These Guys Are Early Birds | White House Meeting | Get $100
July 31, 2012
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TODAY’S ARTICLES
These Guys Are Early Birds. Are You?
NTA Reps to Attend White House Meeting
Refer a New Member. Get $100!
Learn About It Online
See SeaWorld After Dark
Market Focus: Adventure, Agritourism, Family, Faith-based and More
Last Call to Cruise the Med
Strike a Note with NTA Tour Operators
Tourism Cares Launches ‘Bidding for Good’ Auction
World Tourism Day Has Theme, Date, Contest
Industry News and Updates
These Guys Are Early Birds. Are You?
Check out who has already signed up for Travel Exchange:
These are the people who have saved up to $200 by signing up during Early Bird registration. Smart, right? Have you taken advantage of the lower rates yet? There’s still time! Early Bird registration runs through Aug. 24. But that’s just a little more than three weeks for tour operators to save $110 and tour suppliers and DMOs to save $200 (and get better appointments). You know you’re coming … why not come for less?
Join your colleagues for the biggest event of the year—Travel Exchange, Jan. 20–24, in Orlando, Florida.
NTA Reps to Attend White House Meeting
Steve Richer and Olga Ramudo are joining other industry leaders for the White 
House Meeting on National Travel and Tourism Policy, on Wednesday (Aug. 1) afternoon in Washington, D.C. Richer is NTA’s public affairs advocate, and Ramudo, owner of Express Travel in Miami, is a member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.
The meeting will cover a number of policy issues surrounding strategies for increasing inbound and domestic tourism. NTA’s priorities in this arena are:
- destination marketing grants
- expedited visa processing
- marketing the United States as an international destination
- marketing national parks and other public lands
For information about the results of the meeting and additional insight into tourism issues, join the NTA Government Relations group on LinkedIn.
Grow your association. Enhance your industry. Win $100-plus while doing it! NTA’s Summer Member Recruitment Drive has begun and we want to hear your tho
ughts on who should join the NTA family. This is your opportunity to help your industry colleagues enrich their careers and strengthen your association. As a bonus: for each potential member you refer between now and Aug. 31, you get $100 when they join before Nov. 1!
There’s no limit on how many referrals you can submit. So, let us know anyone—and everyone—you think should be members of NTA! Here’s how:
- If you’d like to send a personal e-mail to your referrals explaining why you belong at NTA, feel free to use these online tools to help shape your message. That way, when they’re contacted by NTA, your referrals will already be familiar with the association.
- Send your referrals’ contact information to Cheryl Adams at NTA headquarters before Aug. 31.
- When your referral becomes a member by Nov. 1, you’ll receive $100.
When you refer new members to NTA, you’re customizing your network, expanding your business opportunities and supporting your association!
(The Summer Member recruitment Drive is part of NTA’s Recruitment Rewards Club, which rewards members for referrals all year long.)
Join us Monday, Aug. 6, for an updated Webinar about Travel Exchange, NTA’s big event in Orlando. Jim Reddekopp Jr. and Lisa Simon, NTA’s chairman and its president, will host "Travel Exchange: Explore, Expand, Excel." During the hourlong Webinar, Reddekopp and Simon will talk about schedule, appointments, education and more.
Click here to register for the session on Monday, Aug. 6, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET. A second session, covering the same topics, is scheduled for next Friday. Click here to register for the session on Friday, Aug. 10, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.
Contact attendees are in for a treat at Sea World San Diego. Our final night sponsor has planned an unforgettable evening of dining, rides, music and visits from animal
ambassadors.
Guests will get the chance to enjoy the park after dark, with nighttime-only shows including the high-energy Shamu Rocks killer whale show, the hilarious Sea Lions Tonite and Into the Blue fireworks finale.
You’ll also have the opportunity to ride Manta, the newest attraction at SeaWorld where you can soar, dive and twist like a ray on SeaWorld’s first multi-media double-launch coaster. You can also surround yourself with gliding live rays in a one-of-a-kind grotto, where you can touch and feed these incredible animals.
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience SeaWorld after dark. Sign up for Contact now!
Market Focus: Adventure, Agritourism, Family, Faith-based and More
Market Focus connects you to articles about NTA members in specific industry segments, and with each article is a link to the member to contact for more information. If you have a news story or educational article about your organization’s involvement in a key market, send it for possible republication to Kevin Wright, NTA’s director of growth markets.
