
Look Who’s Making Contact | On the Road Again with NTA
May 29, 2012
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TODAY’S ARTICLES
Need a Change of Scenery? Try San Diego
Look Who’s Making Contact
Take a Closer Look at the National Tourism Strategy
On the Road Again with NTA
News Source: Revamped Research Page on NTA Online
Webinar on Top-10 U.S. Inbound Market: South Korea
Find out How Weather Affects Your Business
SBA Webinar: Small Businesses Can Take Advantage of Summer Tourist Season
Put your Company in front of 20,000 Group Travel Planners
Help Tourism Cares Save Summer Vacation
Industry News and Updates
Need a Change of Scenery? Try San Diego
Sometimes a change of scenery is what is needed to inspire your next big idea. And if you’re looking for suggestions, San Diego should be up for consideration. After all, San Diego was named one of the West’s best places "to hatch new ideas" by Sunset Magazine. Its great weather, natural beauty and energetic atmosphere lend itself to inspiration, creativity and collaboration …
And these are just a few of the reasons why San Diego is the site for Contact 2012!
Register now if you haven’t already, and be sure to keep an eye out next week for San Diego trivia questions on the NTA Facebook page. Jigger Abendano from the San Diego CVB will be posting one question per week for NTA members, and the first correct answers will win fantastic prizes!
Please join us Aug. 16–18 in San Diego. Your next big idea is waiting.
And speaking of Contact ’12, see why these three members are making Contact, Aug. 16-18, in San Diego:
"I’m going to Contact to meet with my peers and immerse myself in industry knowledge to come away feeling energized!"
—Stephanie Loadman, Wells Gray Tours; Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
"Last year at Contact in Newport there was time to connect with other tour operators and discuss, share and plan joint ventures. Over the past year we realized new business that I can directly attribute to being at Contact. I am really looking forward to Contact in San Diego to discover new partners for About Tours, and learn what San Diego has to offer my customers."
—Courtney Ashley, About Tours; Glen Ellyn, Illinois
"Contact is where I learn how to keep my business prepared to thrive in this fast-changing market. The tools I learn in the seminars create the growth for the coming year. And the invaluable contacts I make keep paying dividends throughout the year. I wouldn’t miss it!"
—Nick Calderazzo, Twin Travel Concepts; Kinderhook, New York
Take a Closer Look at the National Tourism Strategy
Industry leaders at the Grassroots Congressional Travel Summit welcomed the May 10 release of the United States National Strategy, and every trade publication announced its arrival. In case you missed the document itself, it’s all here.
The national strategy document is a primer for advocacy: You’ll find loads of facts and figures that support the importance of tourism to the U.S. economy. And the report’s policies, actions and recommendations, assembled by a government-wide task force, detail five goals with 17 strategies. It’s an interesting read.
There are also interesting items in a summary of the strategy released by the White House. Here are a few things it mentions:
- There’s a Travel & Tourism Dashboard that provides information such as the value of international travel to the U.S. and visa wait-times for key countries: China, Brazil and India. (You’ll see that those times have been dramatically reduced.)
- Another good resource is Recreation.gov, a comprehensive source of information about thousands of recreation opportunities on Federal lands.
- The Department of the Interior is partnering with local communities to develop itineraries that encourage travelers to extend their visits to lesser-known destinations
For more insight into NTA’s involvement with tourism legislation, see the column by Steve Richer, NTA public affairs advocate, in the June Courier.
After stops in Savannah, Georgia, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, NTA’s final road show last week was at Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Some 50 representatives of area tour suppliers and DMOs stopped by for breakfast and information about NTA and Travel Exchange. They also shared time on a beautiful day in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
News Source: Revamped Research Page on NTA Online
There’s a goldmine of information for NTA members on the association’s Web site. Check out the Research page on NTA Online for a collection of NTA and industry-wide info, including
- results of recent member surveys, including tour operator profiles and market-specific questionnaires.
- industry news of interest to members, gleaned from a variety of trade and consumer publications.
- quarterly data collected from the China Inbound Program.
You’ll need to be logged on as a member to NTA Online to access all the information. If you have questions or suggestions, contact Jason Terwilliger, research and education manager.
