established relationships in the travel industry including motor coach, tour operators, travel agents, etc.
- Familiarity with various group travel trade organizations
- Passionate salesperson
- Excellent organizational and planning skills
- Works well with a team as well as independently
- Ability to build and maintain partner relationships
- Positive public persona and networking skills
- Thorough knowledge of Microsoft Office
- Easily use technology for corresponding, networking, tracking, reporting, etc.
- Innovative and Creative ideas for increasing sales, productivity, and/or efficiency
Responsibilities
- Achieve annual growth goals in group sales attendance and revenues
- Develop and implement strategies and tactics to achieve targeted growth goals
- Continually reinforce a customer-centric view in all strategic ideas
- Work with Marketing department to create annual marketing plans
- Implement marketing plans
- Track results of marketing efforts
- Prepare and present monthly status reports on sales and marketing initiatives
- Identify opportunities to build partnerships and cross-marketing programs
- Work with executive committee to establish pricing, policies and procedures that support sales goals
- Travel to trade shows, conventions and tourism related events as needed
- Involvement in community chamber and take advantage of local networking opportunities
For more information and to apply email GroupPosition@GilmoreEntertainment.com.
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