Adventure
Whistler offers summer adventure product for tours
NTA member to contact: Tourism British Columbia
Agritourism
Agritourism gains popularity in Mississippi
NTA member to contact: Mississippi Development Authority Tourism Division, Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau
Family Travel
Alberta has many kid-friendly attractions and activities for family travel itineraries
NTA member to contact: Travel Alberta, Tourism Calgary, Edmonton Tourism, West Edmonton Mall
Faith-based Travel
Making the 74th annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Anne in Quebec, Canada
NTA member to contact: Quebec’s National Shrines
Garden & Horticulture Tourism
Garden lovers can hit the road in New York
NTA member to contact: Horizon Club Tours
Sports Tourism
Arizona economy gets boost from sports tourism
NTA member to contact: Arizona Office of Tourism, Mesa Convention & Visitors Bureau, Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau, Tempe Tourism Office, Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, Metropolitan Tucson & Visitors Bureau
Here’s your chance, tour operators, to experience Freestyle Cruising firsthand-but you’d better act fast. You have until Saturday to reply to an exclusive invitation from Norwegian Cruise Line.
The Norwegian Jade Seminar at Sea is a Mediterranean cruise out of Venice, Italy, from Saturday, Aug. 25, to Saturday, Sept. 1. The deeply discounted rates for this special offer, based on double occupancy, include all taxes and gratuities:
- Balcony Cabin: US$863
- Oceanview Cabin: US$758
Click here for the cruise schedule and registration information.
Norwegian Cruise Line recognizes the integral role that tour operators play in filling their ships, said Jodi Danyluk, program manager for emerging markets. "We want to give them an opportunity to experience what they can sell to their customers."
Strike a Note with NTA Tour Operators
Do you specialize in or have a music component to your business? Coming 
up in the October issue of Courier magazine is the "Music, Music, Music" special section! This is your chance to advertise and promote your organization to not only NTA tour operators, but UMA buyers as well. Interested in learning more? Call 859.264.6559 or e-mail NTA Services today!
Tourism Cares Launches ‘Bidding for Good’ Auction
What could be better than giving back to the Tourism Industry while winning an exciting prize? Tourism Cares’ Online Auction lists exciting items for bid, with proceeds directly benefiting their mission to preserve the travel experience for future generations.
- Place your bid on a seven-night stay in Antigua, and you will help support Tourism Cares student programs, which provide scholarships and internship opportunities for the rising stars of our industry.
- Bid on a one-year deluxe membership to Ancestry.com, and while you learn about your lineage, your donation will fund a grant to preserve cultural heritage sites around the world.
- Or bid on a relaxing spa, dinner, limo and hotel package in Las Vegas. Not only will your winning bid support Tourism Cares for America volunteer events, but you will be so rested and pampered that you will want to pick up a paint brush and help restore tourism sites in need!
Choose from an amazing range of items up for bid, including safaris, ticket packages, sports memorabilia and unique activities. Every item has been generously donated by industry supporters, and Tourism Cares invites you to donate an item to be featured online. Contact brinc@tourismcares.com for more information, and browse the online Bidding for Good auction page to see the great items already listed!
World Tourism Day Has Theme, Date, Contest
The theme of this year’s World Tourism Day, Sept. 27, is "Tourism and Sustainable Energy," with the goal of highlighting tourism’s role in a brighter energy future in which the world’s entire population has access to modern, efficient and affordable energy services.
The tourism industry has already taken important steps toward this future, as described by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, sponsor of World Tourism Day: "The aviation industry is implementing cutting-edge technologies to make aircraft lighter; commercial flights are beginning to use biofuels in their fuel mix; key card systems and energy-saving light bulbs are increasingly being implemented in hotel rooms worldwide; and tour operators are asking for energy efficiency throughout their supply chains."
The UNWTO has a page of suggested activities for World Tourism Day, along with a photo competition. You can also get information from Sustainable Travel International, one of NTA’s strategic partners.
And as you’ve read in Courier, Tourism Cares has linked its fall volunteer restoration project with World Tourism Day. Follow this link to information about Tourism Cares for Sacramento.
- Guest satisfaction at North American hotels declined as hoteliers fall further behind guest expectations, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study.
- In terms of leisure tourism during the Olympic Games, London is faring better than previous host cities.
- U.S. airfares should drop 10 to 20 percent starting next month as the peak travel season ends, according to Rick Seaney, CEO of travel Web site FareCompare.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that $17 billion will be available immediately for loans to construct large-scale transportation projects. Part of the recently passed transportation bill, the infrastructure loan program is considered the largest in U.S. history.
Click here for the Tuesday archive.