Webinar on Top-10 U.S. Inbound Market: South Korea
South Korea is the No. 8 tourism market into the United States, entering the top 10 after joining the Visa Waiver Program in late 2008. To learn what Korean visitors are looking for in a vacation and what to expect when working with Korean tour operators, sign up for a Webinar on Monday, June 4, at 7 p.m. ET.
Produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, and the U.S. Commercial Service Travel & Tourism Team, the Webinar will offer data and analysis on Korean inbound tourism to the United States, strategies to attract Korean travelers and specific opportunities to promote your travel and tourism products. There will also be time for individual questions following the presentations.
The cost for the hourlong event is $50. To register, follow this link. After your payment is received, you’ll get instructions for calling and logging in. For questions, please contact Anastasia Xenias, at 212.482.1856 (Anastasia.xenias@trade.gov) or Ron Erdmann at 202.482.4554 (ron.erdmann@trade.gov) in the United States, or Hae Lyong Kim at (haelyong.kim@trade.gov) in South Korea.
Find out How Weather Affects Your Business
You don’t have to operate an umbrella store to know that weather affects sales. Most every tourism-related company or destination profits or suffers with changes in weather, and now you can determine what rain, cold, heat and humidly do to your business.
Weather Underground compiles local data and allows you to compare your daily sales (or traffic or calls) to historic weather data. You can enter your city or U.S. ZIP code and your data for last summer’s sales, for example, and the Web site will create a spreadsheet that lets you analyze the correlation between temperature and sales. An article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek cited one restaurant that based its staffing on the weather, and a retail store got an advertising tip from the data.
How can you put the weather to work for you? Let us know on Facebook if you gain insights from this exercise.
SBA Webinar: Small Businesses Can Take Advantage of Summer Tourist Season
We mentioned in the previous Tuesday that NTA is teaming with the Small Business Association’s National Small Business Week to connect small businesses with local tourism. Below is the promo that SBA is sending to its members, and NTA members are welcomed to join. The webinar will also cover basic services provided by the SBA, which could be helpful to NTA members, too.
Learn how to drive even more tourists to your business this summer by marketing your small business to travel and tour operators. SBA will host a webinar on Wednesday, May 30 at 2p.m. ET, for small business that would like to learn how they can promote their business as part of a local, authentic experience to travel and tour operators looking to provide high quality excursions, including dining, entertainment and shopping, to their customers. The webinar will feature Jim Reddekopp Jr., NTA chairman and CEO of NTA, a national association for travel professionals. Click here to register. Please note that space is limited, so RSVP today.
Put your Company in front of 20,000 Group Travel Planners
NTA’s Trip Planner for Group Leaders is the ultimate resource for group travel planners, reaching segments such as alumni, seniors, bank travel, hospitals, religious and travel clubs. Published annually in August, this publication is distributed to 20,000 qualified group leaders and NTA tour operators who are actively planning tours. Deadline to reserve space is June 15, so contact NTA Services by e-mail or phone (859.264.6559) today to ensure your company a spot. Display advertisements and listings are available.
P.S. Want to take a look at this valuable resource for travel buyers? Check out the 2011-2012 edition today!
Help Tourism Cares Save Summer Vacation
For many of us, the longer days and warmer nights of summer are here, and with them come vacations and adventures. Whether it’s a family vacation to a national park, a day spent at the seashore, or a road trip with friends, spending time in awe of the historic and natural treasures creates the best memories. But every day we are in danger of losing these places. How often do we tell stories that begin with, "There used to be…"? Too often. Thankfully, though, we have the power to change that.
NTA supporters work in partnership with Tourism Cares to reach out to sites all over the world. In 2011 alone, Tourism Cares gave more than $200,000 through grants and volunteer work to dozens of sites including Yellowstone National Park, Gulf Coast National Seashore and the Maine Maritime Museum. Internationally, Tourism Cares reached to all corners of the world including Egypt’s Antiquities Museum, Mount Matutam in The Philippines and traditional marketplaces in Peru through its inaugural Global Outreach program. The grants continue to fund conservation projects, educational programs and the preservation of important sites.
If you share this passion for preserving the travel experience for future generations, join us! Your charitable donation to Tourism Cares will have a lasting positive impact. To find out more, and to empower projects, grants and student programs, give a gift through the Tourism Cares Web site. Ensure the sites you love will be here for this summer and every season to come!
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